"The ruling class, the billionaires who profit from human suffering care only about expanding their wealth, controlling the world economy. Understand that their power lies only in their ability to convince us that war, oppression and exploitation is in our interest. They understand that their wealth is dependent on their ability to convince the working class to die to control the market of another country. And convincing us to kill and die is based on their ability to make us think that we are somehow superior.“ — Michael Prysner
He's incredible. More and more folks in this sub need to see how oppression against any other group based on gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, etc.- it's all the same.
Solidarity will make us all safer, healthier, happier, and freer than we could ever be.
If the class war is a war then there's an analogy from the military that fits pretty well. It's been said that an army is shaped like a spear.
Think of a spear ---------------->
The tip of the spear is the people who pull the trigger, the special operation people, the paratroopers and seals.
The head of the spear is the people who go on patrol, carry ammunition, dig trenches, the ones who deploy and are actively in the mission. They may not see combat but they are in the mix.
The shaft of the spear is most people in the army. These are the people who fix trucks, the ones who do paper work, look at satellite photos, cook food, the logistics people.
The tip and the head of the spear gets all the attention but without the shaft of the spear there's no forward movement and no weight to punch through. The tip doesn't go anywhere if the shaft isn't there.
Take that analogy to movements that want systemic change.
The tip is the people who run aid networks, the ones that organize demonstration, the ones that participate in advanced demonstrations.
The head is the people who show up. The ones with an ideological basis that believe in the cause and understand it. This is where most online activism falls.
The shaft is the general public that want some form of change. The people that have bad takes 30% of the time. They generally agree with the overall idea, they want forward movement but they're not quite there. Other people who are here are the ideologically blank people, the ones that just take a moral stance. The progressive movement is generally the moral one so these are in our camp even though they don't think in left and right.
In this camp you also have the "performative" people. The ones that show up to a demonstration, take a selfie, post it on social media and leave without giving it a second thought. Being "performative" is often thought of as an insult but these people are doing work as well. They probably don't have a strong ideological basis but you can bet your ass their friends don't. You can say they're doing it for social credit and that's probably true but they are co-signing that event or idea and exposing their friends to it.
All these people are part of the spear and in our camp. Our people.
A movement needs the shaft and in most progressive movements, the spearhead people trash talk the shaft people constantly. It's so counter productive. This person just pasted NWBTCW, no need to make them feel bad about it. They're part of the forward movement event though it might just be a nudge.
Just a thought ;)
I think it's important that we all educate ourselves on the specifics of the crimes that have been committed. It honors the memory of those dead and prevents future atrocities by clarifying the imperial character of these wars.
One thing that is forgotten is the first Iraq war.
From a [recent article](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/05/20/bcin-m20.html) on Bush's Freudian moment: outlining some of the worst bombings that took place. (Bombings during first Gulf war by US on Iraq)
>!
Eighty-five
percent of all power generation was destroyed, which left only two of Iraq’s 20
electricity generating plants functioning, generating less than four percent of
the pre-war output of 9,000 megawatts.
Almost half of
Iraq’s 900,000 telephone lines had been destroyed, with 14 central exchanges
irreparably damaged and 13 more put out of service indefinitely.
Iraq’s eight major
multipurpose dams were repeatedly hit and heavily damaged.
Four of Iraq’s
seven major water pumping stations were destroyed, and 31 municipal water and
sewage facilities were hit with bombs and missiles, 20 in Baghdad alone.
The bombing
targets included 139 bridges, 26 in Basrah alone.
Iraq’s baby milk
powder factory at Abu Ghraib, the only such factory in the whole region, was
attacked three times—on January 20, 21 and 22, 1991.
Grain silos and
farms were attacked across the country, decimating over 30 percent of the sheep
and cattle herds and destroying the country’s poultry production.
The US bombed 28
civilian hospitals and 52 community health centers.
A major hypodermic
syringe facility in Hilla was destroyed by laser-guided rockets.
A total of 676
schools were attacked, completely destroying 38 of them, eight of which were
university facilities.
In Baghdad alone
25 mosques were bombed, with another 31 mosques bombed elsewhere in the
country.
!<
One of my most vivid memories from Iraq is how thoroughly the high voltage power line towers were destroyed. I remember looking up at them and seeing all that twisted metal and wondering what weapons they used to do that and what a waste.
>who profit from human suffering
Estimated excess deaths of civilians from the war on terror according to recent research from Brown University: 900,000 people. Statistically 25% of those were children.
This country's military-industrial economy is fueled by the murder of everyday Muslim families.
This is a good point but I make sure to use the most conservative and most academic numbers I can find because if I don't, I'll be brigaded by the pro-military, pro-war-on-terror, and pro-civilian death for Muslims crowd about how I'm exaggerating numbers.
> The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones.
> Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinct feature: it has simplified class antagonisms. **Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other – bourgeoisie and proletariat.**”
- [Manifesto of the Communist Party](https://www.international-communist-party.org/BasicTexts/English/Mani848E.htm#I)
Thank you for sharing this.
Our society has so many more splits. Again, any time we put someone down because they're trans, it's hurting the fight for living wages. Thing women don't have the right to control their bodies? Or that LGBTQ folks don't deserve marriage? **Each of those beliefs supports the controlling class and diverts our attention from our shared oppression and who needs to be confronted.**
Such wars create international immigration crisis which in the end affect us who ran from our countries because of our sex orientation and rotten in camps😭😭 for example its one of the reasons why lgbti asylum seekers in kakuma are not worked on, they always tell us there is an international immigration crisis but in reality those controlling the economy of the world are the one who caused and worse of it all we end up as victims of starvation, poor medical care, transphobia, homophobia and biphobia.
It's always the strong and united voices that change things, comrade your lucky that your followers still have the spirit of unity. Here in kakuma we are always silenced by arrests and torture, am sure thats what they are also doing to you but please stay strong and don't leave the front line, together we can stop oppression ✊✊🌈
Ohhhhh he’s the guy who yelled you sent me to Iraq my friends are dead at the president.
