FOR U.S. MEMORIAL DAY: WHAT IF THEY HAD A WAR & NOBODY CAME? NO MORE SACRIFICIAL LAMBS; NO MORE INFANTS AS INFANTRY.
THE ORIGINS OF WAR IN CHILD ABUSE & THE PEACEFUL PARENTING PARADIGM
WHAT IF THEY HAD A WAR AND NOBODY CAME Flash Gordon, Jan 30, 2014 5:41 “War is a Waste of Life”
Excerpt From “The People, Yes” by Carl Sandburg
From “The Origins of War in Child Abuse” by Lloyd deMause
“The history of childhood is a nightmare from which we have only recently begun to awaken. The ultimate cause of all wars and human misery is the parental holocaust of children throughout history–an untold story of how literally billions of innocent, helpless children have been routinely killed, bound, battered, mutilated, raped and tortured and then as adults have inflicted upon others the nightmares they themselves experienced. The crucial task of future generations will be to raise loved children who grow up to be peaceful, rather than walking ‘time bombs’. The shared pathological delusions that are re-enacted in wars and terrorism can be eliminated. A world that loves and trusts its children and encourages them to develop their unique selves will be a world of very different institutions, a world without wars, jails and other domination group-fantasies.”
LLOYD DEMAUSE Psychohistorian Elmer Postle, Oct 31, 2007. 1:12
“Why do nations go to war? Not because wars achieve any utilitarian return. The more than a trillion dollars a year the world now spends on their military is totally sacrificial, self-destructive. Nations say they go to war for emotional reasons, like ‘war is the greatest purifier to the race or nation’ that can be achieved. Self-destructive wars are ‘purifying’ because they can drown out all those terrible inner alters embedded in childhood. The alternate self of the warrior draws upon the same neurobiological states of mind as pre-psychotic and autistic children access, both conditions resulting from early amygdala, prefrontal cortex and insula damage. Both autistics and military groups demonstrate the failure of autonomy. Autistics and troops march about to drums (like the shaman’s drum made of the Cosmic Tree of Heaven that induces trance) and wear costumes with metal ornaments (like shaman’s costume).
All of these rituals explain why the military are called “infantry”—they feel infantile, like infants fearing death. They put themselves into their infantile war trance alters. Becoming a warrior means not needing to live in despair; warriors control death, ‘choosing who lives and who dies because they pull the trigger.’ All my early nightmares of death that still are in my head can be faced in reality, ‘outside my head,’ in war, and I can then be sent back to join Mommy—dead, in a casket wrapped in Her dress, Her ‘living flag’—and I will finally be loved by Her, buried in Her bosom, forever.
It is difficult to describe what kind of world might be made by individuated personalities, as the first helping mode parents—where both mother and father unconditionally love their children and help them achieve their own goals and own real selves from birth—have only been around for a few decades in the most advanced societies. There is no question that if the world could treat children with helping mode parenting, wars and all the other self-destructive social conditions we still suffer from in the twenty-first century will be cured, simply because the world will be filled with individuated personalities who are empathic toward others and who are not self-destructive. A world that loves and trusts its children and encourages them to develop their unique selves will be a world of very different institutions, a world without wars, jails and other domination group-fantasies.” https://psychohistory.com/books/the-origins-of-war-in-child-abuse/
PSYCHOHISTORY | WIKIPEDIA AUDIO ARTICLE. Wikipedia tts, Oct 4, 2019. 18:57
00:01:02 1 Description 00:02:14 1.1 Areas of study 00:03:24 1.2 Emergence as a discipline 00:05:04 1.3 Independence as a discipline 00:06:36 2 Psychogenic mode 00:09:41 2.1 A psychoclass for postmodern times 00:11:00 3 Criticisms 00:13:10 4 Organizations 00:14:42 5 Notable psychohistorians 00:15:09 6 See also 00:15:41 7 Notes 00:15:50 8 Bibliography 00:18:12 9 External links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory
THE HISTORY OF CHILD ABUSE - LLOYD DEMAUSE (1998) [Text To Speech] The Vital Redpill, Feb 6, 2019
Milgram Experiment - Big History NL, threshold 6, March 19, 2013. 5:04
https://web.archive.org/web/20210403205102/https://www.parenteffectivenesstrainingnewzealand.com/
P.E.T. NEW YEAR 2024 FOR PEACEFUL PARENTING
Time To Raise Self-Obedient & Autonomous Children
Neither Permissive nor Authoritarian--Responsibly Free
PARENT EFFECTIVENESS TRAINING P.E.T. ONLINE ON DEMAND 2024
On Demand 2024--Stay Home & Learn On Interactive Zoom, complete with digital books and handouts.
