5 posts tagged “state”

The Hell of Verdun

Sep 12, 2009
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Firstly I must warn you that this film is very violently graphic. That for some reason I was unable to watch it twice. That my first impressions were one of complete shock and horror. So I ask you to consider that feeling as you decide to watch it.

Hell of Verdun

Some of the memories of the men from this most awful of battles..

Watching ‘The Hell of Verdun’ had a real effect on me in ways I never imagined. The horrors of the 1st world war are only to apparent in this video, not least but at the very end, when we see the after effects on some of these soldiers. The terrible remnants of the human psyche and body from the violence inflicted are all too evident from the horrendous physical effects of mustard gas to the chilling psychological symptoms of post traumatic stress syndrome, known then, as only ‘shell shock‘. The scarring of souls, forever damned to a life of hellish nightmares and physical disability that is beyond words and indeed often recovery. That we emerged from this war and the next to think and consider that statism was our only saviour is an awful testament to that horrific scarring. That we make excuses for an ever increasing strangle hold on our liberties as a reflection through the generations of that distress our forefathers suffered. That now our leaders are of a generation when statism was booming (1960’s) is no surprise to me. I myself a late child of the 60’s, my mind seared by the greatness of government. That I thought in my own timidity incapable of not being ruled. That I possessed no power to make all of my own decisions. That to me, the ultimate sacrifice was to die in a war for ones country. To die for rulers I would never meet or come to know, except through news bulletins and excerpts on the radio or television. And indeed to die for a country that was itself constructed from within the imagination for those that would wish to hold us within its prison’s shores.

Lest we forget

What is so incredible about this statement, because indeed I find it a very useful indictment of such a war. Is the way in which this proclamation has been twisted to suit those in power. That we must not forget these soldiers sacrifice for our great state and noble nation. That they can so cruelly twist our psyches to consider these wars as a useful application towards freedom is to rob mankind of his own mind. That to consider murder, violence, imprisonment and theft on the grandest scale (taxation) as virtuous and noble is to doom mankind into the deepest abyss of his mind. As to make him swim into the most turgid waters of his subconscious towards a blackness in his heart that cannot see beyond these acts of violence and aggression. Lest we forget the horrors of statist power that can damn our minds in this way. Robbing us of our own ability to feel not only for others but too feel for our own selves as well. That we can damn ourselves in this way and pretend that this is the ultimate sacrifice for morality is a cruel irony of modern philosophical thinking. That we imagine ourselves to be unable to control our futures is by its very nature ruthlessly used against us by the powerful and mighty. Lest we forget how the mighty decapitates our minds into believing death to be more virtuous than life itself.

People have often asked me why I consider politics to be unworthy of my respect. Indeed that I see politics as the cause and not the protection from our fears. How can I respect an order, whether left or right, which insists on me making sacrifices for those I do not know and will never know, perhaps may never wish to know. Why can my voluntary action or inaction be construed as immoral or selfish against whom I will never meet and break bread with. If by my very nature I am meant to be powerless, why then should my freedom be considered dangerous? For those that know me, can you honestly say that I could be a danger to those around me? That I might murder, rape and pillage in ways not dissimilar to this video? Is it possible for me to become like this, as you know me now? In my heart and mind I know that I am completely incapable of these kinds of atrocities. That the only way I could, would be to have my mind and consciousness seared by an anti rationality and a taught belief in my own timid powerlessness. A stolid choice to believe in my own inability to make important choices and decisions for the improvement of my life. Because they have been taken from me by righteous dictate for the ‘so called’ betterment of others. That these men could throw themselves into a war which so obviously wounded and killed many men before them is testament to a belief that ones own life was superfluous to that of others or was for the benefit of the greater good. That one can throw their life away so carelessly for those in power for whom they would never meet or engage with, is incongruous with ones very will to survive. That to sever ones consciousness from the reality of the destruction it reeks and to say that it is a good thing to die. That indeed to say that I die so that others may live should not be considered as perverse in the most extreme. That I should consider my own death as a benefit to others, when in life I could bring more joy and happiness to them around me than I ever could in my death. No, only the most deviant amongst us, our rulers, can suggest this subservience of the mind to our fellow man. That they can indeed throw away our lives with such disdain and dishonesty as to make us beholden to them. That we can think of them as our benevolent leaders that seek out our own personal justice and peace. That they can distort our own view of ourselves by turning us against our very own natures.