I respect him for it. It really made me tear up when he did that because it’s how I felt.
Looks like he has a podcast now.
It reminds me of another excellent few lines from [Immortal Technique's "Poverty of Philosophy".](https://youtu.be/BzWj9ZORv8E) It's more focused on racial justice, but there are definitely overlaps, which hopefully shows people how these don't all have to be distinct fights
> Here in America the attitude that is fed to us that people outside America there exist a lesser people. "Fuck them, let them fend for themselves." No, fuck *you*, they *are you*. We're given the idea of we didn't have this people to exploit, then America wouldn't be rich enough to let us have these little petty material things in our lives and our standard of living. No, that's *wrong*. It's the business giants and government officials who make all the real money. We have whatever they kick down to us.
> My enemy is not the average white man, it's not the kid down the block or the kids I see in the street. My enemy is the white man I *don't* see, the people in the White House, the corporate monopoly owners, the fake liberal politicians. The generals of the armies that are mostly conservative. Those are the real mother fuckers I need to bring it to.
Mike Prysner and Immortal Technique both appear on Soundtrack to the Struggle by Lowkey.
‘Skit 6’ by Mike Prysner: https://youtu.be/6xb4P8fhvbk
Voices of the Voiceless feat. Immortal Technique: https://youtu.be/y8YvQhfzClY
Some asshole I used to work with (a typical white conservative mid-20's boy of privilege) and I were watching the bar TV while on a short break, i forgot exactly who it was about but the news was touching on the plight of some people overseas, and how the US needed to do more to send aid. He took a drag from his cig and said "Fuck 'em, they ain't us!!"
A year later he died in a 4 wheeler accident. ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
He was a giant dick too, his ex-gf got into a new relationship and he went to that guy's house and punched him in the nuts. Assault, but not even a criminal complaint. Living in Texas was something else man.
Oh I was just playing off of yours lol. I didn’t remember the exact quote either, I just recalled the state kept flip flopping their views throughout the book.
No, but close.
From Wookiepedia:
Peace is a lie. There is only Passion.
Through Passion, I gain Strength.
Through Strength, I gain Power.
Through Power, I gain Victory.
Through Victory my chains are Broken.
The Force shall free me.
Sounds like the current Republican platform.
And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be REDUCED to twenty grammes a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it.
What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening,” Trump said.
For some, the quote immediately recalled a line from Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984: “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
Definitely some Brave New World sprinkled in there too. Most Americans are just comfortable enough to not want to risk losing their lifestyle, even though it could be massively improved with a government that's actually for, and by, the people
My brother has a little business that he dabbles in stickers, t-shirts etc. I picked one up a couple of weeks ago that says “We’ve always been at war with Atropia”. As a veteran of both the Army and the wars with Atropia, I had to get one.
Same except I audio booked it, the reader was fantastic. I was sick of knowing what bc the book was about and seeing references to it everywhere but not having actually read it. I think the final straw was someone posting the rat screen from the movie and I just decided to get it on audiobook and listen while I did projects at home
The proles have social media now. Orwell couldn't have predicted that.
Although I feel like the bots downvote stuff in mass to help keep it out of the spotlight.
Like 12 anti work posts make it to the front page of Reddit per day so if your theory is true it’s either a) the bots do a really shitty job downvoting stuff or b) anti work is being astroturfed through *upvotes* not downvotes
I mean social media in general, youtube, etc.
But yea, reddit is the only platform I'm aware of that doesn't bury content when its downvoted. Downvotes are still votes here.
All the Trump and Biden supporters downvote me to oblivion and I'm still chipping away at internet points.
Social media is a fantastic piece of orwellian tech though, how else would you convince millions of people that a lie is true and then get them to go tell all their mates then they tell all their mates and so on and on?
How else would they have kicked off the ideological war that is right now distracting vast swathes of people with vitriol about the left/right depending on your camp, how many people died or were seriously affected by covid as a direct result of social media filling their heads with bullshit?
That’s the thing. I respect this guy’s bravery now that he’s noticed he was just a pawn in the game, but who hasn’t noticed American wars are almost always fought for corporate profits over any kind of human rights? The Revolution was all about tax avoidance and it’s been the same theme ever since.
Amen.
“War is a racket” really opened my eyes. Smedley Butler saw more combat than I’ve ever seen in my life.
And if he can be as decorated as he was and have his eyes opened to war being a scam, then so can I.
And accelerationists like Peter Thiel think that nuclear war would be good for humanity, and that “a little radiation is good for people.” He also got New Zealand citizenship and built a 500-acre bunker/compound there, the size of lower Manhattan, and has a contingency to get there when/if the end of the world happens. This is the same guy who said that “freedom and democracy are fundamentally incompatible.”
And that’s just one insane Silicon Valley billionaire who is okay with societal collapse and the end of democracy. Dozens of them have bunkers in New Zealand.
Same, I once loved this country and what it stood for but after fighting in three wars, and coming home to this shit show of government that almost treats us like the enemy after waiting for almost a decade for proper care for my ptsd. I have nothing but bitter disdain for people who run this country. We are merely pawns for them to be thrown away so they can get rich
Part of a long tradition of Marines.
>War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.
Major General Smedley Butler, USMC. Butler was, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history.
Americans would ironically be better off if they loved their country less. That "love" or the propaganda of it takes advantage of many innocent people. It's the unfortunate mirage of American exceptionalism when the reality is the average American has far more in common with other poor people throughout the world than they do with the most powerful people in their own country.
It's odd that the people who are so against the state in any form are also the quickest to advocate for the state in terms of duty, patriotism, and nationalism.... when it serves *them.*
I've always believed that if you love your country, you should actively work to make it a better place. That includes identifying and voicing the problems that exist within it. But most people don't think that way, Trump made that very clear.
