Surviving Capitalism (Not) : A Veteran’s Death, the Nation’s Shame

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, April 16, 2012

A Veteran’s Death, the Nation’s Shame

Click here to access article by Nicholas D. Kristof from The NY Times.

Here's a window into a tragedy within the American military: For every soldier killed on the battlefield this year, about 25 veterans are dying by their own hands.

This well kept secret has leaked out so much that the NY Times finally were forced to put it in print. However, you will notice that they hide the real reasons for this phenomenon behind lack of treatment, medical diagnoses, etc. instead of the real reason: once soldiers are deployed to the Empire's battlefields, they begin to see how they are being used to participate in the Empire's war crimes. They also realize how much they have been lied to by trusted sources in the US. Suicide rates such as this also occurred in the Vietnam War, but did not happen in WWII.