A little bird told me that the U.S. has been at war for about 10 years now.
First of all, my thanks and prayers to all of those who have given their lives and careers to the propagation of the American way of life, which is an extension of cultural archetypes many believe are the best, safest forms of subcultural living available, primarily Western in bureaucratic management style with heavy influences from Eastern and Southern Hemisphere styles going back-and-forth across cultural meme boundaries.
But those labels aren’t why I’m here.
A bit of humour: the Joint Chiefs of Staff today took over the White House and announced a preemptive strike on Chinese military, taking out Chinese submarines, military bases, missile installations, cyberwarfare IT departments and satellites in a fast sweep across the globe. We watch as the Chinese wage a counterstrike by refusing to manufacture any more goods for the nondomestic market. Stock prices barely registered a blip in response, with stockbrokers more concerned about each other’s insider opinions than about any connection to the real world.
I grew up under the ghost of the Korean War and in the shadow of the Vietnam War. I saw the U.S. participate in counterinsurgencies in Central and South America as well as invasions of countries like Grenada and Iraq.
So I’ve grown a little weary, maybe leery, possible wary, of what a “war” really is.
I know many a father wants a son or two or three to grow up in the military and receive ribbons/honours on the fields/oceans/skies of battle.
And we realise that only one to two percent of those in today’s U.S. military are actively entangled in battlefronts.
What about the other 98 to 99 percent of U.S. military personnel?
What about military personnel in other cultures?
Let’s say we abandon the battlefields we created in Afghanistan. Let’s say we disengage our military entanglements in Iraq and Pakistan.
What about our mindsets in regards to raising little warriors?
What are the cultural implications for the future?
Who or what will fill the vacuum we leave behind?
How do we retrain our youth to “fight” for reviving the U.S. economy through innovation and domestic production?
What is the cost of crosstraining and retraining the hundreds of thousands currently devoted to U.S. military-based economic output?
Will the new retirees, many of them raised to believe in American military superiourity, watch as their resources – their savings, their pensions, their government welfare – are spent on raising the next generation of Americans unlike them?
What will the next generation call uniquely American?
Space exploration?
New technology development?
Medical miracle workers?
Something we haven’t dreamed of yet?
Will the next generation think of themselves as Americans or as members of a global economy much like many youths in countries like Ireland think of themselves as Europeans today?
How much can a middle-aged guy like me be torn apart and recast in the mold of whatever shape the next generation will look up to as wise leaders with a clear vision of what tomorrow will be, with new problems to solve and new problems that won’t go away easily, just like today?
Which models of the past do we melt?
Which ideas from the past do we no longer perpetuate?
Yes, we are at war with ourselves, ever-vigilant, on the lookout for those who push forward images of hatred and destruction that lead to deadends.
And now, back to reality, leaving subcultures to themselves and their comments.
treetrunkdings 