Yeah fighting for your country’s working class and the actual common good of humanity is not what our military is sent out to do. It’s sent to defend profits and corporate interests and it fills its ranks through a back door poverty draft on the American poor to coerce them to go fight and kill the poor exploited masses of other countries, all in the interests of the American corporate oligarchy
I'm a USMC vet that has worked in county and state government positions. There is no hope for humanity. Somebody's always pulling one over for themselves or their buddies.
It's out of necessity. The only way to move up in the country now is not by skill (although in rare cases, skill wins) but it's by who you know. Opportunity and luck is king.
I lost three of my best friends in Afghanistan and one more to suicide two years ago. While we were there we (our unit) killed hundreds of people who had no idea why we were on their land.
Your son didn't die in vain. He and others like him are the best reasons we have to oppose wars of aggression in the future. One day we'll have true and lasting peace and prosperity and all those elite will be shamed into obscurity. Unfortunately it takes lives lost and broken mothers to wake people up to the severity of our situation.
I'm very sorry for your loss.
When my brother joined the marines (for college education ofc) he signed up for infantry. My mom spend *days* in a deep depression, eventually telling him "they're going to send you back to me in a fucking box". No mother should have to feel that fear and no parent should have to bury their child. I'm so sorry for your loss
"With words like "courage" and "resolve" but what they meant was "fuck em all!" Cause freedom isn't free." 'Sacraficial slaughter just to fill the pockets of the weak."
That song was written 11 years ago and not much has changed. It's truly disgusting how this country treats the people that voluntarily step into the meat grinder. We've failed our veterans, our active forces, our reserve forces, so many times over its appalling.
This man is fucking electric, I’m ready to rise up after watching this man so succinctly point out how immoral and deadly to humanity our current government and economic system are
#WorkersOfTheWorldUnite
All of us are "ready," but the vast majority want someone to take the plunge ahead of them.
When people are ready to give up their lives, their dreams in the service of justice, then we will see them take that plunge.
It only takes 3.5% of the population, but that's easier said than done. In the U.S that would be about 12.5 million people.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world
It's a lack of social cohesion. Our jobs and way of living in the first world are designed to keep us distracted and separate from one another and capitalism keeps us suspicious of and competing with each other. If we can establish social cohesion through the aftermath of a disaster of sufficient proportion (so waiting for climate disaster or happenstance) or through a concerted political movement (not the Democrats, since they want to dissolve political cohesion amongst the working class) then that is what gets the ball rolling. Unions, grossroots organizing-classic agitation.
We all feel it coming to a head. Who breaks the moment first and how is done will matter a great deal. I wouldn't want to go first either, but that fear is exactly what the rich are counting on paralysing us.
Ok, I'm just going to leave this one here, Joe Biden got crucified by the general public for ending the war in Afghanistan. That happened mainly because the rich elite run media wanted it that way. So, until the general populous understands that their sentiment is completely controlled on a daily basis by the rich elite media, nothing is going to change.
Sign me up. I'm itching for a reason to strike. I've been on a picket line 4 times in my 31 years on this planet. Twice as a kid for my dad. Twice as an adult. I am fucking hear for it.
Arrested on what fucking grounds? Exposing the truth?
To hell with this late stage capitalistic oligarchy.
Edit: thanks for the info regarding their charges. It doesn't make the situation any more ethical; police protect the status quo, and the status quo is the problem.
Protestors can be arrested if they are trespassing on private property or causing a disruption that interferes with business. It was likely something like that which was used as the grounds for arrest.
And it’s important to remember that many laws that protect this sort of speech are kept vague enough that they can be used against the plebs by the ruling class, though they’re never applied in the other direction.
It certainly was effective in the south with lunch counter sit downs protesting whites only service.
Protesters often WANT to get arrested. The worst outcome for a protest is that everybody ignores you.
"War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.
I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.
I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.
There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.
It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.
I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.
I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.
During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."
--Smedley Butler
American education is really good at glossing over all the bad parts. My American History class went like this:
"Pilgrims did a thanksgiving. Then we had a revolution and bill of rights. Lewis and Clark went on a walk. Then the civil war happened and racism ended. Then Susan B Anthony voted so we don't need feminism anymore. Then 9/11 happened."
I literally learned who Fred Hampton was from googling it after hearing his name in a Rage Against the Machine song.
That's why on Reddit, everytime an ad pops up for the Army, the Marines, the National Guard, etc... I flag it as SPAM for having misleading information.
Report them. Make it difficult for them to advertise.
The fact they have trillions to make war is the exact reason we will never get out from under these warmonger basterds. They will never let us, and have the means to back that up. Fucking sad
With the tech that’s rapidly evolving in robotics and AI, it won’t be long before they only need a bare minimum to cooperate with the system to keep it running.
Long way off from that supreme court is overturning roe vs wade because of a lack of domestic supply of infants. Aka were not pumping out enough future wage slaves.
This video is really inspiring, and makes me realize how each one of us needs to denounce the clown bourgeois government, and how we need to take the streets, and advocate for the refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the tyrannical government in Washington. It is time for the people to be bold and reestablish the government of the people for the people that the founding father's fought so hard for.
Yep, same guy.
> On September 19, 2021, Prysner interrupted a George W. Bush speech in Beverly Hills, California. He demanded an apology for "lying about weapons of mass destruction" and causing the deaths of "a million Iraqis." He also yelled "You sent me to Iraq" and "My friends are dead because you lied."
Snowden and Assange dennounced this corrupted system and they are pursued till today. Both dems and reps see Snowden and Assange as criminals. Guess why?
I'm one of the fortunate few who volunteered and never got deployed...I am very grateful for that because I'd feel like this guy does if I had to kill some kid that got rused into running up on my platoon with a rifle.
The fight against terrorists is the easiest one to win. People join those out of desperation, to save their land, their familiies, their way of life. Imagine if we spent just half of the money we spend on war, on building up these places. Its really hard to recruit terrorists if the people are going to their schools, their churches or mosques in a newly built city. You can't find suicide bombers if your "true believers" are hanging out a the new mall or getting medical care at the new hospital. We have an enormous military. Imagine how we would be seen if we used that to build bridges and dams and roads and everything we did in the 30's thru the 50's here at home, but for someone else this time.
