Remembrance, what a perfect example of Orwellian newspeak that is!
Remembrance is to forget; to forget the sheer folly of war, and the mistakes mankind* makes over and over again. To forget the mistakes that continually lead to war. To forget the sheer folly and futility of war, of war that is death, destruction, waste, terror, tragedy and trauma. The horrors that are glossed over with pomp, costume, medals, trinkets, weapon ‘salutes’ and concentrated jingoism in a pantomime that not once emphasises how evil and pointless war is, or even considers how to end war.
All war is murder, and there is nothing heroic about murder. Who dies in wars? Why the middle, working and peasant classes of course; both civilian and service people. No surprises there. War is waged by the establishment. War is the sport of the ruling classes. The one percent never suffer; they thrive and profit from war. They are the manipulators. They control us with their relentless propaganda; it’s how the few can keep the many ‘in their place’. They use tools like patriotism and xenophobia. Patriotism is the opposite of what it is purported to be. It’s all lies. Establishment lies. Red poppies are a marker. A marker to check that we are toeing the line. Think about it, and I mean really think about it; analyse.
All war is murder; to those of you that are of a religious** disposition it is the ultimate blasphemy, and to those of us that are atheist it is totally unjust and a moral outrage!
We are all pawns in the establishment’s game.
Now then! If any of you Daily Mail types have got thus far in my blog post you’re probably fuming. You’re probably thinking that I’m being disrespectful to all of those who fought and died for my so called freedom. But I am certainly not. I have the greatest respect for them, and for those that have suffered and been maimed by war. To me all human life is sacred. As a pacifist I want to end all war; surely it is the greatest respect one can offer to those who have experienced the unimaginable horror that war must be. The disrespectful ones are the elite, the ruling classes, the ones that will today be dressed in their finery and brandishing their blood red poppies. They don’t give a shit about the likes of you, me and the rest of the hoi polloi. And they certainly don’t give a shit about those past and present members of the armed forces. To those in charge the armed forces are just cannon fodder. The UK is the 9th richest country in the world yet we still have poverty and homelessness; that shows you how much those that rule over us, the richest 1%, care about the rest of us. And, a sizeable proportion of the homeless, the drink and drug dependant, those with mental health issues and the prison population will be ex-service people. That’s how much they, the establishment, respect those that have ‘fought for their country’. Think about it! Wake up! Then remember that!
And finally, don’t forget that in the world today, war is ever present. We all need to say enough is enough. Think about all those poor people fleeing from war, the refugees that precariously take to the high seas or trek large inhospitable distances across land to escape the carnage. They will be the middle, working and peasant classes of their respective countries. They won’t be the rich. Money is a passport to go anywhere, and to flee from anywhere. If you are filthy rich you have free movement. Think about that too!
*I make no apologies for using the word mankind as it is men that control the world and it is men that wage war
**Religion – another tool that the establishment use to keep large sections of populations under control
This post builds on a previous one from a few years back. Pacifism has a constant in my adult life.