What have We Become

What have We Become
There are now anti-Sheehan protesters! Groups have mobilized to protest against the mother of a soldier who questions the purpose of her son’s death. We shouldn’t be surprised. When violence is chic, hatred of women runs a parallel course. Historically, when brutality and violence rule a political course, women are reduced to a narrow role as producers of war machines that should be proud of their bomb-like male contributions. WWI poet Wilfred Owen questions this in his poem “Dulce Est Decorum Est” which asks the reader to reconsider the old ideal It is right and honorable to die for ones country, Sheehan has a similar question, “How was his death honorable?”

When the war drums beat before the Great War, the Futurist group wrote a famous declaration which embraced industrial society and promoted art, poetry, literature, and social ideas such as this found in the ninth thesis of the 1909 Marinetti Manifesto:
"We will glorify War--the world's only hygiene- militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for and scorn for women."

Just think, the world’s only hygiene refers to the uncanny way in which war reduces the working class of people and leaves the rich and the elite to survive and thrive. Scorn for women runs parallel to the promotion of war. Later, elite artists such as Wyndham Lewis expound further on this misogyny in Blast magazine when he writes:

"Woman's function, the manufacturing of children (even more important than cartridges and khaki suits) is only important from this point of view....It takes the deft woman we employ anything from twelve to sixteen years to fill and polish these little human cartridges, and they of course get fond of them in the process" Blast Magazine.

So we make cartridges called sons, and now in 2005, even cartridges called daughters! We've really moved forward. There is no hiding from the concept that women have done their service to the nation by producing sons and that they have no right to ask why their sons aren't coming back. The red-right hates anyone who would question the death of a son, and these extremists embody the fascism of Marinetti. They selectively glorify war, destruction, and scorn for women.

We do not have a clear exit plan or a goal to reach in this war. Our military has had problems with giving men adequate training, properly armored vehicles, and adequate body armor. A government ready to sacrifice sons and daughters should have its “stuff” together. Because of what I see as military incompetence, every mom has a right to ask Bush a few questions. I think every man over there who has a long deployment whose families have fallen apart has the same right to ask, “Did I have to be there so long.” Finally, when Cindy asks the question about her son I'd like her to ask one for me. If we can go into debt into the trillions over a foreign war, why can't we spend more money on education and health care? Aren't we worth it?

When society embraces militarism, patriotism and hatred of mothers it is time to stop the politics and start questioning what we have become. What have we become?

(Great links on this which I will post later)- sorry it's not a poem- J