Terraism

War is politically motivated violence. War is therefore terrorism, enshrined in the law of one warring party.

When institutions present their mode of operations in a manner where ‘nothing is left off the table’ how does this influence individuals? When the powerful institutions of the world operate via the actual engagement or threat of violence upon whole regions how does this influence individuals? Violence, terrorism upon others where supposed logic is involved or via obvious psychotic reasons is a problem of consciousness.

By its definition, war threatens and enacts violence on behalf of the State, for its own benefit, at the expense of the lives and livelihoods of countless others. And yet we have come to accept their invasion, their suppression, and even their deaths as necessary to our lives — to our sense of peace. So we occupy lands, we kill leaders, we overturn cities in the hunt for weapons that don’t exist — and all because the lawmakers who decide which violent acts are “war” and which are “terrorism” tell us such violence is necessary to achieve peace.

So, remind me again… Who are the terrorists? Who are the war heroes? Who are the war criminals?

Do we really believe peace can be achieved by declaring war on war itself?

The greatest hypocrisy of our time.The world’s political institutions — from the U.S. to Russia, from Israel to ISIS — seek to gain and maintain power through the use of violence, terror, and military coercion. In fact we live in a world where legally-sanctioned acts of terrorism are carried out more often than illegal terrorism — but, as they are conducted within someone else’s borders, in someone else’s homeland, we separate ourselves from this reality, in a dissonant attempt to protect ourselves from it.

“Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Whether we are conscious of it or not, we are each deeply and profoundly disturbed by the war world we live in; we are disturbed that hate is the language of our leaders. We are disturbed that we send our sons and daughters away to participate in it. and we are disturbed that we allow it. And we are disturbed by feeling we are unable to do anything about it. For most of us, war has been an ever-present part of our lives, and we accept the state of war as the state of “normal” — simply because it has always been.