This Online P.E.T. course is provided On Demand, that is, when enough parents want to take it. The number required varies—but usually a minimum of 4 persons/couples. I usually schedule the consecutive eight 2+ hour sessions weekly on same days at whatever time (New Zealand time) is most convenient for all. The eight sessions thus run over eight weeks with a total of around 20 hours.
The cost is $100NZD (single or couple--$50NZD for those who wish to repeat/refresh the course) and includes 2 workbooks, the P.E.T. book by Thomas Gordon (also in Chinese), numerous handouts for each module including a PDF of the PowerPoint presentation for each of the eight sessions, and a Completion Certificate (if you complete all 8 sessions), all digital and emailed to you.
This highly interactive course includes role play, group discussions, personal examples, workbook exercises, weekly debriefing and personal support online. You will work as a group and in twos and threes as Zoom allows for multiple “breakout groups”.
Parent Effectiveness Training P.E.T. is the world’s oldest, most popular and proven effective parenting program in the world. Since its inception in 1962 millions of parents from many different cultures have benefitted from the program. P.E.T. differs from all other parenting programs in that it never condones nor advocates the use of any kind of punishment or reward. You learn how to substitute talking and listening to meet needs mutually rather than using power to try to control the child’s unwanted behaviour or giving up and surrendering to your child. P.E.T. is Power TO not OVER.
IN THIS EIGHT 2+ HOUR MODULES COURSE PARENTS LEARN TO:
1. Determine who “owns the problem” in a given situation.
2. Identify the 12 Roadblocks to Communication.
3. Distinguish between Roadblocks and Active Listening.
4. Avoid the Roadblocks that cause most helping attempts to fail.
5. Recognize when their child needs their help as a skilled listener.
6. Use silence, acknowledgments and door-openers to help their child with a problem.
7. Active Listen to hear their child’s feelings.
8. Active Listen to clarify information.
9. Distinguish between Acceptable and Unacceptable Behavior.
10. Determine what to do when child’s behavior interferes with parent’s meeting their needs.
11. Develop a three-part Confrontive I-Message.
12. Confront their child’s unacceptable behavior with an I-Message.
13. Shift gears between I-Messages and Active Listening when appropriate.
14. Acknowledge others’ efforts with Appreciative I-Messages.
15. Prevent problems and conflicts using Preventive I-Messages.
16. Recognize conflict situations.
17. Distinguish between Conflicts-of-Needs and Values Collisions.
18. Avoid the use of Method I.
19. Avoid the use of Method II.
20. Set the stage for Method III Conflict Resolution.
21. Use Method III to resolve a conflict between the parent and child.
22. Use Method III to mediate a conflict between others.
23. Handle Values Collisions.
YOUTUBE VIDEOS ON P.E.T. :
“Everybody Loves Raymond”—U.S. TV series, Ray: “A parenting class? That’s supposed to come natural. That’d be like taking a smelling class.”
Gordon Parenting: Parent Effectiveness Training
What Should Parents Expect Coming to a PET Workshop?
Free Parent Resource from Gordon Training International
Jack on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/P.E.T.NewZealand
TO ENROL IN THE ONLINE COURSE OR QUESTIONS, CONTACT JACK:
Cell: +64 (0)224094035.
Email: responsiblyfree@protonmail.com
PARENTING FOR A PEACEFUL WORLD Culture Collective, Jan 24, 2012
"How we treat the child, the child will grow up to treat the world" -Pam Leo This informative Culture Collective Production was written by Robin Grille, Author of "Parenting for a Peaceful World", (http://www.our-emotional-health.com) with a voice-over from 10-year-old, Aja Swafford. You can get involved by learning about The Children's Well-Being Manifesto at: https://www.robingrille.com/
TEACH YOUR CHILDREN BY CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG - 1970 (WITH LYRICS).
