The myth of the brave and noble soldier
Let me explain first that, although I am a pacifist and abhor all wars, I am not always non violent, at least in thought. Being of a rather impetuous nature, I sometimes have fantasies of pounding somebody’s face in with a hammer or inflicting some other truly painful punishment to people I don’t like. But it’s just a harmless way of releasing my frustrations and normally it takes a lot to make me angry.
I have to confess however that I don’t hold soldiers in very high esteem, ranking them on the same level as, say butchers or baby seal clubbers, all bad karma inducing professions that are nevertheless considered necessary. That is why I don’t buy into that «brave and noble soldier» myth that’s permeating all the blogs I’ve read. All blogs, from all sides of the political rainbow in the US, would say something like: I approve/disapprove of the Iraqi war, but I support our brave soldiers. Why does the simple act of enrolling in the army automatically makes a person brave and noble? Recruiting officers may try to tart up a soldier’s horrible job description by appealing to his patriotism and to the noble mission of protecting his loved ones from the nation’s evil enemies. But in the end, he is still being paid to go out and kill other human beings.
Jack London said it better than me [duh!]:
«Young men, the lowest aim in your life is to become a soldier. The good soldier never tries to distinguish right from wrong. He never thinks; never reasons; he only obeys. If he is ordered to fire on his fellow citizens, on his friends, on his neighbours, on his relatives, he obeys without hesitation. If he is ordered to fire down a crowded street when the poor are clamouring for bread, he obeys and see the grey hairs of age stained with red and the life tide gushing from the breasts of women, feeling neither remorse nor sympathy. If he is ordered off as a firing squad to execute a hero or benefactor, he fires without hesitation, though he knows the bullet will pierce the noblest heart that ever beat in human breast.
A good soldier is a blind, heartless, soulless, murderous machine. He is not a man. His is not a brute, for brutes kill only in self-defense. All that is human in him, all that is divine in him, all that constitutes the man has been sworn away when he took the enlistment roll. His mind, his conscience, aye, his very soul, are in the keeping of his officer. No man can fall lower than a soldier—it is a depth beneath which we cannot go.»
You’ll go to hell where you will burn for all eternity
When Ask Jeeves used to be free, I used to go on religious forums and have long, impassionate arguments with Christian and Islamic members. I was not being provocative, I just wanted to understand how faith works, and why modern, well educated and well-read people could still believe in an anthropomorphic God, a father figure that literally forces mankind to worship him or else risk his wrath. What kind of god would be so insecure as to need to be worshipped? God created the whole universe, supposedly, but the devotion of the inhabitants of one tiny planet among zillions of others is that important to his ego? Why would he care? What is the purpose of a life whose goal is simply to go to heaven? Why did God bother creating humans at all or if he created them, why not plunk them in heaven right away, instead of making them jump through numerous hoops in order to eventually land in some kind of Disneyland, to live another tedious life, but this time with 72 virgins or with angels and harps, for all eternity. Of course, I never got any satisfactory answers to my questions. Eventually, I always ended being threatened with the burning fires of hell. Again, I had questions about that. If I’m dead and only my soul survives in the afterlife, why would I care about physical pain? I could be tortured forever, I wouldn’t feel a thing without a body with nerves, now would I? And if it’s damnation for all eternity, the worst fate in hell (or in heaven for that matter) would probably be boredom. And speaking of eternity, what kind of loving father would stay angry with his children forever and ever until the end of time?
Tous pourris
Vous êtes choqués par le scandale des commandites au Canada? Vous êtes bien naïfs! Une réaction plus réaliste à mon avis serait de grommeler un peu, de hausser les épaules et de retourner ensuite à vos activités habituelles en espérant qu’il fera beau ce week-end pour enfin pouvoir prendre votre café sur le balcon.
Bien sûr que c’est dégoûtant! Mais est-ce vraiment si surprenant? Répétons-le une fois de plus, pour éliminer tout doute possible: les politichiens sont tous des pourris, tous sans exception, à tous les niveaux!! Ceux qui sont dans le mauvais parti politique du moment iront se cacher, tandis que les autres iront faire leur petit numéro d’indignation («Je suis choqué, outré vous dis-je!») devant la télévision, en attendant la prochaine fois où ce sera à leur tour de se cacher et aux autres de crier au scandale.
Aux prochaines élections, vous aurez le choix entre voter pour votre parti habituel ou pour le parti adverse. Comprenez bien cependant que, quel que soit le parti qui sera élu, les politichiens continueront de se remplir les poches, les membres de leur famille et les petits copains continueront d’être nommés à des sinécures bien rémunérées et les représentants municipaux continueront de faire des voyages d’étude à Venise, à Hongkong ou à Tahiti avec leurs conjoints et/ou amants/maîtresses, à vos frais. Plus ça change…
Calorifère? comme disait Lénine. Pas grand chose. Il y a longtemps que les élus «gouvernent» tout seuls et font leurs magouilles entre eux, sans être vraiment inquiétés par la populace bovine qui les a mis au pouvoir. Si M. Martin était remplacé par, disons M. Harper, au poste de Premier Ministre du Canada, il n’y aurait aucune différence sensible, sinon que le Canada deviendrait une succursale des États-Unis. C’est pourquoi je dis bravo à tous ceux qui trichent dans leurs déclarations d’impôt ou qui payent cash sous la table. C’est illégal, malhonnête et injuste pour les autres contribuables, je vous entends tonitruer. Ben, évidemment! Mais expliquez-moi en quoi il serait normal, honnête et juste qu’un citoyen confie une bonne partie de son argent à des gens qui vont l’utiliser pour construire un jardin à Shanghai, par exemple, alors que les rues de Montréal sont trouées comme du gruyère. En quoi un effectif accru et des bureaux plus luxueux à la délégation québécoise à Paris apporteraient-ils plus de bonheur au peuple?
TOUS. POURRIS.
TOUS.
1 comment:
«assuming that you still have consciousness, your brain could have signals of pain specifically sent to it». That's the neat thing with a soul though, there is no brain attached to it to receive any signal. The Matrix-like simulation works because there is a physical/concrete material to work on. Not so with a soul.
On the other hand, if a deity can create the world, I have no doubt that he will find a way to make a soul suffer eternal pains. I just wanted to underline the puerility of constructing a religion on human concepts which will necessarily be limited by the scientific and philosophic knowledge of the time, and the ridiculous expectations of trying to convert people with such childish ideas.
And I don't know how to allow anonymous comments.
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