America’s love affair with warfare—you see it everywhere in American culture, movies, video games, the war loving media, and the military air shows. The fighter jets are nothing more than terminator weapon systems with wings. They may be impressive in the air, but their function is Neanderthal. Remember the club thrown into the air by a Cro-Magnon type that was changed into a space station in 2001 a Space Odyssey? In reality it turned into attack helicopters, fighter jets, missiles, and killer drones—all of which America loves to celebrate and use on those who lack such weapons.
Americans can celebrate death and destruction from the sky because except for Pearl Harbor they have never been on the receiving end at home and rarely in war after W.W.II. I’m sure the Vietnamese people who remember the Vietnam War and the napalm and Agent Orange, the 2 million civilian deaths and half a million or more deaths of Vietnamese military personnel have a different opinion concerning America’s air power. And then there are the Iraqi people whose country has been annihilated by the American military. For example, “In December 2007, the Iraqi government reported that there were 5 million orphans in Iraq - almost half of the country's children.” (“Casualties of the Iraq War,” Wikipedia) The Lancet survey estimates “601,027 violent deaths out of 654,965 excess deaths.” The conservative estimate is a 100,000 civilian deaths caused by the war.
Conveniently, America does not keep tract of those they kill. I don’t blame them. And the killing continues in both Iraq and Afghanistan. How can pilots of helicopters and jet fighters and those responsible for sending missiles and killer drones to kill men with rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers or to blow up villages, usually killing as many women and children as terrorists, be consider heroes?
Take a look at the Taliban fighters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC1GlLfw2kU&feature=channel
Hardly a match for American Cyberdyne Systems, but it’s sure a lot of fun killing those guys—or anyone else wearing a turban or burka. I mean really, aren’t these guys the real warriors? Take a look at what they are up against:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFTZHDJsUs8&NR=1&feature=fvwp
America is in love with war and the technology of death and destruction. There is no evidence to think otherwise. That’s why it is no longer a cultural leader in the world. Its culture doesn’t go forward but continues to return to the good old prehistoric days. The only difference between that guy with the club and the pilot of a F/A-18 Hornet is that the pilot can fly his club and kill a lot more people without getting dirty.
America loves to celebrate freedom but really doesn’t know how to use it creatively. I think when it comes to culture, Americans are totally clueless. Video games, R-rated movies, sports, celebraty worship, and war are about all Americans know or care about. If some country is going to lead the world to a more enlightened state in this century, it certainly won’t be America.