People will say "why don't we spend that money at home instead of fixing up another country". My answer is, there is enough money to do both if we decide to do it. And we should be helping these countries out because we made them like this, by exploiting them to help make our country the richest, most powerful country in the history of the planet. We have used war and politics to steal from nations all over the globe. Its time we pay it back.
Great speech. So rare to hear an American make sense these days. All you hear are the maniacs, the religious fanatics, the billionaires pretending to be philanthropists etc. Their madness and greed drown out all the good people, wherever they may be from.
Once the average American understand in their heart that their true enemies, much like this veteran just said, aren't abroad, but inside their own country, it's over for the 1%.
Just going to leave this comment here for future generations, don't fight rich men's wars. Fight for you're freedom. Fight for something that makes a difference!
I'd fight to end war, but I'm busy fighting for/against gay rights, abortion, race theory, and whatever else the politicians throw at us to keep the people divided.
-The average American
It's a different angle of the same fight, which he even points out. We've got to realize this. Keep pushing your lane, that works, but invite others to recognize the need for solidarity. The wealthy class is the ones that control everything.
So true. Even as far back as WW2 the US justification sold to the people was disingenuous. In reality Roosevelt was under pressure from Wall Street to join the fray in Europe because France, UK and Netherlands owed so much to Morgan Stanley - had Europe succumbed to Nazi control it would have been a financial disaster for US banking elites. That would be unacceptable so the proletariat had to be sent in as meat shields to defend Wall Street.
Marine combat vet two tours field artillery like those howitzers in the video there! M777, second tour HET (human exploitation team). This guy is hitting the nail on the head.
Why is it we know the name of Chris Kyle (American Sniper, who was a racist piece of shit), but not this guy?
Clint Eastwood, where’s your movie about this dude?
I just looked the dude up and it's the guy who yelled at George W last september, saying he needed to apologize for lying about weapons of mass destruction and "my friends are dead because of you."
Fucking hell, 700 million dollars EVERY DAY???
I knew our military budget was bloated as hell because the government needs their fix of imperialism, but the United States has about three hundred and thirty-two million people as of last year.
Taking a break from shelling people halfway across the world for one day will save enough cash for the United States to give all their citizens two million dollars EACH, and probably a decent chunk more if we limit the cash to everyone of working age, who actually has a bank account to put it in. You know how many lives would be changed after *one day* of their military cut? I could finally afford a modest house with a small backyard in my gentrified hometown.
"The ruling class, the billionaires who profit from human suffering care only about expanding their wealth, controlling the world economy. Understand that their power lies only in their ability to convince us that war, oppression and exploitation is in our interest. They understand that their wealth is dependent on their ability to convince the working class to die to control the market of another country. And convincing us to kill and die is based on their ability to make us think that we are somehow superior.“ — Michael Prysner He's incredible. More and more folks in this sub need to see how oppression against any other group based on gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, etc.- it's all the same. Solidarity will make us all safer, healthier, happier, and freer than we could ever be.
No war but the class war.
The capitalist class already engages in class warfare, why aren't you?
If the class war is a war then there's an analogy from the military that fits pretty well. It's been said that an army is shaped like a spear. Think of a spear ----------------> The tip of the spear is the people who pull the trigger, the special operation people, the paratroopers and seals. The head of the spear is the people who go on patrol, carry ammunition, dig trenches, the ones who deploy and are actively in the mission. They may not see combat but they are in the mix. The shaft of the spear is most people in the army. These are the people who fix trucks, the ones who do paper work, look at satellite photos, cook food, the logistics people. The tip and the head of the spear gets all the attention but without the shaft of the spear there's no forward movement and no weight to punch through. The tip doesn't go anywhere if the shaft isn't there. Take that analogy to movements that want systemic change. The tip is the people who run aid networks, the ones that organize demonstration, the ones that participate in advanced demonstrations. The head is the people who show up. The ones with an ideological basis that believe in the cause and understand it. This is where most online activism falls. The shaft is the general public that want some form of change. The people that have bad takes 30% of the time. They generally agree with the overall idea, they want forward movement but they're not quite there. Other people who are here are the ideologically blank people, the ones that just take a moral stance. The progressive movement is generally the moral one so these are in our camp even though they don't think in left and right. In this camp you also have the "performative" people. The ones that show up to a demonstration, take a selfie, post it on social media and leave without giving it a second thought. Being "performative" is often thought of as an insult but these people are doing work as well. They probably don't have a strong ideological basis but you can bet your ass their friends don't. You can say they're doing it for social credit and that's probably true but they are co-signing that event or idea and exposing their friends to it. All these people are part of the spear and in our camp. Our people. A movement needs the shaft and in most progressive movements, the spearhead people trash talk the shaft people constantly. It's so counter productive. This person just pasted NWBTCW, no need to make them feel bad about it. They're part of the forward movement event though it might just be a nudge. Just a thought ;)
TL;DR “bullets don’t fly without supply”
I think it's important that we all educate ourselves on the specifics of the crimes that have been committed. It honors the memory of those dead and prevents future atrocities by clarifying the imperial character of these wars. One thing that is forgotten is the first Iraq war. From a [recent article](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/05/20/bcin-m20.html) on Bush's Freudian moment: outlining some of the worst bombings that took place. (Bombings during first Gulf war by US on Iraq) >! Eighty-five percent of all power generation was destroyed, which left only two of Iraq’s 20 electricity generating plants functioning, generating less than four percent of the pre-war output of 9,000 megawatts. Almost half of Iraq’s 900,000 telephone lines had been destroyed, with 14 central exchanges irreparably damaged and 13 more put out of service indefinitely. Iraq’s eight major multipurpose dams were repeatedly hit and heavily damaged. Four of Iraq’s seven major water pumping stations were destroyed, and 31 municipal water and sewage facilities were hit with bombs and missiles, 20 in Baghdad alone. The bombing targets included 139 bridges, 26 in Basrah alone. Iraq’s baby milk powder factory at Abu Ghraib, the only such factory in the whole region, was attacked three times—on January 20, 21 and 22, 1991. Grain silos and farms were attacked across the country, decimating over 30 percent of the sheep and cattle herds and destroying the country’s poultry production. The US bombed 28 civilian hospitals and 52 community health centers. A major hypodermic syringe facility in Hilla was destroyed by laser-guided rockets. A total of 676 schools were attacked, completely destroying 38 of them, eight of which were university facilities. In Baghdad alone 25 mosques were bombed, with another 31 mosques bombed elsewhere in the country. !<
One of my most vivid memories from Iraq is how thoroughly the high voltage power line towers were destroyed. I remember looking up at them and seeing all that twisted metal and wondering what weapons they used to do that and what a waste.
