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A recent survey of American values indicates that patriotism, belief in God and having children all rate much lower than they did 20 years ago. Gosh, one wonde

A recent survey of American values indicates that patriotism, belief in God and having children all rate much lower than they did 20 years ago. Gosh, one wonders what could have happened? Maybe two decades of pointless soul-rotting stupid wars, all supported by the most patriotic and pious among us? That has certainly sapped this correspondent's patriotism. (His piety, though, something else sapped that...) Next you'll be telling us that trigger-happy crowd-murders are more common, and we'll think of all the wedding parties, funerals, open markets, etc. we've incinerated in the Middle East. It's as if chickens... come home to roost! TFA is definitely the most pedestrian, limp, effort-free deposit one has ever read from Cowen.

mieseratte 7y ago
> Maybe twenty years of pointless soul-rotting stupid wars > Next you'll be telling us that trigger-happy crowd-murders are more common > It's as if chickens... come home to roost! I'm a bit confused, are you of the mind that there is some relation between mass-shooters and the wars in the Middle East? Or just those wars are why people feel less positive about patriotism?
- jessaustin 7y ago
  I've been around long enough to have seen karma in action. If I pay enough attention, I often find that "karma" is another name for "obvious consequences". The things that we're encouraged to blame for these mass murders: guns, crazy people, Republicans, white supremacists, etc. we've always had in USA. What has changed? I submit that over time we've been subjected to ever-increasing levels of war-media conditioning. We're constantly encouraged to fear, to hate, to destroy. Right now we're hating on Iranians and Venezuelans, with plenty of leftover hatred for Afghans, Iraqis, Libyans, Syrians, Russians, Chinese, etc. The idea is that we'll funnel that insanity into voting for, or at least tolerating, increased payments to armaments manufacturers, and the contrived wars necessary to "justify" same. Some people just aren't mentally pliable enough to focus on the desired end goal. If you tell them often enough to fear and kill, eventually that's what they'll do. Maybe they'll try to kill mostly "others" on their killing sprees, but maybe they're such loners that anyone human parses as "other" to them. It's not a coincidence that the "first" one of these things took place in 1966. The military-media-industrial complex was pulling out all the stops on their first big project since Korea. Yes, also, obviously, the wars have killed patriotism among thinking people. Again, though, it hasn't just been the wars, but also the industrial-strength war-media war conditioning that was necessary to bring them about.
- sidlls 7y ago
  There is a relationship: they're both either directly caused by or indirectly fomented by the same group of people ("patriotic, pious", and often racist right-wingers).
mcv 7y ago
> "two decades of pointless soul-rotting stupid wars" Two? It's hardly a new development. Vietnam was just as pointless and soul-rotting.

mieseratte 7y ago

> Maybe twenty years of pointless soul-rotting stupid wars > Next you'll be telling us that trigger-happy crowd-murders are more common > It's as if chickens... come home to roost! I'm a bit confused, are you of the mind that there is some relation between mass-shooters and the wars in the Middle East? Or just those wars are why people feel less positive about patriotism?

jessaustin 7y ago
I've been around long enough to have seen karma in action. If I pay enough attention, I often find that "karma" is another name for "obvious consequences". The things that we're encouraged to blame for these mass murders: guns, crazy people, Republicans, white supremacists, etc. we've always had in USA. What has changed? I submit that over time we've been subjected to ever-increasing levels of war-media conditioning. We're constantly encouraged to fear, to hate, to destroy. Right now we're hating on Iranians and Venezuelans, with plenty of leftover hatred for Afghans, Iraqis, Libyans, Syrians, Russians, Chinese, etc. The idea is that we'll funnel that insanity into voting for, or at least tolerating, increased payments to armaments manufacturers, and the contrived wars necessary to "justify" same. Some people just aren't mentally pliable enough to focus on the desired end goal. If you tell them often enough to fear and kill, eventually that's what they'll do. Maybe they'll try to kill mostly "others" on their killing sprees, but maybe they're such loners that anyone human parses as "other" to them. It's not a coincidence that the "first" one of these things took place in 1966. The military-media-industrial complex was pulling out all the stops on their first big project since Korea. Yes, also, obviously, the wars have killed patriotism among thinking people. Again, though, it hasn't just been the wars, but also the industrial-strength war-media war conditioning that was necessary to bring them about.
sidlls 7y ago
There is a relationship: they're both either directly caused by or indirectly fomented by the same group of people ("patriotic, pious", and often racist right-wingers).

mcv 7y ago

> "two decades of pointless soul-rotting stupid wars" Two? It's hardly a new development. Vietnam was just as pointless and soul-rotting.