Useless Rant
Posted by Heather Kelleher
Driving down the Pike the other day, amongst the various signs advertising Baby Safe Haven and all you can eat @ Old Country Buffet, as well as the typical road signs directing people to their destinations, I saw a less official sign that has stricken me w/ this thing called “thought”. The sign was hung up on the overpass near the Natick Tolls; it was slightly crooked and although not handwritten, it certainly wasn’t the product of deep pocket funding. Nonetheless, the sign, which read “Help fight the war against fatherhood” achieved a goal, I won’t say, “it’s” goal, but a goal. As I zoomed under the bridge this declarative plea was hung from, I first asked myself “Does that even make sense?”. Clearly it doesn’t but as my thoughts moved beyond the initial critique, my more predominate wonder was why everything nowadays is “a war on (please fill in the blank)…Here, Let’s make a list:
The War on Terror
The War on Drugs
The War Against the Middle Class
The War on Iraq
The War on Poverty
The War on Christmas
The War on Education in Afghanistan
The War on Free Press
The War on Waste
The War on Truth
The War on Guns (oh the irony)
The War on Youth
The War on Fat
The War on Workers
Ok, ok, I’ll stop, I’m assuming you get the idea.
I’m sure anyone could agree w/ the ideals represented by at least on of these wars. I myself am am against The War on Free Press but for The War on Fat & The War on Poverty. But I wonder, despite having never picked up a gun, am I a foot soldier in these wars? And being such, have I been brainwashed to view absolutely everything as a war? It’s a little alarming to me that every state of opposition needs to be called a war. So every time I disagree with someone, apparently I am to wage war. Bring out the assault rifles then, b/c I have problems with a lot of people, ideas, institutions, etc. No wonder kids are blowing each other away, fuck!
Call me a liberal, hippie, or just fucking naïve, but perhaps there’d be a little less unrest if we viewed things in a slightly more positive light. For example, instead of the War on Fat it should be called “The Promotion for Healthy Eating”. By calling something a war, an immediate division is drawn up between the two sides; people become polarized and discussion is off the table. Our actions become increasingly reactionary because we are in a perpetual state of aggression. I can’t help but think we are being programmed to accept war against everyone, even our neighbors, as natural. I suppose being comfortable waging war against neighbors makes it easier to go overseas and murder thousands of Muslims, which is probably how “they” want it. In no time at all we’ll all be goose-stepping to work, save for the occasional break in formation needed to fire 40 rounds into the fat, old lady on the T taking up two seats.
Driving down the Pike the other day, amongst the various signs advertising Baby Safe Haven and all you can eat @ Old Country Buffet, as well as the typical road signs directing people to their destinations, I saw a less official sign that has stricken me w/ this thing called “thought”. The sign was hung up on the overpass near the Natick Tolls; it was slightly crooked and although not handwritten, it certainly wasn’t the product of deep pocket funding. Nonetheless, the sign, which read “Help fight the war against fatherhood” achieved a goal, I won’t say, “it’s” goal, but a goal. As I zoomed under the bridge this declarative plea was hung from, I first asked myself “Does that even make sense?”. Clearly it doesn’t but as my thoughts moved beyond the initial critique, my more predominate wonder was why everything nowadays is “a war on (please fill in the blank)…Here, Let’s make a list:
The War on Terror
The War on Drugs
The War Against the Middle Class
The War on Iraq
The War on Poverty
The War on Christmas
The War on Education in Afghanistan
The War on Free Press
The War on Waste
The War on Truth
The War on Guns (oh the irony)
The War on Youth
The War on Fat
The War on Workers
Ok, ok, I’ll stop, I’m assuming you get the idea.
I’m sure anyone could agree w/ the ideals represented by at least on of these wars. I myself am am against The War on Free Press but for The War on Fat & The War on Poverty. But I wonder, despite having never picked up a gun, am I a foot soldier in these wars? And being such, have I been brainwashed to view absolutely everything as a war? It’s a little alarming to me that every state of opposition needs to be called a war. So every time I disagree with someone, apparently I am to wage war. Bring out the assault rifles then, b/c I have problems with a lot of people, ideas, institutions, etc. No wonder kids are blowing each other away, fuck!
Call me a liberal, hippie, or just fucking naïve, but perhaps there’d be a little less unrest if we viewed things in a slightly more positive light. For example, instead of the War on Fat it should be called “The Promotion for Healthy Eating”. By calling something a war, an immediate division is drawn up between the two sides; people become polarized and discussion is off the table. Our actions become increasingly reactionary because we are in a perpetual state of aggression. I can’t help but think we are being programmed to accept war against everyone, even our neighbors, as natural. I suppose being comfortable waging war against neighbors makes it easier to go overseas and murder thousands of Muslims, which is probably how “they” want it. In no time at all we’ll all be goose-stepping to work, save for the occasional break in formation needed to fire 40 rounds into the fat, old lady on the T taking up two seats.
This entry was posted by Ben Myers, on
Friday, October 20, 2006.
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