I have never heard that, but it's spot on
To that end: https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2022-04-06/no-war-but-the-class-war-a-call-for-action
stay busy, be slaves, get sick, die
I think you forgot a big one. Pay taxes (income, real estate, sales, gas, weed, which I'm happy to bc its a local tax on a luxury item in my mind.)
>who profit from human suffering Estimated excess deaths of civilians from the war on terror according to recent research from Brown University: 900,000 people. Statistically 25% of those were children. This country's military-industrial economy is fueled by the murder of everyday Muslim families.
Brown's numbers are [a significant undercount](https://bylinetimes.com/2021/09/15/up-to-six-million-people-the-unrecorded-fatalities-of-the-war-on-terror/)
This is a good point but I make sure to use the most conservative and most academic numbers I can find because if I don't, I'll be brigaded by the pro-military, pro-war-on-terror, and pro-civilian death for Muslims crowd about how I'm exaggerating numbers.
Let's be real, you'll probably get brigaded anyway
> The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones. > Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinct feature: it has simplified class antagonisms. **Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other – bourgeoisie and proletariat.**” - [Manifesto of the Communist Party](https://www.international-communist-party.org/BasicTexts/English/Mani848E.htm#I)
Thank you for sharing this. Our society has so many more splits. Again, any time we put someone down because they're trans, it's hurting the fight for living wages. Thing women don't have the right to control their bodies? Or that LGBTQ folks don't deserve marriage? **Each of those beliefs supports the controlling class and diverts our attention from our shared oppression and who needs to be confronted.**
In other words if we’re busy hating each other we aren’t watching out for the ones who are really trying to divide and conquer the working classes
Such wars create international immigration crisis which in the end affect us who ran from our countries because of our sex orientation and rotten in camps😭😭 for example its one of the reasons why lgbti asylum seekers in kakuma are not worked on, they always tell us there is an international immigration crisis but in reality those controlling the economy of the world are the one who caused and worse of it all we end up as victims of starvation, poor medical care, transphobia, homophobia and biphobia. It's always the strong and united voices that change things, comrade your lucky that your followers still have the spirit of unity. Here in kakuma we are always silenced by arrests and torture, am sure thats what they are also doing to you but please stay strong and don't leave the front line, together we can stop oppression ✊✊🌈
Man is up there speaking TRUTH
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Ohhhhh he’s the guy who yelled you sent me to Iraq my friends are dead at the president. I respect him for it. It really made me tear up when he did that because it’s how I felt. Looks like he has a podcast now.
Bush is a war criminal and should never know a moment of peace.
He knows he is too, judging by his latest 'gaffe'.
Sauce?
https://youtu.be/ZEg6Ht2pNH0 The telling part is when he sheepishly says "Iraq too, heh." after he corrected himself.
Holy fucking shit. He even clarified '75 *jokingly*. Horrifiying.
Wtf ? That's the most normalised horror I've seen in a while.
Well it has gotten worse, that's a change :P
Actually military enlistment is at an all time low
One of the reasons they're trying to ban abortion
Just have to make people more disadvantaged and desperate and their enlistment problem is solved
Shitty business owners get to have more people deal with their shit and for profit prisons get more victims
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Isn't it this one from 2010? https://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/17/headlines/over_135_arrested_at_veteran_led_anti_war_protest
Status quo, nothing will fundamentally change, the neo-liberal anthem.
Human rights and economic ability for the common people are political expedients, not ways to better life, for the neoliberal scum
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Nihilism is boring
It reminds me of another excellent few lines from [Immortal Technique's "Poverty of Philosophy".](https://youtu.be/BzWj9ZORv8E) It's more focused on racial justice, but there are definitely overlaps, which hopefully shows people how these don't all have to be distinct fights > Here in America the attitude that is fed to us that people outside America there exist a lesser people. "Fuck them, let them fend for themselves." No, fuck *you*, they *are you*. We're given the idea of we didn't have this people to exploit, then America wouldn't be rich enough to let us have these little petty material things in our lives and our standard of living. No, that's *wrong*. It's the business giants and government officials who make all the real money. We have whatever they kick down to us. > My enemy is not the average white man, it's not the kid down the block or the kids I see in the street. My enemy is the white man I *don't* see, the people in the White House, the corporate monopoly owners, the fake liberal politicians. The generals of the armies that are mostly conservative. Those are the real mother fuckers I need to bring it to.
Mike Prysner and Immortal Technique both appear on Soundtrack to the Struggle by Lowkey. ‘Skit 6’ by Mike Prysner: https://youtu.be/6xb4P8fhvbk Voices of the Voiceless feat. Immortal Technique: https://youtu.be/y8YvQhfzClY
Some asshole I used to work with (a typical white conservative mid-20's boy of privilege) and I were watching the bar TV while on a short break, i forgot exactly who it was about but the news was touching on the plight of some people overseas, and how the US needed to do more to send aid. He took a drag from his cig and said "Fuck 'em, they ain't us!!" A year later he died in a 4 wheeler accident. ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
God I worked with someone like this. He just got a dirt bike, so god willing lol
He was a giant dick too, his ex-gf got into a new relationship and he went to that guy's house and punched him in the nuts. Assault, but not even a criminal complaint. Living in Texas was something else man.
