I don't usually write on current events unfolding in the geopolitical sphere but, after Donald Trump's recent missile attack on Syria in response to the country's false flag chemical gas attack, I felt compelled to write a post on the unbridled horror unleashed in senseless acts of war and mass murder.
Hollywood is renown for its war propaganda and glorification of state-sponsored violence, releasing statist classics such as American Sniper and Lone Survivor, influencing American minds to not only accept but cheer and celebrate the American imperialist war machine which has inflicted unprecedented terror and brutality on a global scale.
But every once in a while, Hollywood releases a gem.
Hacksaw Ridge, the 2016 war epic directed by Mel Gibson is, in my opinion, one of the best war films ever made. While it isn't without its flaws, most notably in its warped depiction of the Japanese 'enemy' troops and the false portrayal of nationalistic honor, Hacksaw Ridge depicts war in its most raw and violent form on the battlefield and I would recommend it to anyone who has been seduced by the Hollywood propaganda of the former titles I mentioned.
War (What Is It Good For?)
Young, naive men blowing each other from limb to limb in a sick and twisted game of human sacrifice to satisfy the insatiable bloodlust of tyrants, is the unobjectionable purpose of war. War is the result of unrestrained political power, the absolute pinnacle of statism and government control and propaganda. War enables free rein of man's inner demons and unleashes the violent beast lurking within the depths of our consciousness, free to manifest its most violent and perverted tendencies on the physical battlefield.
Racism, torture, rape, child rape, mass murder of women and children, and a dampening of the human spirit are the hallmarks of war and rampant statist aggression. But the solution to end this horror and insanity doesn't lie in protests or online petitions; in fact, such repetitive political campaigns only give more credence to the idea that we must beg for permission from our political masters to affect any real change in society and further legitimizes the government's power over us.
Rather, the solution lies in our ability to change our own hearts and minds; to finally ditch our pseudo-religious belief in political authority and embrace true freedom. The freedom to live our lives and pursue our dreams without asking for permission from so-called 'authority' figures in government. For as long as we believe in the legitimacy of political authority, we will continue to be led into senseless wars and used as disposable pawns in an ongoing game of human chess, further enriching the ruling class in the process. No one has the right to rule, and the sooner we come to the spiritual realization that we are sovereign beings the sooner we can begin to heal and reverse our self-imposed collective suffering and end this horror once and for all.
The massacre of animals & the horror of slaughterhouses
War implies that there is a battle, or struggle, between two or more warring factions. Whereas a massacre is a one-sided act of dominion over another person or group of people, or perhaps a genocide of an entire race. In acts of war, as horrific as the reality of it is, individuals at least have the chance to fight back or escape from their aggressors.
But what about the animals - do they have any real chance of fighting back or escaping from their human captors?
We do not go to war with animals, but rather, we betray their trust and innocence by massacring them to the tune of hundreds of billions per year in a senseless act of cruelty. Carnism, the invisible belief system that conditions people to eat certain animals is, as Mark Passio said, the ultimate expression of domination.
"The illusory superiority of head over heart", of intellect over compassion, is one of the root causes of our unconscious rulership of the animal kingdom. When, in fact, our advanced mental faculties and intellectual capacity for moral agency actually enables us -- and, I would argue, obliges us -- to live to a higher standard of ethics.
If there is no moral justification for wars of aggression against our fellow humans, how can we morally justify the daily slaughter ritual of innocent animals? These creatures enter this world as free, sovereign beings with the same desire for freedom and life as us humans, and they leave it chopped up into tiny pieces on the supermarket shelves; all to fuel an insatiable consumer demand for meat and dairy products.
And while they may not be able to fight back or declare their freedom, they cry, squeal, and struggle -- just as we do -- when being violated by aggressors. As I have seen and heard with my own eyes and ears, pigs will thrash and squeal when they are lowered into gas chambers in the slaughterhouse. Dairy cows will often cry for weeks after their newborn has been ripped away from them at birth, intuitively understanding that she will never see him again. Male calves are usually bolt-gunned in the head, whereas female calves are subject to a life of perpetual artificial insemination on a dairy farm until their body gives out and they are slaughtered for meat.
No, this isn't war, but it is an act of mass murder and torture. And we have no moral right to violate these beings any more than we have the moral right to bomb and invade other countries. I'd like to end this post with a timeless quote from Leo Tolstoy: “For as long as there are slaughter houses there will always be battlefields.”
Thank you for your time and attention.