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Memorial Day Reflection                                        Bob Bossie, SCJ, Guest Blogger

5/26/2015

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The popular image of Memorial Day is a celebration or remembering of those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom.  A celebration of their heroism, sacrifice and patriotism.  However, in order to unpack the true meaning of Memorial Day it is important to understand that morality has a subjective and objective component.

For me, it's easy to see how the former mentioned virtues apply on a subjective reading of events:  persons believe that they are fighting to preserve a higher good and thus puts themselves at risk to stand for what is good, save a comrade, etc.  Yes, on the subjective level, persons are truly acting in a heroic fashion and this is what many cling to in order to make sense of their death or injury or to justify their killing of other human beings and the destruction of cities and the earth itself.

However, the objective or systemic component of morality often paints a different picture as has been well described by deceased General Smedley Butler:

“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service …. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General... and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.... WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.”
― Smedley D. Butler, War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier

Popular culture tends to conflate the objective and subjective components. In fact, some persons do so to help justify their sacrifice or that of their loved ones. If they didn't, they couldn't live with the reality of just what they really sacrificed for. And so they build up the myth around flag, democracy, patriotism, etc. These persons are some of the staunchest defenders of the military often saying to those who oppose such wars that they couldn't protest without the sacrifice of the soldier to ensure such liberties. Today, I believe polls show that the military is considered the most respected institution in the U.S. This has led to a popular comment “thank you for your service” when learning a person was in the military.

Others conflate these components to serve their ends of domination, empire, resource control, etc. During these days surrounding Memorial Day, this conflation is most evident in the parades, church services, movies, poetry and song depicting the heroism and struggles of the average soldier. For one to say anything negative about the wars they fought is to be seen as critical and condemning of the soldier and their sacrifice. In this quagmire it is difficult to find any real objectivity.

Yes, it's most difficult to admit that the subjective goodwill and sacrifice of so many was done to serve the criminal interests of the few. But it can be done as Smedley Butler has shown, and as many current veterans of U.S. criminal wars have also done.* In taking that step, they have begun to reclaim their lives by resisting the crimes for empire that continues even today.

*Some examples of those who those who have taken a stand:

Iraq Veterans Against the War http://www.ivaw.org/

Veterans for Peace http://www.veteransforpeace.org/


Vietnam Veterans Against the War http://www.vvaw.org/
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Baltimore, Black Anger and the Media

5/12/2015

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Ongoing stories of police killings of black men and protests from Baltimore to Madison leave me feeling as though the goal of racial justice, or even racial understanding, is futile.  Over and over I hear white people saying how they just don’t understand where “all the anger” comes from or why some people react violently.  When I tune in to Fox News (the most-watched national news program), it comes home loud and clear that most white people in this country are horrified, not by the conditions of our inner cities, but by the occasional rebellion of those who live in this terrible reality every day of their lives. 

We explored some of the issues around this theme back in January, but one element not discussed was the role of the media.  Fox tells us that the mainstream media are “left-wing,” but to them anything right of Sean Hannity is socialism.  Let’s take a look at the media coverage of Baltimore:

In this interview, media scholar Mark Crispin Miller cites the correlation he found between “how much news people watch and how frightened they were of the city.”  He says of the media that “every time the cities have exploded they’ve done the same thing… sensationalized the violence and presented it as an irrational explosion of savagery by de-historicizing it.”  (Baltimore’s history here)  He blames “the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine, and the deregulation of station ownership,” along with the overriding goal of making money and selling advertising, for creating “a right-wing media system that explicitly plays on racist and nativist sentiment.”

This focus on images of “thugs” and violent protest, while ignoring the complex history of racism and inequality and downplaying the legitimate complaints of the black community, leaves most of us saying “Good, send in the troops and restore order!”  Miller adds that this “invites a tolerance for a style of policing that’s not only brutal in those disadvantaged neighborhood, but threatening to everybody’s civil liberties.”

For those interested in media accountability and reform, FAIR is an invaluable resource.  Here are a few pieces it’s done on Baltimore:

NYT goes to Baltimore, finds only police worth talking to

Why so much anger?  If you don’t know Washington Post won’t tell you

USA Today makes leap to pin rap on ‘protester’

If you are looking for real answers to the question, “Why do they burn down their own neighborhood?” rather than turn to the media, you might start here.


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