Confessions of a Peace-Monger By John Jankowski

 

Crass

Confessions of a Peace-Monger

By John Jankowski

I must confess: Even after 9/11, the waters of patriotism, wrung from the tears of a nation, never washed over me. Sure, I felt horrible for all of those killed and injured, along with the countless loved ones who were also affected; but I can’t claim to have felt even the slightest inclination to rally around the flag. That’s due only in part, by the way, to the identity of the buildings that had been targeted. Being a peace-monger, the attack on the Pentagon only brought tears for the wounded, mortally or otherwise, not for any structural damage incurred. Nothing screamed “chickens coming home to roost” than a shot at “War, Inc.” A shame that the insurance company didn’t just simply total the whole building out.

The words “World Trade Towers” don’t exactly smack of patriotism either. Tall buildings, to be sure, on, of course, American soil. But New York City is more a symbol of international capitalism or world finance than Americana, with the Twin Towers being its literal and de facto pinnacle. More George Soros than Uncle Sam; more scone and espresso than Apple Pie. The loss of life so much more important than loss of any sense of prestige that those two phallic columns of now molten steel represented. For us or to the rest of the world, dang nab it.

As a former Chicagoan, now Stocktonian, if I feel any sense of loyalty at all — beyond family, friends and my parish — it is to my urban birthplace, where remnants of family still reside. And perhaps gradually to my new rural home. I take great offense to suburbanites claiming to be urbanites, and sub- and urban- ites claiming to be hillbillies. Even those of us with fewer ideas than teeth don’t claim that ridiculous label here, so we sure as hell don’t appreciate “weekend warriors” latching on to it.

Dread Scott Tyler

Nationalism and patriotism in this country are abstractions, intangibles out of necessity. Our “nation” of fifty still largely disunited states, founded by a motley crew of disaffected European mutts and misfits, can’t possibly hold a so-called patriot’s attention — let alone his allegiance — for very long. This country is geographically too big; demographically, too diverse; and governmentally-speaking, far too bureaucratic to do so.

We pledge allegiance to a flag woven of propositions. Blood spilled not of loyalty to a people, but to the ideals upon which those people have chosen to identify with. Either by birth, chance or oath.

Wars and the rumors of wars then serve the purpose of resolving an identity crisis for us, as identifying enemies, real or imagined, often do. But with a nation as phantasmagorical as ours, that need is all the more pressing; particularly when, due to occasional economic downturns, our identities as consumers are bound to suffer lapses as well.

I pray that God will one day bless America…with an ability for its people to recognize that they were never any more blessed — or cursed — than other people living on our fragile planet; and if one most love a place, let it be the one closest to where you have chosen to rest eternally. Forever peaceably.

Patriotism

Nationalism

Anti War Activist

9 11 Attacks

Why the Hate?: The American Left vs. Donald Trump

 

Why the Hate? The American Left vs. Donald Trump

A recent article posted by the conservative magazine, Chronicles, addresses the long-festering issue of how and why the American left “hates” former Donald Trump so much, noting that “(t)he hatred goes beyond the man’s style, his mean words, and his policies. CNN’s Anderson Cooper provided a clue, when, on the evening of Jan. 6, he sarcastically suggested that the rally-goers would return that night to their Marriott hotels and their Olive Garden restaurants — the implication being that only low-class deplorables would dine at the Olive Garden.”

Wherever your politics dwell, it would be interesting, even edifying, to hear why you believe the left “hates” Trump as much as they seem to.

In terms of the presidency, I got the sense that many viewed Trump’s election win as a step backward in terms of historical progress, if you will, where electing a white male as seemingly regressive as Trump connoted an “epic u-turn” in terms of American identity. Especially when viewed from the context of the country having just previously voted in a young black man, which had been understood by at least the left as a “step in the right/progressive direction.” (Never mind the drone war escalation.)

As awful of a candidate as Hillary Clinton might have indeed been, her win would have at least kept the U.S. on the path of historical/political progress. With Trump, it’s believed, the country took leaps backward — which of course made the prospect of voting for Biden much more palatable, as the election of this old white dotard could be regarded as a step forward in the right/progressive direction. And just as Trump was regarded by the religious right as an “imperfect vessel” for the pro-life movement, Biden is the secular left’s “imperfect vessel” to implement socio-politico and economic change.

We’ll see about that….

Donald Trump

Progress

US Politics

Chronicles Magazine

Obama

 

Guns and Drones

John Jankowski

Dec 9, 2023

No amount of guns, assault-style or otherwise, is protection enough from any authoritarian form of government, masquerading as a democracy, if said government is able to pinpoint a target’s location via smartphone activity and serve notice with a Reaper drone. If nothing else, the Wikileaks revelations, courtesy of the great Julian Assange, should have enlightened every American of this reality. War has become a video game; people nothing but exploding specks of dust, killed via remote control. #freejulianassange

Gun Rights

Reaper Drones

Julian Assange

Wikileaks

 

War Pigs

John Jankowski

Dec 9, 2023

The same neo-liberal and neo-conservative factions of the US/Western power and money structure are reacting to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as they did to Trump’s electoral victory in 2016. Disbelief has been followed by overreaction and escalation. Why? Because neither event fits the historical narrative of big “P” Progress. The election of a “rich, racist and misogynist” white man should not have followed a two-term presidency of the likes of Obama. Similarly, neither invasions nor wars should be waged in and by countries populated mostly by white people anymore. They are “supposed” to be fought in countries that have little or no market value, by people with darker skins who have little or no worth.

War

Ukraine War

Neoliberalism

Neoconservatism

Donald Trump

Lasch Words

 

Christopher Lasch

John Jankowski

2 min read

“[Today,] people find it difficult to acknowledge the justice and goodness of…[a] higher power when the world is so obviously full of evil. They find it difficult to reconcile their expectations of worldly success and happiness, so often undone by events, with the idea of a just, loving, and all-powerful creator. Unable to conceive of a God who does not regard human happiness as the be-all and end-all of creation, they cannot accept the central paradox of religious faith: that the secret of happiness lies in renouncing the right to be happy.” — ChristopherLasch, “The Soul of Man Under Secularism”

“What democracy requires is rigorous debate, not information. Of course, it needs information too, but the kind of information it needs can be generated by debate. We do not know what we need to know until we ask the right questions, and we can identify the right questions only by subjecting our own ideas about the world to the test of public controversy. information, usually seen as the preconditions of debate, is better understood as its byproduct. When we get into arguments that focus and fully engage our attention, we become avid seekers of relevant information. Otherwise we take in information passively — if we take it in at all.” — Christopher Lasch, “The Lost Art of Argument”