I generally avoid watching or reading stuff about wars. There is nothing that I can do about men in power sending young men to die and to kill people for whatever reason they've thought up. We hear about 'heroes' who have killed lots of people on someone else's orders. Often people who were trying to kill them on someone else's orders.
I do think that sometimes something needs to be done, but I really do believe that too many men in power send too many young men to kill each other, to brutalise others, and to brutalise themselves, to the damage of us all.
I also believe that people in power rule by division, the Tories are an excellent case in point - destroying the livelihoods of the poor and then somehow managing to get them to blame other poor people for their situation. The divisions they have fostered have given them power, and done huge harm to our country, particularly to the poor who have had their marrow sucked while the rich have plumped their feathered nests.
Even so, the division is false. There is no them and us. Even the Tories are us.
My husband has been watching a massively depressing series about the Vietnam war, about the lies those in power told to keep the war going, about the huge waste of lives in Vietnam and in America, and about the young people of America who bravely opposed their government's warmongering - the true heroes - some of whom were shot down in their own country. Somebody interviewed was talking about how the government had reacted to the young people's demonstrations by making out that they were trouble-makers, by trying to turn their parent's generation against them. Sometimes they succeeded. But some saw that they were seeking to rule by division. Drawing a circle between them and us, a circle that gets tighter and tighter as it fails.
Division still works - we are going through Brexit, we have a Tory government, in the US Donald Trump is president, yet still we are all us, we are all them. All the evidence shows that most people are good, even if we look different, think different, vote different.
We are finally coming to the time when some aspects of patriarchal rule are crumbling, with unacceptable behaviour being called out, at last! Of course, there is some backlash against that, the division of the genders has worked brilliantly for centuries to keep patriarchal structures in place, but the shift is happening and I am delighted. Perhaps one day we will be beyond the cock waving competition of many wars. Fingers crossed.
I do think that sometimes something needs to be done, but I really do believe that too many men in power send too many young men to kill each other, to brutalise others, and to brutalise themselves, to the damage of us all.
I also believe that people in power rule by division, the Tories are an excellent case in point - destroying the livelihoods of the poor and then somehow managing to get them to blame other poor people for their situation. The divisions they have fostered have given them power, and done huge harm to our country, particularly to the poor who have had their marrow sucked while the rich have plumped their feathered nests.
Even so, the division is false. There is no them and us. Even the Tories are us.
My husband has been watching a massively depressing series about the Vietnam war, about the lies those in power told to keep the war going, about the huge waste of lives in Vietnam and in America, and about the young people of America who bravely opposed their government's warmongering - the true heroes - some of whom were shot down in their own country. Somebody interviewed was talking about how the government had reacted to the young people's demonstrations by making out that they were trouble-makers, by trying to turn their parent's generation against them. Sometimes they succeeded. But some saw that they were seeking to rule by division. Drawing a circle between them and us, a circle that gets tighter and tighter as it fails.
Division still works - we are going through Brexit, we have a Tory government, in the US Donald Trump is president, yet still we are all us, we are all them. All the evidence shows that most people are good, even if we look different, think different, vote different.
We are finally coming to the time when some aspects of patriarchal rule are crumbling, with unacceptable behaviour being called out, at last! Of course, there is some backlash against that, the division of the genders has worked brilliantly for centuries to keep patriarchal structures in place, but the shift is happening and I am delighted. Perhaps one day we will be beyond the cock waving competition of many wars. Fingers crossed.
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