Waking From My Moral Coma

[WilliamPitt]

President Barack Obama salutes members of the U.S. military after meeting with Afghan President
Hamid Karzai, at Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, May 2, 2012.
(Photo: Doug Mills / The New York Times)

Waking From My Moral Coma
By William Rivers Pitt
Truthout | Op-Ed

Wednesday 13 March 2013

I've been having trouble with mirrors lately. When I look these days, I see a bastard staring back, a stranger, a guy who should be ashamed of himself.

He is.

A long, long time ago, I wrote this: "America is an idea, a dream. You can take away our cities, our roads, our crops, our armies, you can take all of that away, and the idea that is America will still be there, as pure and great as anything conceived by the human mind."

I still believe that, and therein lies the problem. I am a sucker for that dream, that idea, and for the last few years I allowed it to seduce me.

Hunter S. Thompson had Richard Nixon as his white whale, and while I would never in Hell think to compare myself to The Doctor, we share a similar experience, insofar as George W. Bush was my white whale. Deep in the heart of those Nixon years, Thompson lamented about "what a fantastic monument to all the best instincts of the human race this country might have been, if we could have kept it out of the hands of greedy little hustlers like Richard Nixon." So it was, for me, with Bush.

(snip)

I am finished with the moral geometry that says this is better than that, which makes this good. This is not good; this is, in fact, intolerable. Allowing the perpetrators of war crimes - widely televised ones at that - to retain their good name and go on Sunday talk shows as if they had anything to offer besides their ideology of murder and carnage is intolerable. Entertaining the idea that the billions we spend preparing for war cannot be touched, and so the elderly and the infirm and the young and the weak and the voiceless must pay the freight instead, is intolerable.

The pornography of America's global killing spree is intolerable, and, by the by, I am sick of hearing about drones. A child killed by a Hellfire missile that was fired from a drone is exactly, precisely as dead as a child killed by a Hellfire missile fired from an Apache attack helicopter, precisely as dead as a child killed by a smart bomb, precisely as dead as a child killed by a sniper, precisely as dead as a child killed by a land mine, or by a cruise missile, or by any of the myriad other ways instant death is dealt by this hyper-weaponized nation of ours.

Exactly, precisely as God damned dead, and the blood is on our hands regardless of the means used to do the killing. The issue is not the drones. The issue is our hard, black hearts, and the grim fact that the debate in this country right now is not about whether the killing is wrong, but about the most morally acceptable way of going about that killing. Drones are bad, but snipers are better, because you don't hear the buzzing sound in the sky before your lights go out forever. Or something.

It is the killing, it is the permanent war, it is our deranged national priorities. It is the system we live under which requires the serial deaths of all those innocents to maintain our economic health that should appall us. We sup upon the blood and bonemeal that is the byproduct of the idea that is America, and we sleep. And we sleep.

The rest: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/15088-waking-from-my-moral-coma

[mike_c]

1. rec'd

This exactly summarizes my feelings about U.S. foreign policy. It is down right evil. It makes me ashamed. Fuckers do it in my name. Every congress and administration since Reagan is guilty (and the ones before Reagan are too-- the guilt just morphs a little so it needs it's own slightly different colored moral stain).

[brush]

54. Yes, this post hits deep

And unfortunately foreign policy immorality goes back much further even than Reagan. I mean real foreign intervention began when we overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy in the 1890s at the behest of American growers who want unlimited range to expand their business (it has went on since then in hundreds of interventions, invasions, and formented coup incidents). Even domestically we need to re-examine and come to terms with what was done to Native Americans. And then of course we can go further and talk about African Americans and the immorality of the slave trade and on and on and on. I agreed one hundred percent with the poster that theoretically America is a great shining example what to strive for as a nation but our execution of that ideal, I'm sorry, has blood all over it and we've come to accept it in exchange for creature comforts. Can we fix all the ills? God, there's a lot of fixing to do. Maybe the repugs will hear of Scott Prouty's "come to Jesus" moment in front of his mirror, and maybe the President will hear about it and put and end to the drone madness and began the dismantling of our more than a century old intervention/war machine.

