We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, February 8, 2010

The war within: PTSD in the military (21:32m video)

from Al Jazeera. An insightful look at the psychological suffering that American working men and women must endure to serve the interests of The Empire. Well, I guess they had a choice because they volunteered to serve in the military. They could have chosen the likelihood of unemployment. Of course, many thought they were volunteering to defend their country, and many thought of it as the only way to be able to pursue higher education opportunities through the incentives offered by the US military.
Out of two million US soldiers who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq, psychiatrists estimate that one in three may, at some point, develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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