War is Peace
This is part three of a three-part series inspired by a chance viewing of George Orwell's 1984 last night. I've read the book several times, but had never seen a film adaptation of it. Seeing it with my Significant Other sparked a spirited discussion on the parallels between IngSoc and our current political climate, which led to a post entitled "Ignorance is Strength" (see below). Backwards kind-of-guy that I am, I followed up with "Freedom is Slavery" about the elections in Iraq and the type of slavery we're imposing on them. And now for the last chapter, "War is Peace", which is the first of the three slogans of the Party. Thanks to the miracle of blogmatics, this post will end up on top, and you folks who are surfing at work on Monday will see this one first. Ain't technology grand?
War is Peace is an easy concept to grasp. In fact, our current regime has convinced the majority of Americans of its legitimacy. The war in Iraq is a war on terrorism, keeping the bad guys fighting on their own soil in order to keep them from fighting on ours. What they don't tell you is that most of them weren't bad guys until we invaded their country. When it was apparent that we weren't going to catch bin Laden easily, our leaders went after an easier target. Terrorists like bin Laden don't have a home base. When things get hot, they move out and set up camp elsewhere. Not so the leader of a country. With his base of operations in the hands of an occupying army, Saddam Hussein had nowhere to go, and so ended up in a spider hole. With mission accomplished, Bush declared victory. Unfortunately, over a year later it's still unsafe for the average Iraqi to walk the streets, especially if they have anything to do with us "liberators". And our military's occupation of their country is not likely to end anytime soon.
Before we're done in Iraq, though, we'll be spreading out into other countries in the Middle East. Iran, Syria, Libya and any other Muslim nation that doesn't bow to our demands will find themselves occupied as well. And in each of these nations, insurgents will rise up against our efforts to Americanize them. After all, these cultures are thousands of years old, and based on very strict religious principles. They see our culture as decadent, and we're trying to change them into copies of us by force. Imagine if it were reversed. Our mountains would be crawling with American insurgents if we were conquered by Muslim fundamentalists and forced to adopt their values.
So war will be a constant for the forseeable future. We'll continue to move further toward a war economy, with little resources left for us folks at home. Wartime contractors will lead the Dow Jones and NASDAQ markets, R&D will be geared towards bigger and better (and more expensive) weapon systems. We'll be asked to make further sacrifices for the war effort. And yes, casualties will continue to be a daily topic of the news.
But that's a small price to pay to have peace here at home. We are at war with Eurasia. We have always been at war with Eurasia. And Big Brother is a kind and benevolent protector.
War is Peace is an easy concept to grasp. In fact, our current regime has convinced the majority of Americans of its legitimacy. The war in Iraq is a war on terrorism, keeping the bad guys fighting on their own soil in order to keep them from fighting on ours. What they don't tell you is that most of them weren't bad guys until we invaded their country. When it was apparent that we weren't going to catch bin Laden easily, our leaders went after an easier target. Terrorists like bin Laden don't have a home base. When things get hot, they move out and set up camp elsewhere. Not so the leader of a country. With his base of operations in the hands of an occupying army, Saddam Hussein had nowhere to go, and so ended up in a spider hole. With mission accomplished, Bush declared victory. Unfortunately, over a year later it's still unsafe for the average Iraqi to walk the streets, especially if they have anything to do with us "liberators". And our military's occupation of their country is not likely to end anytime soon.
Before we're done in Iraq, though, we'll be spreading out into other countries in the Middle East. Iran, Syria, Libya and any other Muslim nation that doesn't bow to our demands will find themselves occupied as well. And in each of these nations, insurgents will rise up against our efforts to Americanize them. After all, these cultures are thousands of years old, and based on very strict religious principles. They see our culture as decadent, and we're trying to change them into copies of us by force. Imagine if it were reversed. Our mountains would be crawling with American insurgents if we were conquered by Muslim fundamentalists and forced to adopt their values.
So war will be a constant for the forseeable future. We'll continue to move further toward a war economy, with little resources left for us folks at home. Wartime contractors will lead the Dow Jones and NASDAQ markets, R&D will be geared towards bigger and better (and more expensive) weapon systems. We'll be asked to make further sacrifices for the war effort. And yes, casualties will continue to be a daily topic of the news.
But that's a small price to pay to have peace here at home. We are at war with Eurasia. We have always been at war with Eurasia. And Big Brother is a kind and benevolent protector.
posted by Wyld Card at
5:59 PM
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