A Memorial To What?
This evening will be a joyous time across what has become the most powerful nation on earth. There will be music blaring, grills being readied to burn processed animal manufacturing leftovers, and the skies filled with shows of fire and noise in celebration of the heroism of patriots who have given their life. While it must be regarded as a great sacrifice, and while it would be both ignorant and cold-hearted to disregard the holiday, I suggest the sentiments of it be redirected.
Bear in mind that the vast majority of the heroism you celebrate was not in "defense of their country". The U.S. is not under attack, nor has it been for quite some time now, and unless you are mourning the loss of 3000 victims of the Sept. 11th attacks, or unless you are mourning the loss of the 2300 soldiers at Pearl Harbor, than you are not commemorating the defense of America in any way. You are celebrating American imperialism, and global economic suppression. The global "war on terror" is a manufactured crisis that is creating a real one. While Donald Trump, for example, send missiles to Syria, he is assisting the weapons manufacturing industry; An industry, by the way, known to donate to presidential campaigns across the ideological spectrum. These corporations make billions of dollars creating weapons to be used at the non-existent discretion of the president. The justification was ironically human rights. If the tight-fitting shoe were on the other foot however, there would have been a dreadful reaction. Imagine if Assad reacted to the protests at Standing Rock (where native protesters were being driven from their land at the hands of corporations) by sending missiles to ND? Could you even fathom the panic that would sweep the nation (I'm about to get mad - trigger warning)?! How is it humanely possible to justify a global perpetual state of war being propagated by the United States, to smile upon the disgraceful and disgusting fact that we have thousand of military bases across the globe, to wink at our efforts to avoid an armed North Korea, while our morally superior asses harbor a gigantic reservoir of nuclear weaponry large enough to destroy the entire planet 7 times over?! You are celebrating this? All the while the vast majority of the troops we are pretending to support are killed and wounded in these imperialistic struggles for power, the soldiers, when they return (those not in boxes) are greeted to a Veterans Affairs healthcare approach that should be considered an embarrassment. War should disgust us all. Imperialism should disgust us all... And those cheering, laughing, and celebrating this should likewise disgust us all. Power to the people!