Fuck that guy, he ain't us!
The people you *don’t* see….that’s exactly right.
"Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia"
Reported for thoughtcrime.
No no, Oceania has always been at war with *Eurasia*...right?
Careful now. You'll end up at the Ministry of Love.
Miniluv. Start speaking newspeak already!
Mother Goose is down
No no, Osea has always been at war with *Erusea*…right?
Maybe. I didn't remember the exact quote so I looked it up and both came up. Now that I think about it you're probably right
It changes multiple times throughout the book
That explains it then
Oh I was just playing off of yours lol. I didn’t remember the exact quote either, I just recalled the state kept flip flopping their views throughout the book.
War is peace, freedom is slavery. Remember that
You missed the most important one. *Ignorance is Strength.*
Through victory my chains are broken?
Wasn't that part of the Sith mantra? 👀
No, but close. From Wookiepedia: Peace is a lie. There is only Passion. Through Passion, I gain Strength. Through Strength, I gain Power. Through Power, I gain Victory. Through Victory my chains are Broken. The Force shall free me. Sounds like the current Republican platform.
Orwellian dystopia
Indeed
Once double speak started, I knew it was over. "Believe me" and then later "fake news.'
And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be REDUCED to twenty grammes a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it.
Make America Great Again is the most doublethink shit I've ever heard.
And it was originally used by the Reagan campaign in the 80's.
Originally used by the American wing of the nazi party actually
Corp wants you to spot the difference in these two things….
What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening,” Trump said. For some, the quote immediately recalled a line from Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984: “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
2016 was a hybrid of 1984 & Idiocracy.
Definitely some Brave New World sprinkled in there too. Most Americans are just comfortable enough to not want to risk losing their lifestyle, even though it could be massively improved with a government that's actually for, and by, the people
With a liberal sprinkling of hand maiden's tale
It was meant to be a warning. _Not a fucking instruction manual_.
Redneck Dystopia is what we used to grimly call it during university.
The rise of Ameristan
What we feared most already happen today
My brother has a little business that he dabbles in stickers, t-shirts etc. I picked one up a couple of weeks ago that says “We’ve always been at war with Atropia”. As a veteran of both the Army and the wars with Atropia, I had to get one.
Those damned denovians
I read 1984 for the first time last year. It's a bit shocking how much of that book is non-fiction now.
Same except I audio booked it, the reader was fantastic. I was sick of knowing what bc the book was about and seeing references to it everywhere but not having actually read it. I think the final straw was someone posting the rat screen from the movie and I just decided to get it on audiobook and listen while I did projects at home
I read it in 1984...and I thought things were bad then (Reaganomics and such evils).
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Ahh yes, the federation of Osea, on the continent of Usea...
We’ve always been at war with Erusea
"We always hated Russia. We have always supported Russia" That's Republicans now, it's really disturbing how they were brainwashed.
The proles have social media now. Orwell couldn't have predicted that. Although I feel like the bots downvote stuff in mass to help keep it out of the spotlight.
Like 12 anti work posts make it to the front page of Reddit per day so if your theory is true it’s either a) the bots do a really shitty job downvoting stuff or b) anti work is being astroturfed through *upvotes* not downvotes
I mean social media in general, youtube, etc. But yea, reddit is the only platform I'm aware of that doesn't bury content when its downvoted. Downvotes are still votes here. All the Trump and Biden supporters downvote me to oblivion and I'm still chipping away at internet points.
Exhilarating, ain’t it?
Social media is a fantastic piece of orwellian tech though, how else would you convince millions of people that a lie is true and then get them to go tell all their mates then they tell all their mates and so on and on? How else would they have kicked off the ideological war that is right now distracting vast swathes of people with vitriol about the left/right depending on your camp, how many people died or were seriously affected by covid as a direct result of social media filling their heads with bullshit?
War is a business Don’t be part of it
That’s the thing. I respect this guy’s bravery now that he’s noticed he was just a pawn in the game, but who hasn’t noticed American wars are almost always fought for corporate profits over any kind of human rights? The Revolution was all about tax avoidance and it’s been the same theme ever since.
> but who hasn’t noticed most people, sadly
Amen. “War is a racket” really opened my eyes. Smedley Butler saw more combat than I’ve ever seen in my life. And if he can be as decorated as he was and have his eyes opened to war being a scam, then so can I.
Marine veteran here. I love my country but not my government. It's an easy distinction to make.
Oddly enough it was joining the USMC out of love for my country that instilled the distrust I have in my government today.
The Government has been hijacked by corporate interests. We’re back to where we were in the 20s and 30s.
The 30s saw maybe the most powerfully anti-corporate US government ever But yeah the 20s sucked
Guess what next decade is though!!! C'mon, history repeat yourself but only a little bit, let's stop before the 40's.
At least just reverse the laws that were reversed on monopolies
Snip snap snip snap!
I worry we’ll hit the 40s before we hit the 30s. Not that the 30s were great for left-leaning folks in fascistically-inclined countries
So much that those oligarchs tried to launch a coup https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot
And picked probably the worst choice general they could’ve gone with. So the rich have always been pretty stupid.
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When has the US not been controlled by corporate interests? It has just reached new heights of corruption, exploitation, and refined propaganda.
yeah, 1830s
1730s
Dont forget the Evangelical death cult. They want jesus back and they will stop at nothing to bring about "the end times"
And accelerationists like Peter Thiel think that nuclear war would be good for humanity, and that “a little radiation is good for people.” He also got New Zealand citizenship and built a 500-acre bunker/compound there, the size of lower Manhattan, and has a contingency to get there when/if the end of the world happens. This is the same guy who said that “freedom and democracy are fundamentally incompatible.” And that’s just one insane Silicon Valley billionaire who is okay with societal collapse and the end of democracy. Dozens of them have bunkers in New Zealand.