Of course people will suggest that we are no longer thrown into these wars anymore and indeed I agree that the state would have a hard time convincing us of this kind of sacrifice for the greater good anymore. That they do indeed try, as they seemingly enjoy taking large swathes of power from us in the form of stories about terror and fear. That they will always seek ways to undermine our very natures through our projections and fears of others. That they seek to take away our will for survival and replace it with the needs of others. Peoples wills are stronger today than they were during these world wars. At that time, statist rule was considered a new path to glorious harmony. Can any of us seriously say that today? Of course to me I see only the irrational mechanics of our religious pasts being foisted onto the modern citizen, as if by it’s very being ‘the state’ replaces God as the new saviour of our lives. That we see ourselves as small and insignificant to that of our chosen masters. That we embrace our own mental slavery and presume that our masters mean us well. That they will feed us, clothe us, provide us with health and shelter and indeed protect us from ourselves with security such as their police and armies. That we can now enjoy the fruits of some of our labour in the form of holidays, mobile phones, international cuisine. That many of us still presume that this has been provided to us by our munificent rulers is to disregard the individuals that thought long and hard about our self improvement and took great personal risks to themselves both financially and personally. That to profit individually, is not to profit those around us, is to be inconsistent with what we see with our own eyes. That the world has indeed profited from the profit of others in the form of mans inventions in medicine, food production and mechanical devices. That as individuals they had their own personal vision that could and indeed did transform the world in ways we never imagined. Why should not a person such as this profit from that risk? Why are they to be considered as selfish and greedy? What one of you would say they cannot benefit from their own labour? That to sit around benefiting from others should be seen as meaningful to the minds and passions of them that provide us with more time with our friends and families. That my own days labour should be taken from me for the benefit of those I will never even know. As if by its very essence I preserve them like a specimen in a bottle for the posterity of future unknown generations. That if indeed the future generation is worth considering this way, why not my own? If we say the future generation deserves more than us, what say that generation when considering its own anonymous future generations. To have sympathy with a generation that is yet to exist at the exclusion of ones own very real existence is to not be considered as discordant with our own personal will to survive. Should we not consider this as a maddening of our minds? To whom are we forfeiting our pleasures, wealth and happiness? Who gains from this ignorance of our own desires? Our leaders complain and grumble how they themselves have given up great wealth and careers for serving us with our needs. That this lie can be so manifold in nature and consistent. That our senses are so dulled into contrition as to not see the resultant greed and lust for power that is so well exhibited by their action or inaction. That to give ones power to someone you don’t even know personally with a trust so strong that we would unlikely extend too our own friends and family. What kind of madness or sickness of the mind is this? That never questions, merely grumbles momentarily about their ineffectiveness. That we watch these parasites of the mind (politicians) praise fallen men that have been sent into a senseless battle for their own pernicious desire to have power over all of us. That these parasites can be considered as honourable, whilst we consider all others as untrustworthy? At what point do we take self ownership for ourselves and rise above the ashes of our minds and say enough with being ruled, enough with being told how to feel through a preordained morality, given to us by them that wish to profit from us with no reciprocation. That to take from us is seen as a right and just part of living in a world with others. When do we say this is my life to choose for myself how I live and partake in it. That to take from others by force, when few complain, is to desensitise oneself from the violence used in extracting it.

The Birth of the Modern State

Feb 1, 2009
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WW1 in Colour - Hell in the Trenches

I take the creators own words here.

"World War I was the first modern global military conflict which took place in Europe between 1914 to 1918. Archaic military tactics met modern industrialised warfare for the first time, resulting casualties on a previously unimaginable scale. Men rotted in the mud, then were sent to face massed machine gun fire, modern artillary, tanks and chemical weapons. Over 20 million soldiers and civilians died and countless others were physically maimed or mentally scarred by the horrors of trench warfare."

Of course our states no longer inflict war on our own soil any more. However, in this case it took them another war to finally seek diplomacy in Europe. We now make war in far flung places like Iraq and Afghanistan, with false claims of liberty. But the futility of state aggression is well marked within this footage and the idea that this war gave us freedom is as much to mock our intelligence as the claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. The state clearly lies for its own ends and the men that start the war never pick up a gun or finish it. No, they leave that mess to the rest of humanity.

Music: Clint Mansell - The Last Man

Obama, a murderer?

Jan 25, 2009
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I was recently having a conversation with a forum host about what can and cant be said on his forum, which revolves around politics and economics. His strict instruction was that one couldn't denigrate any company or politician with spurious and Ad Hominem attacks. Now I would agree that Ad Hominem is a most unproductive way to go and certainly lends itself to closing down debate, rather than enlightening it. This is why I left my title as a question, rather than a statement, so as to avoid the accusation of Ad Hom. However, lets look at the facts firstly and see if I cannot convince you of his guilt. I am quite sure that he is a murderer, but I appreciate that many of you would consider him as not.

