From On Line Opinion. A not-for-profit e-journal that aims to provide a forum for public social and political debate about current Australian issues.
The corporate and economic reasons for war
By Chris Shaw
We seem to have wrangled and jousted over every nuance of the moral and strategic aspects of the latest war in Lebanon. Wars seem to come and go like dark clouds, their origins as hard to fathom as the weather. They seem to be woven from many fibres of historical injustice and disagreement. They seem to be an unstoppable aspect of human nature.
Yet plainly things are not what they seem to be. The story of our lives, the story of the serial wars since the end of the 19th century is but a narrative - a narrative that carefully avoids the underlying corporate and economic reasons for war. The details are hidden in plain sight, but are never presented as a continuum. If the media did their journalistic duty, we would see that all the wars are but pieces of one continuous whole.
The shocking thing is that none of this ever had to be; a fact that we know in our hearts to be true. No dispute ever had to spread beyond the bounds of its small geographical locality. No dispute ever had to fly the conference table and take to arms. War is the greatest card-trick in history.
Crucial to this trick are the race and religion cards. Once these jokers are played, it's all over for clear thinking, and we find ourselves "through the looking glass". In order to proceed, we must make a superhuman effort to ignore Jew v Arab, Muslim v infidel and deity v deity.
We must clear our heads of the noise which is daily foisted upon us, a noise so all pervasive that we are addicted to it. Like all addictions, it will be our downfall unless we kick the habit.
So what might war look like to the uncluttered mind?
[...]
By Chris Shaw
We seem to have wrangled and jousted over every nuance of the moral and strategic aspects of the latest war in Lebanon. Wars seem to come and go like dark clouds, their origins as hard to fathom as the weather. They seem to be woven from many fibres of historical injustice and disagreement. They seem to be an unstoppable aspect of human nature.
Yet plainly things are not what they seem to be. The story of our lives, the story of the serial wars since the end of the 19th century is but a narrative - a narrative that carefully avoids the underlying corporate and economic reasons for war. The details are hidden in plain sight, but are never presented as a continuum. If the media did their journalistic duty, we would see that all the wars are but pieces of one continuous whole.
The shocking thing is that none of this ever had to be; a fact that we know in our hearts to be true. No dispute ever had to spread beyond the bounds of its small geographical locality. No dispute ever had to fly the conference table and take to arms. War is the greatest card-trick in history.
Crucial to this trick are the race and religion cards. Once these jokers are played, it's all over for clear thinking, and we find ourselves "through the looking glass". In order to proceed, we must make a superhuman effort to ignore Jew v Arab, Muslim v infidel and deity v deity.
We must clear our heads of the noise which is daily foisted upon us, a noise so all pervasive that we are addicted to it. Like all addictions, it will be our downfall unless we kick the habit.
So what might war look like to the uncluttered mind?
[...]
