Re: Anti-Militarism Posters?

Kevin Dempsey Peterson (peterson@ocf.Berkeley.EDU)
Thu, 12 Feb 1998 21:04:11 -0800 

On 12 Feb 1998, Daniel C. Burton wrote:

>I like Seth's idea about copying the ISO topics, or it least how it would
>help us mirror current events.  I especially think we should take advantage
>of this latest Iraq crisis before it explodes and use it as an opportunity
>to show some of our colors on non-economic issues.  The ISO has a bunch of

How about:
Nyah, nyah, my missle is bigger than yours!

While most civilized people try to prove their masculinity maturely, by
buying bigger, flashier cars, Bill Clinton and Saddam Hussen (Hussein?)
are getting ready to settle it the old fashion way: with guns and dead
armies.

What's the coming war about?  Does anyone really know?  "Freedom"?
"National interests"?  Whose interests?  I certainly don't care if the
Iraqis want to be ruled by an insane dictator, and if the Iraqis care,
it's their own business.  General Motors doesn't care if their engines
go into tanks or trucks.  Motorolla doesn't care if their chips go into
computers or laser guided missiles (the big, phallic ones, remember?).
But you can bet the soldiers who are going to be shot at are going to
care.

War doesn't profit anyone: ever computer chip blown up with the smart
bomb that takes out a bunker drives up the price and slows the growth of
technology.  Every gallon of gas burnt sending troops overseas is one
less gallon that could be used to ship cars to Europe or import
electronics from Taiwan.  Ever soldier killed in the desert is one less
person who might have a great idea, or build something you might want to
buy.

So who does profit from war?  The government, that's who.  People will
put up with expansion of government power, restrictions on their rights
and increases of taxes while they are fighting a just war against the
evil enemies (the enemies always seem to be evil, somehow...).  And when
the war ends, the government seems to forget about this "temporary"
growth, and keeps taking all that money, and expanding its control of
the citizens lives.

And, of course, Bill Clinton can proves that he's got bigger bal--uh,
armies, than Saddamn Hussein.

--Kevin
reply-to: peterson@autobahn.org