Saturday, January 24, 2009

I cease opposition. The Government was right. War is the answer.

What does a country have to do before we in the West do that thing, and bomb the shit out of them? We've done it so many, many times for all sorts of pretexts. Think of every country we ever declared war on. Think of any country we didn't declare war on but just 'intervened' in. It's a long list, and no mistake.


Think of the reasons we went in. They made sense didn't they? They certainly made enough sense for the soldiers to troop off happy that they were doing the right thing. They made enough sense for the media to pile in enthusiastically. And they made enough sense for the rest of the population to think little of it and carry on with their law-abiding lives. Sure, a protest here, a protest there - big deal. Mostly we were happy with the reasons given.


And all those people who want to pipe up with their own version of the truth, just sit on it for a minute. If you want to tell me that we visited death and destruction on these countries on account of a pack of lies, I got no time for that today. Today I am a supporter of everything our governments have told us about us as good guys, them as bad guys, and why we should blow their shit up. Our governments have done this many, many times and now it's time to agree to the rightness of the logic.


Sure enough, the logic makes sense. Each of us understands the rightness of standing up to bullies who beat up those weaker than themselves. Britain declared war on Germany for precisely this reason. The German bully was beating up on the Polish underdog and the British were going to do the right thing and help the little guy. Once more - forget counter-propositions. We're running with the posited logic. We're conceding the rightness of that case.


How does the case go again? The people we have to bomb are racists and murderers. They're ethnic cleansers. They commit genocide. They know no pity. They commit atrocities beyond counting. They deliberately kill women and children. They're a threat to their neighbours. They've demonstrated a clear history of having done this over and over. Unless stopped they'll continue to do it again and again. They're enemies of democracy. Their behaviour is beyond boycotts, beyond sanctions, beyond time-wasting talk. We must bomb them. They understand no other language.

That's how it goes isn't it?


And all the while, as our leaders make the case, we're told horrific stories and shown horrific images so that we might know precisely how villainous these people are. You know the kind of thing - We must intervene because these bastards shoot civilians in cold blood. They bulldoze houses with the people still in them. They tell the survivors to surrender and shoot them when they stagger out, white flags held aloft - grandmas, kids, everyone. They have no pity. They use the bodies of children as target practice and laugh about it. They use white phosphorus on crowded civilian areas and burn people alive. All while their citizens sit on a ridge, drinking pepsis, and cheering. They torture people. They starve them. They are cruel beyond imagining. They are pitiless, supremacist motherfuckers who will never see reason and will never be stopped unless we stop them. With force.


These are the stories we are told - by our own governments - to explain the rightness of our going to war against an evil people. Okay. I need no more convincing. I'm there. I concede the rightness of the government's case.


Forget talk of sanctions. Forget UN resolutions. We've had a hundred of the damn things and what happened? Nothing. We've talked for years and years and none of it made a lick of difference. Academic boycotts, trade boycotts, protesting, shaking our fists, it's all a waste of time. These people are villains and force is all they'll understand. We must take military action.


Where to start? How about their navy? Let's send it to the bottom of the ocean. Let's destroy the labs where the satanic weapons are manufactured. Let's take out their illegal WMD's. Take out their radar and destroy the command centres. Let's bomb their runways and shoot down their planes. Let's target all their military infrastructure. Let's take out their tanks and strafe their troops. Hell, I'll even concede to the rightness of the government's case for the targeting of power, water, and sewerage. This is how we do things isn't it? Okay, so let's do it.


Me, I no longer need convincing. The government's case that genocidal villains require a military response has won me over. I'm with them. I concede the rightness of what they say. If they are somewhat shy, it's okay. I shall make their case for them. I will remind them that if it was right before, it's most certainly right today. Let the stirring speeches begin!