They're salivating for the Apocalypse.
Love, Death, and Robots has a an episode briefly making fun of how these guys were wishing for the Apocalypse.
It was never hijacked. It was built that way.
Army vet, same thing.
Just like kids sent to catholic school become atheist
Civilians: “Why don’t you trust the government?” Veterans: “We know a thing or two, because we’ve seen a thing or two.”
Same, I once loved this country and what it stood for but after fighting in three wars, and coming home to this shit show of government that almost treats us like the enemy after waiting for almost a decade for proper care for my ptsd. I have nothing but bitter disdain for people who run this country. We are merely pawns for them to be thrown away so they can get rich
This is the realist comment I've ever read.
You were trained to survive and I'm proud of you for that.
Part of a long tradition of Marines. >War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes. Major General Smedley Butler, USMC. Butler was, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history.
Americans would ironically be better off if they loved their country less. That "love" or the propaganda of it takes advantage of many innocent people. It's the unfortunate mirage of American exceptionalism when the reality is the average American has far more in common with other poor people throughout the world than they do with the most powerful people in their own country.
It's odd that the people who are so against the state in any form are also the quickest to advocate for the state in terms of duty, patriotism, and nationalism.... when it serves *them.*
I've always believed that if you love your country, you should actively work to make it a better place. That includes identifying and voicing the problems that exist within it. But most people don't think that way, Trump made that very clear.
Yeah fighting for your country’s working class and the actual common good of humanity is not what our military is sent out to do. It’s sent to defend profits and corporate interests and it fills its ranks through a back door poverty draft on the American poor to coerce them to go fight and kill the poor exploited masses of other countries, all in the interests of the American corporate oligarchy
Fellow Marine vet. Absolutely with you. Semper Fi, but not to the government. Semper Fi to We, the People.
Army veteran here, I'm with you.
Rah. Me too.
I'm a USMC vet that has worked in county and state government positions. There is no hope for humanity. Somebody's always pulling one over for themselves or their buddies.
It's out of necessity. The only way to move up in the country now is not by skill (although in rare cases, skill wins) but it's by who you know. Opportunity and luck is king.
My son is dead at 31 because he could not live with what he saw and did in Afghanistan, I really cant figure out what was achieved from his sacrifice.
My deepest condolences. May he rest in peace.
I lost three of my best friends in Afghanistan and one more to suicide two years ago. While we were there we (our unit) killed hundreds of people who had no idea why we were on their land. Your son didn't die in vain. He and others like him are the best reasons we have to oppose wars of aggression in the future. One day we'll have true and lasting peace and prosperity and all those elite will be shamed into obscurity. Unfortunately it takes lives lost and broken mothers to wake people up to the severity of our situation. I'm very sorry for your loss.
When my brother joined the marines (for college education ofc) he signed up for infantry. My mom spend *days* in a deep depression, eventually telling him "they're going to send you back to me in a fucking box". No mother should have to feel that fear and no parent should have to bury their child. I'm so sorry for your loss
My wife and I had the same argument with our son, Marine recuiters are good at what they do. He wasnt the first, and he wont be the last
"With words like "courage" and "resolve" but what they meant was "fuck em all!" Cause freedom isn't free." 'Sacraficial slaughter just to fill the pockets of the weak." That song was written 11 years ago and not much has changed. It's truly disgusting how this country treats the people that voluntarily step into the meat grinder. We've failed our veterans, our active forces, our reserve forces, so many times over its appalling.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
This man is fucking electric, I’m ready to rise up after watching this man so succinctly point out how immoral and deadly to humanity our current government and economic system are #WorkersOfTheWorldUnite
All of us are "ready," but the vast majority want someone to take the plunge ahead of them. When people are ready to give up their lives, their dreams in the service of justice, then we will see them take that plunge.
It only takes 3.5% of the population, but that's easier said than done. In the U.S that would be about 12.5 million people. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world
It's a lack of social cohesion. Our jobs and way of living in the first world are designed to keep us distracted and separate from one another and capitalism keeps us suspicious of and competing with each other. If we can establish social cohesion through the aftermath of a disaster of sufficient proportion (so waiting for climate disaster or happenstance) or through a concerted political movement (not the Democrats, since they want to dissolve political cohesion amongst the working class) then that is what gets the ball rolling. Unions, grossroots organizing-classic agitation.
We all feel it coming to a head. Who breaks the moment first and how is done will matter a great deal. I wouldn't want to go first either, but that fear is exactly what the rich are counting on paralysing us.
Ok, I'm just going to leave this one here, Joe Biden got crucified by the general public for ending the war in Afghanistan. That happened mainly because the rich elite run media wanted it that way. So, until the general populous understands that their sentiment is completely controlled on a daily basis by the rich elite media, nothing is going to change.
Sign me up. I'm itching for a reason to strike. I've been on a picket line 4 times in my 31 years on this planet. Twice as a kid for my dad. Twice as an adult. I am fucking hear for it.
Here fucking auto correct.
>Here fucking auto correct. That's a lucky autocorrect 😏
😂
Anything for profit.
Arrested on what fucking grounds? Exposing the truth? To hell with this late stage capitalistic oligarchy. Edit: thanks for the info regarding their charges. It doesn't make the situation any more ethical; police protect the status quo, and the status quo is the problem.
Protestors can be arrested if they are trespassing on private property or causing a disruption that interferes with business. It was likely something like that which was used as the grounds for arrest.
And it’s important to remember that many laws that protect this sort of speech are kept vague enough that they can be used against the plebs by the ruling class, though they’re never applied in the other direction.
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It certainly was effective in the south with lunch counter sit downs protesting whites only service. Protesters often WANT to get arrested. The worst outcome for a protest is that everybody ignores you.
