It's Complicated
By Timothy V. Gatto
06 July, 2012
Countercurrents.org
There is a stir in the air. Something is changing but I don’t think that anyone can actually put their finger on it. People are just tired, tired and disgusted. They don’t seem to believe anyone or anything anymore. The trustful population of a sleeping nation is starting to realize that their trust was put into the wrong hands.
It’s about time. What’s so sad about this situation is that people don’t want to wake up. They would rather close their eyes and dream on. Reality sucks, but sooner or later it comes around to bite you. The bankers, the politician and the media have become dangerous. People have had so much taken from them in the last few decades, remaining asleep is no longer an option. The people have lost their homes, their savings and most importantly, their freedom.
The question that everyone has is what can they do about it? Who can they go to in order to put everything back together? The answer that the people are starting to figure out is that there is no one to go to. Everything is controlled and manipulated by the very same people that are committing all of the atrocities. The answer they get to their question of who to go to is that the only person that can help them change their reality is the one asking the question. The answer, the person to trust, the one who can right these wrongs society faces is themselves.
This is when things become serious. This is the beginning of revolution. A revolution starts with an awareness that things have gotten out of hand. No one revolts when everything is just great. Revolutions start when people find themselves with their backs against a wall. Revolutions start when there are no answers. Revolutions start when people lose hope.
Americans are losing hope. The questions are too complicated. The issues are too complicated. Like every civilization that has preceded this one, the people have gone to the well once too often. The well is dry. The answers they get from those “in authority”are convoluted and border in the absurd. There is an old maxim that says “Those that can make you believe in absurdities can make you commit atrocities” (Voltaire). The absurdities have been believed, and the atrocities have been committed. There is no more justification for the behavior, no more reasons to support the absurdities.
How many people must die in order to declare the fight was won? How many explanations do we need to excuse ourselves for their murders? No one seems to care anyway. We are at war. We are always at war. I was born during a war and I expect to die during one. War is the American way of life. Support the troops, support their leaders and reject anything you don’t understand. Issues’ that are just too complicated to understand must be suspect. Anything that is not understandable must be killed. That is something everyone can understand.
We fight everywhere, Europe, Africa, Asia, North America and South America…everywhere. Everyone is our enemy, yet everyone is our friend. Myanmar (Burma) was a totalitarian dictatorship just a few years ago. The government killed their own people with impunity. It was regarded as a pariah state and had no allies. Last year it became an ally of the United States. It still kills their own people with impunity and rules with an iron fist, but now it is our friend. Our other “friends” are Saudi Arabia, The Congo, Sudan, and Columbia just to name a few. We supported the ouster of President Fernando Lugo of Paraguay last month. The Army installed a new President. This was sanctioned by The United States. The Mercosur trade bloc has suspended Paraguay over the impeachment of President Fernando Lugo on 22 June. Paraguay is once again “our friend”.
Bahrain is another “friend”, and the home of the Fifth Fleet anchored outside Manama, the capital. With the help of Saudi Arabia and Qatar (among other nations), they ruthlessly kill protesting citizens and kill and torture Doctors and medics that treat the injured. Bahrain is our “friend”. Iran, a nation that has not committed a war of aggression in over two centuries, and holds democratic elections, is our “enemy”. Meanwhile, in the same region, Azerbaijan, a ruthless petro-state run by BP, is our “friend”.
Corporations now run the nation. They serve their shareholders and no one else. They provide funds for every major political campaign in the United States. They have “First Amendment” rights, giving them the same protections as any ordinary American citizen, even though in reality, American citizens have lost most of their “rights” under the Constitution. I have already told you about complicated explanations most issues face. It is all complicated.
Radiation from the nuclear facilities affected by the Earthquake and tsunami that followed in Fukishima, Japan, is polluting the Pacific. The reactors there need to be shut down and “contained” to stop deadly radiation from entering the ocean and poisoning the western half of America. The Japanese government claims that they don’t have the funds to contain them. Estimates of five Billion dollars are the average estimate of the cost. No government, including the United States, will help, even though this nuclear waste could contaminate the entire West Coast with deadly levels of ionizing radiation. Just one day of military spending could cap off all six reactors affected in Fukishima. It’s complicated.
We spend more on the military than the rest of the world combined. We export more military hardware than anything else we export. We torture, assassinate and overthrow other governments. We do this in the name of freedom.
So yes, the American people are finding themselves in a quandary. There is no one that will explain why we do these things. Questions are being asked, but no answers are forthcoming. Soon we will eliminate the President of Syria. Then we will attack Iran. We have an agenda that General Wesley Clarktold us about in 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUiBlw5uy0g
Yes its complicated. So is revolution.
Tim Gatto is former Chairman of the Liberal Party of America, Tim is a retired Army Sergeant. He currently lives in South Carolina. He is the author of "Complicity to Contempt" and "Kimchee Days" available at Oliver Arts and Open Press.
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