Culture of Death

Today -- 9/12, or the morning after -- might be a good day to commemorate what we used to be, and to take stock of what we've become. We were well on our way to becoming what we are before 9/11, but it's certainly helped cement us into what is apparently our permanent condition.

The U.S. is an economy dependent on war, a culture devoted to war, and a society which thrives on war and its culture of death. In a passionately-argued column yesterday explaining why those who were adamantly anti-war before the Iraq invasion began (because they knew we were being lied to), even to this day when everyone knows they were right, are described as "lunatics" by the establishment media, Glenn Greenwald concludes:

(W)e continue to fight wars endlessly and will almost certainly continue to do so -- even as Al Qaeda turns into little more than a scary image and myth. The Washington Post now appears to be having a hard time deciding if we should attack Iran or Venezuela next. Our political culture is embedded with the notion that "war" is inherently right, good, important and Serious. Those who advocate it are deemed intrinsically more Serious than those who oppose it, no matter what the war is or what its justification might be. And our leading institutions are all designed to benefit from more wars rather than fewer. Here is what Leslie Gelb -- former enthusiastic Iraq war supporter and President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations -- wrote in the current issue of Democracy Journal:

My initial support for the war was symptomatic of unfortunate tendencies within the foreign policy community, namely the disposition and incentives to support wars to retain political and professional credibility. We “experts” have a lot to fix about ourselves, even as we “perfect” the media.

Gelb is certainly right -- as I've written before -- that America's "Foreign Policy Community" is centrally designed and incentivized to justify and cheer on wars. But it extends far beyond that. That's the central premise of our political culture generally. When it comes to credibility, supporting wars trumps everything -- including truth. Nothing illustrates that better than the fact that (anti-war Democratic Rep.) Jim McDermott (of Seattle) and those like him are considered "crazy" -- still -- while those who supported the disaster of Iraq are highly respected and credible.

What Greenwald didn't mention is why war is the "central premise of our political culture:" Because it's really good business, Glenn, and good for business, and sometimes you've just got to invest your kids -- well, maybe one or two of them anyway. That's what Dennis Perrin talked about yesterday.

That baby in your belly, that child blowing out his or her fifth birthday candles, that sullen pre-teen wrestling with puberty and peer pressure -- all are potential cannon fodder in our glorious crusade. Embrace it! Celebrate it! Plan for their funerals in advance! Teach them that this is their patriotic duty, their ultimate destiny!

George W. Bush got the ball rolling. Barack Obama is keeping the track slick with blood. Oh, what a magnificent time to be alive! Our enemies, both foreign and domestic, should quake in the shadow of our righteous cause!

Be sure to visit Perrin's site and check out the Dead Kennedys vintage performance of "Kill the Poor," which is the easiest thing in the world. You just send them to Afghanistan, or wherever the war du jour is. Hey, somebody's gotta do it, and it's the highest possible American cultural expression, as George Orwell knew, to die courageously, nobly, and needlessly for one's country.

The photograph was taken in the wake of an American massacre of retreating Iraqis in Kuwait during the first gulf war, February, 1991.