[Project-fallujah] Re: Politics as boring as fuck? (a couple of ideas)

[robin&amparo]

Well i read this article on Counterpunch (below).

A couple of ideas: but they may sound too cynical.
I am not a cynical person. In fact, what i would enjoy doing in a 
political sense is setting up a time-bank.
Yet when you read this as a tiny sample of what is hidden from 
mainstream media, and your views as well, and if any idea was needed at 
all, to make this campaign not "boring", ie., a bit effective: here is one:
Don't treat your audience as if they shared your feelings : their minds 
are clogged or foggy, if you like.
Give them what they are NOT used to: they are certainly used to this 
kind of violence through soap, but not in the context of "mercy, 
compassion, solidarity, humankind, genocide". That is, don't ask for 
their empathy: don't give it for granted either. Don't ask them to 
condemn this crime. Ask them to rejoice in this crime. How? Well, you 
know: don't ask them to sign petitions for soldiers to come back. Do the 
opposite, if you understand me, but in such a way as to make them sick: 
don't condemn the genocide: market and sell it as great news (after all 
this is what governments are doing, though in such a way as not to hurt 
your feelings). Do hurt their feelings. You will get a response: you 
will make them think.

(If you like the above, details may be discussed). (Some background 
references available)

R&A


Here is an item from Tuesday's British Daily Telegraph newspaper, a 
paper that fervently supports Bush and the Bush-Blair war on Iraq but 
does have the decency to carry reports by its correspondent watching the 
destruction of Falluja:

    "Capt Kirk Mayfield, commander of the Phantoms, called for fire from
    his task force's mortar team. But Sgt Anyett didn't want to wait.
    "Dude, give me the sniper rifle. I can take them out - I'm from
    Alabama."
    Two minutes tick by. "They're moving deep," shouted Sgt Anyett with
    disappointment. A dozen loud booms rattle the sky and smoke rose as
    mortars rained down on the co-ordinates the sergeant had given.

    "Yeah," he yelled. "Battle Damage Assessment - nothing. Building's
    gone. I got my kills, I'm coming down. I just love my job"."

He just loves his job? "I got my kills"? He loves killing people? Is 
this real? Is he a real person? Can he be a human being?

I wore army uniform for 36 years and served in three places in which 
there was a certain amount of disturbance and even a modest amount of 
firing on the two-way range : Cyprus, during the 'Emergency' ; Borneo in 
Malaysia when Indonesia was trying to invade it ; and Vietnam, where 
nationalist patriots were trying to unite their country. And during my 
entire service I never heard a soldier say that he loved killing people. 
Apart from anything else (I mean such weird things as morality, dignity 
and decency), it would have been considered bizarre that anyone could 
think such a thing. If someone had said he loved killing people he would 
have been put very swiftly into the hands of the shrinks, the psych 
team, who would have ensured that he was removed from the army and given 
intensive treatment in a quiet and caring hospital until he regained his 
sanity and was fit to rejoin the human race.

The purpose of soldiers (and those who serve in the air and naval 
forces) is to defend their country. In order to do this they sometimes 
have to kill their country's identifiable enemies, and the military 
ethos requires that this be done efficiently and dispassionately and in 
accordance with the Geneva Conventions and Protocols. Killing a fellow 
human being is contrary to all tenets of civilisation, so soldiers are 
to an extent torn between indulging in natural compassion and the legal 
exercise of terminal brutality. It is essential that a soldier does not 
shrink from his duty - and in any case, if someone is shooting at you it 
is only normal to shoot back. But this is done only in circumstances of 
extraordinary and extreme crisis, and when it happens it is not a cause 
for pleasure or rejoicing. The only rejoicing comes later, when you 
realise that you are still alive. (You then, if you are normal, get 
extremely drunk and behave like a happy idiot for a short while.) But 
for a soldier to rub his hands in glee about having killed someone is 
obscene. Terrorists are happy about killing people : the more people 
they kill, the more ecstatic they are. And they love their job. But they 
are terrorists, not soldiers of the world's greatest democracy.

/"I JUST LOVE MY JOB"/ ? - What sort of killer robots is the US military 
system producing in its Marines and its Army?

The 'Daily Telegraph' report continued: "Lt Jack Farley, a US Marines 
officer, sauntered over to compare notes with the Phantoms. "You guys 
get to do all the fun stuff," he said. "It's like a video game"."

*"I JUST LOVE MY JOB"
"YOU GUYS GET TO DO ALL THE FUN STUFF"
" IT'S LIKE A VIDEO GAME" *

These people are seriously insane. They need treatment, urgently. They 
are not real soldiers, for real soldiers have a proud spirit that 
encompasses compassion. These cretins are blood-lusting fanatics whose 
commander-in-chief, a despicable draft-dodger who avoided combat when 
his country was at war, encourages them to commit war crimes.

Lieutenant Farley says it is all "like a video game". Well, perhaps it 
is to him.

Only a few of the US atrocities in Falluja have been recorded at first 
hand. This description of one is from ABC pool video footage. It's not 
made up ; it couldn't be fabricated. "A bit of bright color stood out on 
one of the city's gray, rubble-strewn streets - a pink dress on the body 
of a small child crumpled next to the curb." Of course it was only one 
little girl. So she was worth the destruction of a city. But we were 
told by Rumsfeld and all the generals that there would be no harm done 
to civilians. Oh dear