Where wars DO come from:
“It is not civilizations that promote clashes. They occur when old-fashioned leaders look for old-fashioned ways to solve problems by rousing their people to armed confrontation.” –Kenichi Ohmae, The End Of The Nation State, (New York: The Free Press 1995), p. 11.
Why of course the people don’t want war. … That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along –Head Nazi Hermann Goering
Mr. Bertie Felstead: “A German began singing All Through The Night, then more voices joined in and the British troops responded with Good King Wencelas… the next morning, all the soldiers were shouting to one another, “Hello Tommy, Hello Fritz” … The Germans started it, coming out of their trenches and walking over to us. Nobody decided for us – we just climbed over our parapet and went over to them, we thought nobody would shoot at us if we all mingled together… There wouldn’t have been a war if it had been left to the public. We didn’t want to fight but we thought we were defending England.” England’s Oldest Man Remembers The 1915 Christmas Truce
People do not make wars; governments do. –U.S. President Ronald Reagan
President George W. Bush and seven of his administration’s top officials… made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. …an exhaustive examination of the record shows that the statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that …led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses. –Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith, False Pretenses: Iraq THE WAR CARD Orchestrated Deception on the Path to War, www.publicintegrity.org
Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder. …The feudal barons of the Middle Ages, the economic predecessors of the capitalists of our day, declared all wars. And their miserable serfs fought all the battles. The poor, ignorant serfs had been taught to revere their masters; to believe that when their masters declared war upon one another, it was their patriotic duty to fall upon one another and to cut one another’s throats for the profit and glory of the lords and barons who held them in contempt. And that is war in a nutshell. The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose–especially their lives. …the working class who freely shed their blood and furnish the corpses, have never yet had a voice in either declaring war or making peace. It is the ruling class that invariably does both. They alone declare war and they alone make peace. Yours not to reason why; Yours but to do and die. That is their motto … The Anti-war Speech That Earned Eugene Debs 10 Years in Prison, Socialist Party convention in Canton, Ohio, 16 June 1918
By contrast, where wars DON’T come from:
…we preferred hunting to a life of idleness on our reservations. At times we did not get enough to eat and we were not allowed to hunt. All we wanted was peace and to be left alone. Soldiers came and destroyed our villages. Then Long Hair (Custer) came…They say we massacred him, but he would have done the same to us. Our first impulse was to escape but we were so hemmed in we had to fight. – Crazy Horse/Tashunkewitko
The Aztec strategy of war was based on the capture of prisoners by individual warriors, not on working as a group to kill the enemy in battle. By the time the Aztecs came to recognize what warfare meant in European terms, it was too late. – Aztec
New England’s first Indian war, the Pequot War of 1636-37, provides a case study of the intensified warfare Europeans brought to America. Allied with the Narragansetts, traditional enemies of the Pequots, the colonists attacked at dawn. … The slaughter shocked the Narragansetts, who had wanted merely to subjugate the Pequots, not exterminate them. The Narragansetts reproached the English for their style of warfare, crying, “It is naught, it is naught, because it is too furious, and slays too many men.” In turn, Capt. John Underhill scoffed, saying that the Narragansett style of fighting was “more for pastime, than to conquer and subdue enemies.” Underhill’s analysis of the role of warfare in Narragansett society was correct, and might accurately be applied to other tribes as well. Through the centuries, whites frequently accused their Native allies of not fighting hard enough. -James W. Loewen, LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME, (New York, NY: Touchstone 1996), p. 118
Excellent post.
And were it not for the lock-step mentality drilled into our skulls by our lying teachers, from a lying curricula, approved by a lying state and overseen and funded by a lying government, would this continue? Clearly the system is responsible. This is why I tell teachers who wail and bemoan how ignorant their students are and then point their tax-fattened fingers at the parents and say that these parents "don't get involved". Really now?! The parents, the very "product" of the education system? What teachers, and the government itself is saying, without admitting as much, is that THEY FAILED and their handiwork is now biting them in the ass.
You pretty much nail it MoT — Nice job!
You address a point that is the source of much wonderment for those of us who are not American. Just what is in those textbooks that Americans read, what is it that they're actually taught, that makes them believe- and then repeat- Fox News level misunderstandings of the world?
Are the books really that bad? Are we talking about indoctrination right from grade 1, or is it encapsulated in some kind of mandatory "civics" class in high school that really doles out the Koolaide?
I'm a curious foreigner who really wonders how bad it is.
Hi Duglarri!
It's not so much WHAT is taught, it's how, and what that does to "students." Twice NY Teacher of the Year John Taylor Gatto does a good job of explaining that (link below).
< ;http://www.spinninglobe.net/againstschool.htm> Against School, by John Taylor Gatto
That link didn't come out right. Let me try again on the Gatto link – – –
http://www.spinninglobe.net/againstschool.htm Against School, by John Taylor Gatto
Ah, ok THIS is it: http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/gatto1.1.1.html
Public schooling isn't mandatory. Those who send their kids to public schools are to blame.
This is definitely a topic that's close to me so Im happy that you wrote about it. I'm also happy that you did the subject some justice. Not only do you know a great deal about it, you know how to present in a way that people will want to read more. Im so happy to know someone like you exists on the web.
Since Trident-1 in 1970 (now all are Trident-2) the US has been aiming to replace MAD with Disarming First-Strike Capability according to missile engineer Bob Aldridge -www.plrc.org. This will force the Russians to institute launch-on-warning, probably by 2017, and greatly increase the chance of nuclear war. The missiles in Eastern Europe have nothing to do with Iran. Evidence-Der Spiegel 49/2011. Professor J. Edward Anderson, "Deployment of anti-missile missiles in Eastern Europe is part of a first-strike strategy". Bob Aldridge on the missiles in Eastern Europe, "Whether they are on ships or land, they are still a necessary component for an unanswerable first strike". MAD IS MAD but Disarming First-Strike Capability is suicidal.
"MAD IS MAD but Disarming First-Strike Capability is suicidal. " You can say THAT again, Claus EH! And please do!!
Great post, but the entire quote from Goering is worth showing, not just this abreviated version:
“Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
Thanks for filling in for me Mr. Liberty – – – in this age of the 9 second soundbyte, it's tough to keep reader attention. Actually, I was kind of proud of that edit though – – –
There are political and social constraints in any situation involving more than one person. Again, the actual policy is obvious: get rid of Assad at all costs, except at 'costs' which could be expected to potentially adversely affect the decision makers.
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Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder. …The feudal barons of the Middle Ages, the economic predecessors of the capitalists of our day, declared all wars. And their miserable serfs fought all the battles.
There are political and social constraints in any situation involving more than one person. Again, the actual policy is obvious: get rid of Assad at all costs, except at 'costs' which could be expected to potentially adversely affect the decision makers.
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No doubt, we must condemn the territorial and commercial wars of our contemporary period, with our merciless involvements of the innocent. We must demand as a matter of urgency that ethical values, humanity and respect for the rights of others in submission to truth and to what is right, shall be made regnant over the thinking and living of all mankind, and insists that until that demand is realized the world can never find its way to peace and quiet.