War is Not ‘Good’ For the Economy

War is Not ‘Good’ For the Economy

In my last article, I said that some war criminals are equal than others. In case anyone still hasn’t gotten the message, have a look at this article. Evidently, the United States can attack a hospital, which is a textbook-perfect example of a war crime, and then basically get away with it. Again, they basically gave the perpetrators what amounts to a “fix its ticket” as “punishment”. I bet the reason was because the actual order for the attack originated high up in the Pentagon, from guys with heavy political connections beyond the usual shuck-n-jive they’ve got with so-called “civilian leadership”.

You know what? With all the rhetoric coming from various politicians these days, let’s all pause for a moment and give thanks that we live in the most hypocritical nation on Earth. Gee, what happened to “the greatest nation on Earth”, Jack?! That flew out the window right about the time the Pentagon odometer clicked over past 10,000 civilians killed for nothing and the morality warranty was voided. War is not healthy for children or other living things, the poster on the wall once said. Now it says war is good for the economy. Is that so?

Excuse me, but what happened to cars, stoves, bicycles, kitchen appliances, tools, and other durable products we once made here being good for the economy? I’m curious because once upon a time, you could buy an American-made product and it didn’t fall apart in your hands but you could pass it down to your grandkids. I’m at a loss to explain it. At what point did we come to think killing people was a far better way to make money than building them a stove to cook food? Did someone say, “Meh, I just can’t get into this whole farm tractor thing anymore. I’d rather build a robotic death machine that can be programmed to kill everyone that speaks Arabic!” Now, when a crime syndicate kills people for money (because it’s good for their economy), the government jails them. But the government can do this and not only get away with it, but they can pay a whole network of corporations to supply the weapons necessary to carry out those orders.

Speaking of which, there was an article in the paper the other day saying military robots programmed to kill are on the way. Excuse me, but they’re already here. We call them “drones”. Well, and also the “Pentagon brass”, but they’re allegedly semi-human. The jury is still out on that definition. Anyway, they’re trying to establish an “ethical base” and a “target identification” software program so the robots don’t run amok and kill people indiscriminatingly like the U.S. military already does. Or so these robots don’t attack civilian targets such as hospitals like the U.S. military already does. Hey, maybe we better hurry up that software program and turn it into a slideshow for the Pentagon. Of course, this protocol already exists. It’s one of the Ten Commandments: Thou shalt not kill. Oops.

Only the Pentagon would think we need to discover a morality behind appropriate methods to kill people using machines that can decide who to murder based off of a software program. Wow. Can anyone imagine what’ll happen when they get a computer virus? “Well, we regret the loss of innocent life at the Market Square Massacre, but it was a software glitch. But there’s good news! It’s covered under the warranty!” Pardon me while I puke. We’ve gone from building bicycles and stoves to death machines and robot soldiers.

Regardless of what the United States government says, killing other people is wrong. You can disagree with their governments without seeking to violently get rid of them by killing enough of their soldiers and civilians to make that possible. When other countries or terrorists do that to us, we sit here and whine and act shocked and sit there bawling like crybabies over it. Pardon me, but do unto others as you would have them do unto you. When you sit there and demand bombing raids on people that have not so much as let their cats crap in your flowerbeds, why then should you be at all surprised when the killing manifests here and not there as you so desired?

In case anyone forgot, these are human beings we’re killing. Civilians aren’t bulletproof or bombproof. Women, toddlers, infants, grandmothers—that’s who is blown to bloody shreds when you hear “We regret the loss of innocent life…” from the Pentagon. If you see a city park with kids playing on the swings and mothers wiping the mouths of babies, that’s who ends up dead when United States bombers make a little “mistake”. A mistake is when you forgot the mustard at a store and you’re having hot dogs for lunch. Not a bunch of dead kids and moms because you needed to demonstrate some political point none of them actually care about. What, you’re “saving” them? From what? Living longer?

There is an easy way to avoid having to “regret” the loss of innocent life. It’s called minding your own danged business and not killing them in the first place because you inserted yourself into another nation’s business. Excuse me, United States government, but who exactly gave you the right to decide who is or is not the “legitimate” ruler or government of another country? What gave you the right to bomb a flippin’ hospital and then blow it off like you backed into someone’s car at the mall? “Gosh, we’re sorry. But our insurance will cover it…” You guys are swell. I bet that brings great solace to those dead doctors and patients and their families.

War is not healthy for children or other living things. It’s not healthy for anyone else, either. Nor is it healthy for our economy because without it, we haven’t got those stoves and bikes to build instead of bombs and murderous robots we’ll call “weapons”. Watch the U.S. cities fight tooth and nail for the factory to build those robots because it’ll mean jobs to help their local “economy”. War is not good for the economy. It causes our economy to be enslaved to it like some horrific economic Mameluk. Right, war is good for the economy. That’ll bring solace to the man who lost his beloved wife in a U.S. bombing raid. Hey, you lost the love of your life, but you’re free now, right? Or the mother burying her kids, will she see the value of U.S. foreign policy objectives? I say again: These are human beings. They’re not “collateral damage” or whatever. They’re people that are the same as we are. And made in the image of God as we are.