Society + Culture,

The Day the Earth Stood Stupid II -
Robert S. Dotson, M.D.

I am impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.
Klaatu, “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, movie script by
Edmund H. North, 1951

Wait a minute, I know what's going on here. You've all become idiots!

Fry, “The Day the Earth Stood Stupid”, “Futurama” script by J. Stewart Burns, 2001
 

As the relentless rape of Lebanon continues apace, it becomes daily more apparent that the entire planet is given over to governments and leaders who are not only opposed to real peace in our time, but are committed to continuing the lucrative business cycle of war-reconstruction-war-reconstruction-ad nauseum - forever. The insane theater of our ivory-tickling Secretary of State, Dr. Rice, shuttling about the Middle East declaring that there can be no “cease fire” in the latest Israeli military action until there can be a “lasting peace” – all to the strains of Brahms piano pieces - is stunning in its callous absurdity.

Since we seem unable and unwilling to police ourselves (though I certainly think that we are capable of that), perhaps it is time to reprogram the SETI antennae to send out an interstellar SOS in hopes of establishing contact with Klaatu and Gort! An intergalactic policeman like the giant robo-cop from “The Day the Earth Stood Still” would be much appreciated. 

How can we possibly return sanity to this situation? How do the benignly dysfunctional masses (you and me) wrest control from the ruling homicidal lunatics? Is there any way to stop the madness? 

Unfortunately, the hope of peaceful change from within the system appears to be increasingly dim. Americans have been disenfranchised to such an extent – our form of constitutional republicanism has been so corrupted – that to seek redress at the polling place seems a waste of time. Our country’s steady pursuit of world hegemony over the past century has recently moved from a steady walk into an outright sprint toward a neo-fascist totalitarian state of global proportions. I am convinced we are only months away from “rounding up all the undesirables.” 

Indeed, the detention camps have already been constructed by Halliburton and its subsidiary, KBR. All that is missing is the next false flag “emergency” – the next “9/11” - to precipitate us headlong into a brave new world of gulags and re-education camps. One may hope that the jailers will be kinder than those of Stalin or Hitler or Pol Pot because they will be Americans, but don’t bet on it. Those masks of flag-wrapped pseudo-Christian civility that so mark America’s evangelical scene unfortunately hide many evil hearts – all just waiting to affirmed and sanctified by the High Priests of Amerika, Inc.

History is replete with examples of periodic social upheaval and revolution where the slumbering masses finally awaken to throw off chains of abuse and subjugation. Perhaps that is where we are headed in this once largely free land? When the cattle cars begin to roll, do you suppose anyone will object? Will that finally move us toward action? Stay tuned. We’ll find out very shortly.

In the meantime, continuing to reflect on the state of things here in Dystopia, I stumbled across an important essay posted by the venerable organization, Veterans for Peace “War is a Racket ,” written by Marine Major General Smedley Butler prior to World War II, is timeless in its clear and concise explanation of the realities of war. General Butler was undoubtedly a brave and courageous military man. His record is exemplary and he apparently served his country with distinction. From his first hand experience with war, however, he came to an understanding of the evil nature of that enterprise and its beneficiaries that few today have grasped. 

In the conclusion of his essay, he makes several recommendations to “smash the war racket” and they are as valid and thoughtful today as they were then:

• 1- We must limit our military forces to home defense purposes.
• 2- We must permit the youth of the land who would bear arms to decide whether or not there should be war.
• 3- We must limit our military forces to home defense purposes. 

His suggestions for achieving these admirable goals are creative and worth implementing. To take the profit out of war, he recommends that the salaries of all who profit from war be reduced during time of conflict to the level of the least enlisted rank. One month before the government can conscript (and, you can bet that the draft is already in the works for us here in the 21st Century) the young people of our nation, it must conscript “capital and industry and labor.”