[OneGrassRoot]

2. THIS IS A MUST READ. K&R n/t

[xiamiam]

3. better late than never..the guy in the photo contributed to you falling alseep

Not necessarily your fault..we ALL had hope. He just turned out to be Bush on steroids when it comes to secrecy, and war, and drones, and guatanamo, and wall street. Roll up your sleeves Will..you have a powerful voice and we need you now more than ever.

[MotherPetrie]

4. +1

[JoePhilly]

7. So when he was a candidate in 2008 and said he'd end the Iraq war, and increase

troop levels in Afghanistan ... you were asleep?

The suggestion that Obama is "Bush on steroids" is right up there with the Tea Party Birther nonsense.

[Romulox]

9. And end the Drug War...and renegotiate NAFTA... yes, we remember. nt

[JoePhilly]

21. Better get busy on finding a candiate for 2016 I guess.

[Hotler]

27. Voting will not cut it. It will take tens of thousands in the streets........

so many the cops will have nothing better to do than to come stand with us.

[JoePhilly]

30. When's that scheduled for?

[Hotler]

46. May 1st. Meet me in front of the Colorado state capital on the steps 9:00am sharp.

Be there or be talked about.

[JoePhilly]

48. Can't make it ... its about 1500 miles from here and my daughter has softball practice that night.

[Hotler]

51. I didn't think you would show up. Most Americans don't have it in them. But we can get....

50,000 at a football game or 100,000 at a NASCAR race, but only handfuls to protest the fucking we are getting from the PTB. Hope your daughter's team wins.

[JoePhilly]

53. So we're supposed to find the money to travel 1500 miles to

Colorado to protest income inequality and similar mistreatment by the unnamed PTB?

And that protest is at some court house in Colorado? Because THAT's the best place to do it?

A protect at which, you already admit you can't get enough people anyway.

Apparently, you can't get the change you want via the political process, or through people in the street approach either.

Oh ... and no one wins at softball practice ... its just practice.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. When he was a candidate in '08 he said he would escalate the war in Afghanistan and lost my vote.

Unfortunately, that was one of the promises he kept.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

55. Even then, he didn't tell us how much he would escalate the war in Afghanistan.

He squandered the future of this country. And for what?

[wasserman]

10. Bush on steroids is right

[JoePhilly]

14. Not in a reality based world.

[Jakes Progress]

42. You mean a celebrity based world.

[JoePhilly]

43. Get back to me when Obama puts 100,000+ troops on the ground in a 10 year war

against a country that didn't attack us.

Until then, you have nothing.

[Jakes Progress]

62. It wouldn't do any good.

You love that cool aid.

But if you need super heroes to make you happy, you should look to comic books. Less fall out.

[SammyWinstonJack]

39. ...

He just turned out to Bush on steroids....



Flip side of the same corporate coin.

[Newest Reality]

56. +1

Titular heads get their out, for me though.

I mean, if we think of McDonald's McFood as bad for our children's health, (and our own) it is still hard to feel antipathy for Ronald McDonald, their red and yellow mascot. He's always smiling!

[panader0]

5. The war(s) have always been the number one issue to me.

I worry about jobs, education, gay rights and all of the issues, but the wars have a much deeper importance.
"first do no harm" End the incredible harm done by our "foreign policies" first, then, with a better moral compass, we can address the problems here at home that are sapped by wars.
K and R

[FairWinds]

6. I so wish that this were not true . .

but it is, which is why, as a Vietnam vet I joined Veterans for Peace. How could I not?

[PowerToThePeople]

8. People still are working

http://www.impeachbush.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage

I still get updates. But, I admit to the same thing. The issue is I still need to survive. To do that sometimes I need to stay focused on that day to day survival. I do not like being part of this country at this time. I do not like that I am a citizen of what I believe to be a truly evil society. I do not like it because I do not agree with the path we have gone down. I do not like it because it shows how much of a failure I am. I have allowed these acts to happen in my name. I have not done all I could...

