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How Can You Laugh at a Time Like This?

Gypsy & Willy

No. 382

Peace

May 13, 2002

One of the more frequent plaints of parents to their children is to "Grow up!" It seems to us that it is time to apply this ancient nostrum to the entire civilized world. War may have made sense in times past, but what purpose does it serve today? Those who pretend to lead us would probably insist that it is waged only in self defense. Indeed, this is the rationale for Bush's War on Terrorism. Another frequently heard excuse for killing and maiming is that it is in retaliation for similar actions on the part of "the enemy." Both sides in the Middle East use this hoary chestnut to justify their use of violence.

The result? Well, we've managed so far to spend an enormous amount of wealth and a lot of lives to bring down a weak, medieval government. Meanwhile, the actual terrorist perps remain on the loose. In the process, the Bush administration has used this opportunity...the opportunity provided by the fact that most Americans, including us at the outset, favored this action...to weaken the civil rights of U.S. citizens, to reintroduce heavy secrecy into the governing process and generally as a cover for pumping a conservative agenda which stood no chance of passage before 9/11. Ashcroft, presumably with the blessing of the Top Dogs, is waging another war against the people of our West Coast states, using thuggish tactics to overturn legislation democratically...VERY democratically...passed by referenda of the people. The ever-failing War on Drugs has been ramped up and used as an excuse for sending arms and "advisers" to Colombia, where a civil war has been raging for decades. The United States has refused to ratify a treaty that would establish a permanent international war crimes tribunal. And, on and on...

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the "cycle of violence"...the heady euphemism for the endless retaliation for retaliation for retaliation ad infinitum...shows no signs of abating.

It is not just Yassir Arafat...cut off from his power base...who can not rein in "terrorists." With all our power and wealth, the Western democracies are equally unable to put clamps on our own purveyors of death and destruction, the bloated military industrial establishment. For example, U.S. News revealed this week that major "defense" related firms have been profiting enormously from the current climate of war hysteria. It was also announced that the Pentagon somehow lost track of 1.1 TRILLION dollars. That's one MILLION MILLION dollars! To say this is childish and irresponsible is a massive understatement.

All of this points to an inescapable conclusion. The testosterone drenched leadership of the world is totally unwilling and/or totally incapable of waging peace.

Then who CAN do it?

The answer is equally inescapable. We, the people, can and must do it. We have always been the only power capable of waging peace. Now is the time and the Internet is the tool.

There are many idiosyncrasies to this new medium. Willy has written...in the guise of the computer expert that he is in addition to co-authoring this column...a series of short essays on the subject (see: The Jedi Master Speaks), but the single most important aspect of the Net is its ability to form communities. There is one community we all belong to already...the human race. We have, among us, all the necessary ingredients to turn this community into an overwhelming force for peace. The Net allows each of us to communicate with everyone in the rest of the world...and vice versa. There are millions of bi-lingual people who would be willing and able to translate our thoughts for one another. The Net will allow us to coordinate our behavior...a key factor in any popular movement to change the world. The only thing lacking at the moment is the will.

It has been said that those who live by the sword will die by the sword. We feel that we are fast approaching the day when this maxim will be applicable to the entire human race, not just a few war mongers. So the choice is ours. Consider this a call to action. If you are as tired of the current state of childishness of civilization as we, then start...today...to organize YOUR Web sub-community in the service of peace. Contact all your friends and associates. Urge them to do the same. Desconstruct the lies and distortions of the power elite that are used to justify sending our youth to fight, destroy, maim and kill...and often die...in foreign lands. All of world history points to the conclusion that war solves no problems in the long run; grows no food; produces no wealth. Tell it! Sing it! If not YOU, who?

Peace. Make it happen.

Talk to you later...

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