My question comes as a direct result of this action taken by the the Obama administration. His recent authorisation of a missile strike on a small village in Pakistan would seem to be a rite of passage for most presidents. And so as not be outdone orders his own, killing three children in the process. It would seem that this was a muscle flexing move for Obama according to the Guardian.

"The strikes will help Obama portray himself as a leader who, though ready to shift the balance of American power towards diplomacy, is not afraid of military action."

The tacit suggestion that violence has a role to play in negotiation as much as diplomacy, supposedly gives Obama an air of strength and control. I am sure many of you would agree with this analysis. Many of you I would suggest believe that the state has the right to kill all that it considers to be its enemy. But why?

Obomba

Rightly so, if I decided to shoot my neighbours for whom I didn't like and ended up taking out half the street and killing not just my neighbour but most of the neighbourhood I would be considered as a murderer. But yet when the state decides to hurl missiles with poor precision, its seen at worst as accidental and at best even noble. Even if you believe that they were aiming at killers, one cannot deny the innocence of three children. And that in any other situation we would be screaming for justice. Do I need to say more?

The New Atheism

Jan 16, 2009
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Misinfomed deffinitions

I have had little problem finding people convinced by atheism. Agreed, some have inferred reticence in proclaiming this view, partly out of respect for a religious family or local community. But for me, many if not all the beliefs of the mystic has been transcribed into statism as a rational alternative.

Convincing people of anarchy, often entails great anxiety to the listener, not dissimilar to that of questioning a Christian or Muslim's faith. I am often belittled and ridiculed for my thoughts and I am told that I must be miserable for having this view, which is most unlikely to occur within my lifetime, if at all. Of course there are occasions when someone does manage to see through the fog of government. These are the times that it seems worthwhile, because the more people that are willing to take on personal responsibility, the quicker mankind will recognise the futility of the state.

The creators blog can be found at http://nojusarturasnamajunas.blogspot.com/

I Have a Dream....

Aug 11, 2008
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Looking on the latest military conflict to hit the news in South Ossetia, a small region of Georgia on the southern borders of Russia. Yet again we see the gargantuan misuse of a state military, bought and paid for, off the backs of individual hard labour. One can only imagine the death and carnage that is going on over there. The systematic use of sophisticated modern weaponry still leaves us gaping into a pit of contemporary human barbarity and despair.

Almost predictably, corny expressions of unease regarding this war are emanating from the west. President Bush has demanded that the Russians go no further than South Ossetia in an almost tacit acceptance of the violence inflicted thus far. It’s at these times that governments show their true colours behind their rhetoric. The west of course is only concerned with the oil pipeline that links Azerbaijan to Europe. As a result Russia sees this part of its old territory as an important pawn in its ever growing power regarding the worlds future energy resources. So the west sits on the fence and throws light criticism at the Russians as a means to shrouding their true position on the matter.

Of course the images we see above are far worse than we would ever see in Iraq or Afghanistan and are liberally displayed throughout most western newspapers. This is Russia after all, for whom the western press is free to condemn and criticise at will. The cursed hypocrisy of the west is as virulent to see as at any other time before. They use politics as a means to hoodwinking their relevant populaces into believing their stories through vague gestures and sound bites. Now I also include the Georgians in this duplicity, as they are hardly without blood on their hands. As liberal as the west has been in its coverage of Russian aggression, it has shown scant regard to Georgia’s mister minors.

'LET FREEDOM REIGN'

As a result of all this I was left imagining a world free of conflict and unnecessary violence. ‘I have a dream’, a phrase that was used by the late Martin Luther King, was steeped in imagery. That imagery was of a future where oppression would no longer be the norm and that freedom would at last reign. Of course, as most modern anarchists, we always have our doubts regarding the eventual shift in the zeitgeist and no more so than when we see these behemoth governments acting in such a wantonly destructive manner, such as we see in this conflict. Our gut tells us, ‘how on earth do we stop these enormous bullies?’ How and when as individuals do we ever see the moment when we can stand up to these tormentors and face them head on in a fair and equal manner?

Stefan Molyneux wrote a wonderful blog recently regarding the safety of a free state society. It may not answer all the questions regarding personal defence, but it’s by far the broadest and most in depth challenge to the assertion that only a state can protect us militarily. It did of course allow me to dream of a society free of the tyranny of state control and coercion. A place in which voluntaryists would roam with complete protection from any force that felt a need to attack them. A world in which freedom would indeed reign and that culpability would be placed upon the individual or entity that committed any act of violence against them.

An overwhelming sense of sadness fills me now, not just for the poor innocent lives being destroyed through this current conflict. Indeed I feel a sadness that grows from my yearning for such a society, for which I am sure I'm unlikely to experience within my lifetime. However I am quite sure it is a vision of a future, whether near or far, that will at some dawn be seen as the only possible future worth having.