"We in the West, we are not craven. We do not shirk our duty, regardless of how onerous it is. If we see a wrong, we look to right it. We will not let evil go unpunished. We will not stand idly by as innocent men, women, and children are murdered in their homes. Never will we tolerate genocide and crimes against humanity. Were we to do so, who would we be? We are not that. We reject it. Just as we reject the lies that would have us view sins as virtues. No more! We shrug off our torpor and do now what is right. With a clear conscience we say to those genocidal murderers - lay down your arms and surrender unconditionally, and we will demonstrate the quality of mercy, a thing you clearly don't understand. You will be tried for war crimes, your people re-educated, and your wealth given to those upon whom you inflicted such untold misery and suffering. Resist and we will crush you. We will embody a righteous, clear-eyed nemesis to your hubris. Your fate is in your hands. We stand ready and await your decision."

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go nobby!

Tony

Anonymous said...

Careful Mr. N., if you stick your tongue any more firmly in your cheek it may just get stuck...

...and let's not get any memes from the big checklist crossed or we'll only confuse the simple folks:

PEACE is the answer
WAR is the solution

Anonymous said...

Excellent photo essay! Passionate. Rational. I'm linking to it (if you don't mind). http://globalintifada.webs.com

nobody said...

Onya Tony.
Thanks Mir. The nature of monkey is irrepressible, you know. Otherwise, reaching for my dictionary.
Thanks Salmah. Link away! And there I was wondering if I hadn't overdone it with the pix...

nobody said...

Hey Salmah, your link is dead mate.

su said...

Nobody,
Nobody has said it better than this essay.

Anonymous said...

Nice one Nobody, you are spot on with this. Thanks.

kikz said...

i thought the pix were quite mild.. as to what i've seen of the flotsam/jetsam of the latest atrocities in the gaza.

onya noby*

the Silverfish said...

As Pogo once so eloquently stated " We have met the enemy and he is US".

Anonymous said...

A wise Being said, "Co-operation plus Tolerance equals Peace." Whenever and wherever people are unwilling to apply this formula, the results are what we see in places like Israel's periphery.

nobody said...

Thanks all,

I'm pretty sure that people got the fact that the point I was making here was actually a double edge sword. It's the weapon I find works best if the subject is rank hypocrisy.

And Susana, I did? Where? Ha ha ha. I'll never tire of that joke.

And Brian I'm not sure that you needed the word 'periphery' there. Right smack dab in the middle of Israel, all sorts of ugly shit goes on. Whether it's beating up Christians or the recent banning of Palestinian representation, Israel has plenty of ugliness to go around. And now that I think about it, there's AIPAC and every other goddamn thing. But otherwise, yeah, I can dig it.

Anonymous said...

Thanks! I am happy to say I was able to revive the dead link. I also posted a link to your article at Dictatorship Watch

nobody said...

Thanks Salma, and I did notice the dictatorwatch link on account of the numbers coming in. Thanks for that.

I also sent this to Mike Rivero but he didn't groove on it. I'd have thought it was spot on but what the hell would I know?

notamobster said...

Nobody has... and Nobody ever will, sir! Brilliant as always.

Anonymous said...

I don't go looking for pictures of war
However I stumbled across a most horrific one a few weeks ago
You may have seen it
It was of a boy, about 3, lovely looking healthy solid kid, he was in an adults arms as if fast asleep; his body facing the camera, arms and legs outstretched, relaxed.
A closer look had two very neat holes in his right chest - chilling.
I don't go looking for pictures of war
Tony

the Silverfish said...

Mike Rivero didn't groove on it, I'm shocked. However there are certain things he won't touch without wearing gloves. Perhaps the subject matter struck a little to close to home.(wink)

nobody said...

Hey Tone, Kikz was right. I was fairly restrained here. I saw that photo you mentioned but there's way worse ones out there. White phosphorus and DIME are motherfuckers.

Also Silv, I don't know that that's Rivero's story. My yardstick is banking and the money supply. This is THE taboo subject. Rivero is all across it. Most of what I learnt is via him. But on the other hand there's guys like Howard Zinn who (Karl Marx style) wrote an entire history of the United States without mentioning control of the money supply. Sure enough, Zinn is now under fire for saying that 911 is in the past and doesn't really matter. Him and Chomsky and Bill Blume, kings of limited hangout.