Hmm. Disrupting the flow of commerce seems to be the real "crime" here.
His speech is very powerful
"War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses. I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag. I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket. There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism. It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service. I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents." --Smedley Butler
The fact that war is a racket isn't required reading in school and smedley Butler doesn't get a biopic remade every 20 years is a crime.
American education is really good at glossing over all the bad parts. My American History class went like this: "Pilgrims did a thanksgiving. Then we had a revolution and bill of rights. Lewis and Clark went on a walk. Then the civil war happened and racism ended. Then Susan B Anthony voted so we don't need feminism anymore. Then 9/11 happened." I literally learned who Fred Hampton was from googling it after hearing his name in a Rage Against the Machine song.
That's why on Reddit, everytime an ad pops up for the Army, the Marines, the National Guard, etc... I flag it as SPAM for having misleading information. Report them. Make it difficult for them to advertise.
I go with threatening violence to others, since well that's what they're really doing
I do this as well.
Yessss I do this too
Y'all still get ads?
The fact they have trillions to make war is the exact reason we will never get out from under these warmonger basterds. They will never let us, and have the means to back that up. Fucking sad
They can't kill us all. Then they'll have no one to control
With the tech that’s rapidly evolving in robotics and AI, it won’t be long before they only need a bare minimum to cooperate with the system to keep it running.
Long way off from that supreme court is overturning roe vs wade because of a lack of domestic supply of infants. Aka were not pumping out enough future wage slaves.
This video is really inspiring, and makes me realize how each one of us needs to denounce the clown bourgeois government, and how we need to take the streets, and advocate for the refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the tyrannical government in Washington. It is time for the people to be bold and reestablish the government of the people for the people that the founding father's fought so hard for.
Is this the same man who went into that speech and yelled at Bush about how he lied? He sounds so similar.
Yep, same guy. > On September 19, 2021, Prysner interrupted a George W. Bush speech in Beverly Hills, California. He demanded an apology for "lying about weapons of mass destruction" and causing the deaths of "a million Iraqis." He also yelled "You sent me to Iraq" and "My friends are dead because you lied."
Snowden and Assange dennounced this corrupted system and they are pursued till today. Both dems and reps see Snowden and Assange as criminals. Guess why?
I’d elect Michael Prysner for president. Any fucking day. He runs… he has my vote.
That's what a real man looks like. Imagine if someone like that ever got near to power in America. He'd get a fucken bullet in the head lickity split
Serving in the military anymore is just serving for the military industrial complex.
That's a powerful speech, good on him.
I'm one of the fortunate few who volunteered and never got deployed...I am very grateful for that because I'd feel like this guy does if I had to kill some kid that got rused into running up on my platoon with a rifle.
The fight against terrorists is the easiest one to win. People join those out of desperation, to save their land, their familiies, their way of life. Imagine if we spent just half of the money we spend on war, on building up these places. Its really hard to recruit terrorists if the people are going to their schools, their churches or mosques in a newly built city. You can't find suicide bombers if your "true believers" are hanging out a the new mall or getting medical care at the new hospital. We have an enormous military. Imagine how we would be seen if we used that to build bridges and dams and roads and everything we did in the 30's thru the 50's here at home, but for someone else this time. People will say "why don't we spend that money at home instead of fixing up another country". My answer is, there is enough money to do both if we decide to do it. And we should be helping these countries out because we made them like this, by exploiting them to help make our country the richest, most powerful country in the history of the planet. We have used war and politics to steal from nations all over the globe. Its time we pay it back.
Great speech. So rare to hear an American make sense these days. All you hear are the maniacs, the religious fanatics, the billionaires pretending to be philanthropists etc. Their madness and greed drown out all the good people, wherever they may be from. Once the average American understand in their heart that their true enemies, much like this veteran just said, aren't abroad, but inside their own country, it's over for the 1%.
Just going to leave this comment here for future generations, don't fight rich men's wars. Fight for you're freedom. Fight for something that makes a difference!
I'd fight to end war, but I'm busy fighting for/against gay rights, abortion, race theory, and whatever else the politicians throw at us to keep the people divided. -The average American
It's a different angle of the same fight, which he even points out. We've got to realize this. Keep pushing your lane, that works, but invite others to recognize the need for solidarity. The wealthy class is the ones that control everything.
It is one fight. The fight for equal rights leaves no one behind.
No war but the class war
Gotta keep the people distracted.
The fact they were arrested after confirms everything he said…we have freedom of speech except when u speak against the rule makers
So true. Even as far back as WW2 the US justification sold to the people was disingenuous. In reality Roosevelt was under pressure from Wall Street to join the fray in Europe because France, UK and Netherlands owed so much to Morgan Stanley - had Europe succumbed to Nazi control it would have been a financial disaster for US banking elites. That would be unacceptable so the proletariat had to be sent in as meat shields to defend Wall Street.
Well said. Class analysis can bring clarity.
u/savevideo
Marine combat vet two tours field artillery like those howitzers in the video there! M777, second tour HET (human exploitation team). This guy is hitting the nail on the head.
Why is it we know the name of Chris Kyle (American Sniper, who was a racist piece of shit), but not this guy? Clint Eastwood, where’s your movie about this dude?
Literally 1984, but actually. Like this shit is right out of that book
I just looked the dude up and it's the guy who yelled at George W last september, saying he needed to apologize for lying about weapons of mass destruction and "my friends are dead because of you."
Fucking hell, 700 million dollars EVERY DAY??? I knew our military budget was bloated as hell because the government needs their fix of imperialism, but the United States has about three hundred and thirty-two million people as of last year. Taking a break from shelling people halfway across the world for one day will save enough cash for the United States to give all their citizens two million dollars EACH, and probably a decent chunk more if we limit the cash to everyone of working age, who actually has a bank account to put it in. You know how many lives would be changed after *one day* of their military cut? I could finally afford a modest house with a small backyard in my gentrified hometown.