I am part of the reason this death has happened and is still happening.

[annabanana]

11. And, at the end, we are clear eyed and heavy hearted.

It is harder now to fight off exhaustion. But fight it off we must as there is no moral alternative.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. “You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.” Albert Einstein

[marions ghost]

16. yep this is better than that...is not working

re. --"I am finished with the moral geometry that says this is better than that, which makes this good."

They have us where they want us, distracted, divided, scrabbling, obsessing about "entitlements" and deficits and minimum wages. They have us on the ropes. Don't look, over there. Don't look at what we have done, over there, in these "wars." Don't look at the toll taken, in lives, in resources, in credibility around the world--and the damage to our national psyche. Don't look. Don't feel. Don't think.

We sleep --but with nightmares, waking up suddenly, knowing the truth of it. Warmongers own this country. Blood on our hands. It is hard to accept. And even if we don't deny it...what to do...what to do but lament what might have been.

[KoKo]

17. Welcome Back!

Last edited Wed Mar 13, 2013, 02:19 PM - Edit history (1)

I wondered where that Will Pitt we knew from the Bush years had gone.

It's good to see this from you Will. Some of us here have needed support...because the rage we have is still there. But, we have been not treated well in pointing out policies that we detested under Bush...which seem to have continued and expanded. Bush and Obama are not the same. It's what's in back of them that is the problem.

Anyway, this is a wonderful article and your passionate voice so needed in these times when the danger of APATHY...is stalking so near. APATHY...Malaise...Emotional Withdrawal... That's the danger to be fought against.

[ljm2002]

18. That is a great piece, Will...

...I especially note this sentence near the end:

"It is the system we live under which requires the serial deaths of all those innocents to maintain our economic health that should appall us."

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

K&R

[AnotherMcIntosh]

57. "to maintain our economic health" -- For most of us, now it doesn't even do that.

[Bluenorthwest]

19. I figured those who dropped their opposition to the war were endorsing it.

99% of the 'peace activists' I know in life utterly abandoned the issue and became 'anti nuke' or 'anti gun' when Obama was elected.
Hypocrisy in self service is more accurate than 'moral coma' which implies a condition forced rather than an attitude chosen. The silence was a choice, made for expediency.

[xiamiam]

23. this particular site was not a constructive or welcoming place for us who oppose war after obama

we found other places for news and many of us posted here less and relied less on the opinions set forth here. Nothing has changed for the majority of us who oppose the disheartening ongoing war on terror and the profiteers who benefit from the sham of it. We haven't changed..not one bit. Broken hearted maybe. Disappointed in DU, yes. Surprised that politics trumped morality, yes. But no, we haven't changed..we're just not as vocal here.

[Jakes Progress]

44. An understatement.

They even stopped an old site and started a new one with new rules and procedures. Seems real Democrats will eventually come through anyway.

[panzerfaust]

47. Ah yes. There are those of us - not team players, I suppose -

- who are opposed to an authoritarian, militaristic and anti-democratic government no matter what political party we belong to, or which political party is in power.

At least, when B$ abrogated the basic rights of a free people the DU was near unanimous in criticism and opposition - but now that 'our team' has the ball, these same human rights violations are seen as prudent and necessary by many on this forum.

"... und wenn man in den Abgrund blickst,
blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein."
Friedrich Nietzsche

[Oilwellian]

20. I love you for this post Will Pitt

K&R

[WillyT]

22. Gigantic K & R !!! - Thank You For That !!!

[cliffordu]

24. Your best piece yet.

We all benefit from our war culture. To deny that is egregious, willful ignorance..
Empire requires a blood tithe. As it always was, it always will be.
As a veteran, I understand what Tomas Young is doing.
I disagree with his move, but I completely understand it.

