Memorial day is a United States federal holiday commemorating the soldiers who died in service to the State. And I have a deep moral and philosophical problem with it.
It serves primarily to glorify the government that sent those men to murder and die at the whims of politicians and their cronies who could benefit from the blood spilled by others. It also minimizes the deaths suffered at the hands of US soldiers overseas, where equally-gullible foreign soldiers and innocent civilian bystanders alike were slaughtered wholesale.
I can link to explanations of how how none of the wars in US history have been defensive wars or otherwise fit any traditional just war theory. I can point out how the government casts aside the survivors of its senseless conflicts after they have been used up. I can cite Marine Major General Smedley Butler's book, War is a Racket, but even that is invariably ignored.
Of course, this "disrespect for the fallen soldiers who fought for my freedom to say such things" is immediately denounced by "loyal patriotic Americans" everywhere, but what does that really mean? If soldiers fought for my freedom, their sacrifice is honored rather than slandered by my expression of dissent. If, however, they fought in service to a corrupt leviathan state administered by psychopaths, then my dissent is the only way to honor their memory, and support for the liars who sent them to murder and die is truly dishonorable.
Naturally, I have been repeatedly told to "Love it or leave it" when I question the presumed virtues of The State and its enforcers. So today, rather than continuing along these lines, I will post music links.
Blessed Are The Landmines
Brave Saint Saturn
Arthur McBride
Planxty
What are you fighting for?
Phil Ochs
Hell Broke Luce
Tom Waits
The General
Dispatch
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
The Pogues
Masters of War
Bob Dylan
War (What Is It Good For?)
Edwin Starr
The Call Up
The Clash
War Pigs
Black Sabbath
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