No, the thing with Rivero is (the best I can figure it) is that he likes his stuff punchy. He likes sound bites. Think about it - wrh is precisely a soundbite site. Headline, para, headline, para, etc etc. I don't suit soundbites. I could write that way if I wanted to (actually I used to, precisely for this reason) but now I couldn't be fagged. Instead I start slow and build up. I'm guessing I've lost him by the second para.

Never mind. Every now and then I tickle his fancy and that'll have to do me. Meanwhile there's lovely people like Salma doing the thing. Onya Salma.

nobody said...

Oh, and I should mention Les. His feed is brilliant. Thanks Les!

Anonymous said...

Thank you.

That map in Hebrew is a real find. Thanks for that too. The English version explains it well for those who don't read geography. From the website where the map orginates, http://avrom.livejournal.com/116574.html
the Russian language Title, translated by Google, is not 'From the Nile to the Euphrates', but:

NATURAL LIMITS OF ISRAEL

http://maof.rjews.net/pictures/graniz/image002.jpg

http://maof.rjews.net/pictures/graniz/image001.jpg


That livejournal article is worth reading.

Zahir Ebrahim
Project Humanbeingsfirst.org
http://humanbeingsfirst.org

Anonymous said...

Nobody
Well sure, I can "tolerate" your editing of my use of "periphery."
Peace.
:-)

nobody said...

Sorry mate,

Nitpicking aside I thought your comment was spot on.

nobody said...

New Dave McGowan!

Penny said...

"they may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one"

I don't know why, that just popped in my head.

there is no REAL justice for the powerful, and the only 'justice'that exists, is that inflicted on the weak, by the powerful.

PS: blogger is being difficult, if this shows up 3 times, cause blogger keeps asking me to do the word of the day thing????
delete the other two
but you knew that anyway..

and well done nobody
:)

Magdelena said...

Great piece once again Nobody. Forgive me for sounding hopeful - but I really think that Israel went a step too far this time. World opinion is really flat-lining and I do doubt that she will ever recover.

I CAN hope...

nobody said...

Hey Pen/Buff,

There weren't three, only two, as you can see. But I posted both since they said different things ha ha.

nobody said...

Hi folks, you might want to drop in to aangirfan.blogspot.com. He does a big feature on the Pilger piece I recommended earlier. It seems The New Statesman has shown Pilger the door. No surprises there. The Pilger piece is followed by an 'interview' with Obama. As I said in the comments there, I wish I'd written it. Anyway, I'm going to have to put aangirfan on the front page since I've now become a daily reader. Ciao Ciao.

Oh, and thanks John for sending me there. Very good.

nobody said...

Wait. It seems Pilger is still at The New Statesman. Not that I care either way, since I read all his stuff at his own website.

Penny said...

nobody you are a card.

not a cad, though you may well be that, but no I said card.

psychegram said...

That was the most biting piece of sarcastic satire I've read in ages. Up there with Swift writing of Irish baby stew.

I share Magdelena's optimism. I don't imagine many people have a very good taste in their mouth regarding Israel these days, and save those in the mind-controlled West who continue to love the taste of kool-aid the rest of the world is more or less done with that shit.

I can't help but wonder if that isn't almost the point. It could be the Israeli people will be devoured by their mad god in a dark sacrifice, a true holocaust. For what bloodthirsty demon would not thrill at the thought of feasting on a country incinerated by nuclear fire? That the bodies incinerated would be those of his own followers would only make the taste sweeter. Provoking the world into committing this act may well be the whole point of thousands of years of tussling over the Holy Land ... and with it the deaths of six million (for real this time) to feed the deeper Lie, what horrors might then be visited upon the Earth?

nobody said...

I hope it's a cool card, Pen. You know, with a picture on it. Imagine being something dull like the eight of clubs. Boring.

Thanks Psyche. And yeah, I wonder myself. God knows what's in the minds of these motherfuckers.