I understand the impulse: One final sacrifice to call attention and maybe end the madness.


Good morning. I'm glad your sleep is over.

Peace.

[xxqqqzme]

25. "...It is the killing, it is the permanent war,

it is our deranged national priorities. It is the system we live under which requires the serial deaths of all those innocents to maintain our economic health that should appall us...."

And it has spilled out into our streets, schools, churches and theatres. Ever since 'the shot heard round the world' it has been with us. It is in the DNA of the nation.


Mr. Hedges sharing his visit with Tomas Young brought it all back for me. The hours demonstrating, the letters written, phone calls, supporting and working for Howard Dean and the continual outrage at the lies. I saw the anxiety of friends when their child was shipped off. Until they could wrap their arms around that child again, their anxiety was palpable. One returning child became a statistic. The one year anniversary recently passed quietly. These are reminders we will live with for many years. As reminders of Vietnam still shake us.

[Solly Mack]

26. Hi!

K&R

[Peace Patriot]

28. Rec x !,000!

And recommended book: "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters," by James Douglass, if you haven't read it.

Douglass both nails the CIA and attempts to heal our wounds. What a great writer! What a great investigative reporter (nails them totally)! What a great mind! Knows what it meant then and what it means now.

Best non-fiction book of the last and the current century.

We really must understand what happened then, and why, and begin fully comprehending what we are up against now. The recovery of our country and our democracy has to start with open eyes--past the anger, rage, disillusionment, denial, false hopes, disempowerment, disgust, and the matrix of illusions and delusions by which we are manipulated. Open eyes. That's what that book is about.

And, believe me, Douglass is on a mission to overcome apathy.

As you are, William Pitt. As you are.

-----------------

BTW, he is writing a trilogy. Next, RFK and MLK.

[ReRe]

29. Will Pitt...

K&R

Truly uncanny. You relate what so many of us feel in our hearts & souls. Thank you. Thank you for sharing your gift of writing. I do hope that everyone follows the link for the entire article!

[sabrina 1]

31. Good article, but I do not agree that it is not about who sits in the WH. It is very

much about that as we have, sadly, learned over the past few years. We've learned that no American can make it to the WH UNLESS they can be counted on not to interfere with the War Machine.

Think about that for a minute. I too am awake, but in a different way. Before 2008 I still believed that who was in the WH WOULD make a difference wrt to our foreign policies. I still believed that war crimes had a better chance of being prosecuted depending on who occupies the WH.

Now I know better because while I never shared your admitted apathy when it came to killing people in foreign nations for their resources, I was fooled by the idea that anyone could even get close to the WH if they did not support our draconian and criminal Foreign Policies, and/or at least do nothing to end them or to punish those who violated both our own laws and International law.

If you really have awakened, then you will acknowledge that the exposure by Wikileaks of this administration's interference in the prosecution of the Bush
War Criminals in the Spanish court, should have been a defining moment for anyone who shares your views on those policies.

To be truly awake means acknowledging that yes, it is Obama and/or anyone else who makes it to the WH UNTIL we the people stand up en masse against our criminal foreign policies. And that can't happen when Democrats go to sleep when they are in power.

The only possibility of changing things is to focus on Congress. We can't do anything about the WH until we have a Congress that will not go along with the policies which no one in the WH, Dem or Repub, is going to change until they have to.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

58. Before the 2008 election, I too believed that who was in the WH WOULD make a difference.

Obama campaigned with a thin resume. But when Senators and Representatives with proven track records of being liberals and progressives endorsed Obama, I genuinely was taken in. I genuinely thought that if he went too far afield, Senator Durbin and others would rein him in.

The system was supposed to work with checks-and-balances. Now we've got a surveillance system as bad or worse than what they had in Russia and East Germany, un-prosecuted happy war criminals, hundreds of billions or more transferred to the banksters, three more job-shifting "free-trade" agreements signed, a coordinated effort at the highest levels to suppress free speech at Occupy Wall St protests with unnecessary and excessive police violence, ...

