POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN BY MICHAEL VALPY IN TORONTO'S GLOBE AND MAIL
Oh, sure, Michael Valpy, we sure have done ourselves a great service.
Serving as loyal minor satrap to the Pentagon in its pointless quest for vengeance in Afghanistan – now, there surely is a fine thing.
The lives of hundreds of Canadian soldiers destroyed or now driven by mad hideous memories of abominations like the very common rape of boys tolerated in Afghanistan. Again, surely, a fine thing.
And the proud achievement of our handing over prisoners for torture. Now, that is an exceptionally fine thing.
Warrior culture is a stupid term for Canada to adopt. We have no enemies who can seriously threaten us, except if you count the United States.
In that case, I'm afraid our "warrior culture" wouldn't buy us one day's success against their military Frankenstein monster.
Warrior culture and great standing armies are among the world's great outdated and dangerous traditions. They rank with burkas and holy inquisitions and heavy nuns' habits and meaningless superstitions. Indeed, warrior culture is a form of superstition.
When genuine threats occur, no one needs to tell Canadians about outdated nonsense like “warrior culture.” We would all respond. But that is a very different thing than going for adventures abroad, a very different thing than killing and being killed as part of lunatic crusade.
Powerful armies constantly seek outlets for their dark powers. The record of the United States since WW II is proof of that, and a shameful record it is.
Stupid pointless war after stupid pointless war.
Overthrow of government (even democratic ones) after overthrow of government.
It's a terrible record which has only kept turmoil going in the world and achieved almost nothing of worth.
Historians rank as one of the most important causes of WWI, a pointless bloodbath if ever there was one, Europe's great standing armies and military competitions of the time.
And, of course, WWI was only the warm-up for WWII, an even greater bloodbath which need never have happened but for WWI.
One last, terribly important point about “warrior culture.”
Even were the people of the United States to come to believe they were under a form tyranny, with the country’s vast occupying armies and National Guards, equipped with awesome weapons, there isn’t a chance they could rebel, despite all the silly talk about private arms keeping tyranny at bay.
