War Is A Mind Cancer
War is A Mind Cancer
Metastasized Through The Entire Species
Make Them Think It Is Normal
He swung his AK-47 around—in slow motion—the barrel now resting on his shoulder.
Without even turning his head around to see where he was shooting—one finger on his ear to buffer the sound, the other on the trigger—he sprayed his load of bullets into the three soldiers bursting into the room.
They lay on the ground slightly twitching towards oblivion.
The bullet holes formed X’s into two of the torsos, and an O into the third.
“Tic Tac Toe”, said Our Hero.
A curlicue of smoke was rising from one of the wounds.
(“I got that bit of visual cine-porn from Schindler’s List”, said the director, sitting in the front row of the special screening.)
You could feel the excitement in the room. Adrenalin trembling legs were knocking popcorn out of the huge buckets onto the theater floor.
It has been said that if the Pope didn’t have his followers to confirm that grandiose fantasy he might be eligible for a sanitarium.
War is a paradigm that will lose its power only if human beings collectively work to expose its lies, stop feeding it the absurd fantasies it thrives on, discredit and neuter it. For the good of the species.” — Zĕna Kōan
“Clean” Wars
High up in the sky helicopters filled the sky like a swarm of apocalyptic mosquitos. Buzzing.
Hungry for blood.
Closer to the ground drones glide and hover majestically.
The camera follows each blast they fire downward—splotching a gathering of people — target plus collateral damage.
Not practical for warfare these death angels—no real defense systems—but warzones are a good laboratory to try them out. They’ll come in handy at home by police for surveillance and crowd control.
They had asked a former president to be an advisor on this part.
“I’ve always fancied veneers,” he said in that eloquent and charming way that always had them believing he was someone to trust. “No casualties on our side. Helps bypass the bureaucracy of war declarations, due process and all that.”
They’re Dead. Wrapped In Plastic.
Biology stirs in the young boys. No gatherers, they! Hunters one and all!
Give them outlets.
Competitive sports.
War games.
Charge!
After puberty arrives offer them valor.
Chest-pounding. Bravado.
Macho. Conquest. Eternal adolescence.
Affirm the gender binaries.
Team baseball caps.
And for the girls—teach them how to love a man in uniform.
Let’s Peek Inside The Enemy Fortress (Bring your fears and gullibility.)
He is standing next to a strategic map, with little pins stuck in it. Their leader.
He’s ugly, in a maniacally handsome way.
He has a stern deep voice, an unidentifiable accent—although it is sprinkled with just a hint of German. Maybe Russian.
A mastermind. Blackhearted.
Pure evil.
(Unlike ours—whose hand was forced to be here, to bring good.)
His minions, unlike ours, are brainwashed puppets. Unlike other troops at war—these soldiers commit atrocities. They don’t care for human life.
Crank up the sinister malevolent cello music.
Realistic First Person Shooters (Military Pornography)
Here are some fun games for the boys on their computers.
Some might even allow them to “feel the weight of each bullet”.
Those words alone are enough to stir erections.
The thrill of the hunt and survival. Learn the angles, shoot those fuckers.
Ah—the adrenalin rush of kill or die.
Goes perfect with chips and a Coke.
A retired sergeant with Middle East “tour” experience was hired to help program elements of realism into the game.
A fishing line runs from the Army recruiter storefront—to the Gamestop gaming boutique—with a hook baited with enlistment bonuses.
There are always veterans’ caps, bumper stickers, and inspiring slogan t-shirts.
Pick your battles:
Global Strike, War Broker, Bullet Force,
Command and Conquer, American Heroes, Men of War,
Bulge (kinda suggestive), possibly leading to: Massive Schlong.
Oh you bet those fifteen billionaires who own all the media have your interests in mind.
They worked hard—through backroom deals, mergers and acquisitions—to provide you with that wide range of what you see, hear and read.
Look at all those dissenting voices being presented, the alternative views, the challenging perspectives. These guys are doing everything possible to encourage you to apply critical thinking to their product.
And the algorithms and advertisements clearly reflect the mediums’ highest priorities—objective truth, democracy, freedom and world peace.
Strange Interlude.
Let’s play a game.
Go to NYTimes. Think of all the stories there as puzzle pieces in a narrative puzzle.
Object of game: find the dissenting-voice puzzle pieces.
(Clue: there are none.)
But damn—conflict and war are exciting.
Eyes are the target—the mind behind them: the game to capture.
Once you’re on board they’ll fill the waters all around with threatening fears.
Support the troops. Never ever question what they are being told to do.
Language at the service of making war sound reasonable. Newspeak.
But that’s enough reading here for today.
Go click on The Tube.
Listen to the talking heads.
Rachel, Tucker, Anderson, Geraldo, Sean, Joe, Chuck, et al.
Look closer to see the corporate puppet strings.
Watch the swooping camera angles, the slick graphics, the dramatic music.
News is entertainment.
Entertainment is news. (That celebrity did what?!)
The war news. Especially engrossing currently. Nationalism not stirred up like this since WWII. Now supercharged with internet memes.
Relax knowing that the stockholders of Lockheed, Boeing, and Raytheon are making fortunes selling weapons to the right side.
Can’t go wrong with a proxy war.
Feels so satisfying to see in black and white. Good and evil. Heroes and villains.
Feelings ready to be shared on social media. Didn’t they invent it as a place to share our charm and virtues?
A slide show of calculated emotion-stirring horrors-of-war photos scroll on the NYTimes front page.
Don’t seem to recall that human perspective from Iraq or Afghanistan. Or even Yemen now. But then again those victims are usually poor brown people—so the folks who buy Gucci and Tiffany can’t relate.
> The local murder and 3-alarm fire news.
> The heartwarming segment news.
> The weather news. (Bomb Cyclone. Snowmageddon.)
Click.
You can always join the soldiers who are currently storming Dunkirk—or one of the other “campaigns”—on Netflix.
Choose your battles with remote control—right from the couch.
Enjoy the calculated strategy.
The melodrama.
The explosions and bullet dodging.
On the enemy side: the cowardice, the corruption, the hatred.
On our side: the courage, the heroics, the love.
Pass the popcorn.
> Complete text of “War Is A Racket” by Major General Smedly Butler.
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© AleXander Hirka 2022. All Rights Reserved.
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