You may be right that the only possibility of changing things is to focus on Congress. But I tend to believe that efforts have to be made at even a more local level. If the mayors and other local politicians with big D's after their names won't take an active interest, IMO, they should be rotated out.

[stupidicus]

32. better late than never

as I noted over there.

Hindsight is no replacement for foresight, but it is far better than the blindness many still suffer from.

Hopefully this effort on your part will help them see...

[Demo_Chris]

33. I cannot rec this more! Read it

[Hell Hath No Fury]

34. Glad you woke up -

You were missed.

Now, what are we going to DO about this shit???

[WilliamPitt]

35. Next article.

[indepat]

36. Bravo for expressing the view that the pornography of America's global killing spree is

intolerable, for a most gruesome pornography it is indeed. For it is the killing, the permanent war, our deranged national priorities that now define us as a nation and a people. It is a government also seemingly about to reduce the already-paid-for earned benefits of social security and Medicare beneficiaries to fund this killing pornography and the very favored tax preferences for large corporations and the most affluent, also pornographic imo. Keep hammering away.

[whatchamacallit]

37. K&R!

[SammyWinstonJack]

38. rec!

[Timbuk3]

40. I wrote this years ago

Without the constitution and the bill of rights, we are defending dirt.

[valerief]

41. +1 gazillion trillion! nt

[Spider Jerusalem]

45. The idea of "America as idea" is part of the problem

that sort of thinking leads to messianic zeal and arrogance. It lies at the root of American exceptionalism; the idea that America, among the nations of the world, has some special claim to stand for "freedom" and "liberty", is intrinsically superior to every other nation on earth for what amount to almost mystical reasons, and has some divinely ordained mission. Which is patent nonsense.

[marmar]

49. D'accord.

[Marr]

60. I agree. It's a schmaltzy sentiment that is very exploitable.

"America" isn't some intangible idea, for god's sake. It's a very concrete thing; a collection of roads, bridges, markets, institutions, etc., and it's well-being can be tracked with objectivity.

[99Forever]

50. Beyond a K&R.

if I could force feed this to each and every person in Washington DC, I would happily give up my life to do so.

Bless you, Mr William Rivers Pitt, you put into words what too many of us feel. The shame of what America has become, is that it didn't have to be this way.

[dembotoz]

52. k and r

[Fiendish Thingy]

59. Since 9/11, I had been a moral insomniac,

Unable to sleep because of the horrors, war crimes, and Constitution shredding done in my name, with my tax dollars. Was very active in engaging my reps, but nothing changed. Finally, 6 months ago, I emigrated to Canada.

I sleep much better now, but in my waking hours, still feel the rage and sorrow over the loss of the Idea of America.

I'm not an expatriate, I'm a Patriot-In-Exile.

[Javaman]

61. We live in Rome.

Caesars come and go. Some are better than the other, all condemn their predecessor in one way or another, but the war continues for the "good of the people" to keep the boarders safe from the hoards of unknowns from far away territories that aren't clearly defined.

No, I too am not equating Obama to moron*. Not one iota, however, I do believe that outside events now dictate how we "wage" our form of peace and democracy. No longer is policy handed down from above, it's now force upon from without.

I truly believe that President Obama is working hard and doing his best to herd cats. But alas, due to the abject neglect of the moron* years to any and all reasonable things, the job of running the nation has now evolved into trying to run a marathon, spin plates and recite Shakespeare backward in latin all by oneself. All the while the republicans pelt him with bricks and rocks.

And please don't take my comments the wrong way, it's an excellent piece Will and I just read Mr. Hedges piece as well.

Even when we wake from the "coma", what do we wake up to?

A world in which we have a war without end.

Sadly, the only way wars end is when the power brokers find peace more profitable.

This has always been the way of the human world.

Cheers my friend.

[loudsue]

63. Beautifully written, Will. One of your best.

You expressed exactly what I feel, and know, and you expressed it in a way I never could.