Melodies and Memories, May 17, 2021. 3:00
LYRICS
[Verse 1]
You, who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good-bye
[Chorus]
Teach your children well
Your father's hell did slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick's the one you'll know by
[Bridge]
Don't you ever ask them why
If they told you, you would cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you
[Verse 2]
And you of tender years (Can you hear and do you care)
Can't know the fears (And can you see)
That your elders grew by (We must be free)
And so please help (To teach your children)
Them with your youth (What you believe in)
They seek the truth (Make a world)
Before they can die (That we can live in)
[Chorus]
Teach your parents well
Their children's hell will slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick's the one you'll know by
[Bridge]
Don't you ever ask them why
If they told you, you would cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you
https://genius.com/Crosby-stills-nash-and-young-teach-your-children-lyrics
JOHN HOLT - EDUCATION AND CHILDREN
(Video Re-Edit). Mike Lamentola, Jan 24, 2014. 2:52
UNSCHOOLING - JOHN HOLT - AN EXCERPT FROM THE DOCUMENTARY CLASS DISMISSED.
ClassDismissedMovie, June 22, 2015. 3:04
This is an excerpt from the documentary Class Dismissed: A Film About Learning Outside of the Classroom. Available now on DVD http://classdismissedmovie.com/
CLASS DISMISSED - HOMESCHOOLING, THE JOYS AND STRUGGLES
Kingdom Prepare, Nov 24, 2020 1:29:53 https://www.bitchute.com/video/zMPGhUnyY2cu/
A LIFE WORTH LIVING: A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT JOHN HOLT Growing Without Schooling, Sept 16, 2015. 20:14
“Created for the Growing Without Schooling (GWS) 20th anniversary conference in 1997, we sold this as a DVD for a bit and then it went out of existence, so to speak. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of John Holt's death (Sept. 14, 1985) I am making this documentary available online 18 years since Susannah and I narrated it live, as a slide show, at our conference. Many of the photos and video snippets are online already, but I think they congeal into a unique story about John Holt's life and work in this presentation. Nearly all the photos were taken by John, and the cello playing at the beginning is by John, too. In writing the script I tried to use Holt's own words, as well as his own voice from various recordings, to give an accurate picture of how his vision and ideas for changing education also changed as he grappled with the realities of institutional complacence and adult resistance to viewing children as natural, eager learners.”
DEEP DIVE: HOLLYWOOD, THE US ARMY AND THE MILITARY ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEX.
TRT World, March 17, 2021. 12:24 “Did you know the Pentagon regularly funds and collaborates on big budget superhero and science fiction movies? Welcome to ‘militainment,’ the long, historic partnership between Hollywood and the US military.”
DOCUMENTS EXPOSE HOW HOLLYWOOD PROMOTES WAR ON BEHALF OF THE PENTAGON, CIA AND NSA.
Global Research, by Tom Secker and Matthew Alford, July 7, 2017 “US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows” https://www.globalresearch.ca/documents-expose-how-hollywood-promotes-war-on-behalf-of-the-pentagon-cia-and-nsa/5597891
DONALD SUTHERLAND REVEALS SOME DARK SECRETS.
MarkAlzano, Nov 22, 2015 0:42
“Your children are in danger. Please watch and share the following links. Knowledge is power, and by sharing this valuable information we can help to make the world a better place for our future generations.”
DONALD SUTHERLAND EXPLAINS THE REAL MEANING OF THE HUNGER GAMES AND WHY ITS MESSAGE MUST BE UNDERSTOOD
“There are some inside Hollywood, who are trying to wake up the world – Donald Sutherland is one of them.
“The young people who see this film must recognize that for the future ‘blind faith in their leaders,’ as Bruce Springsteen said, ‘will get you dead.’
Hollywood actor, Donald Sutherland just dropped a bombshell on the military industrial complex. Sutherland, who plays President Coriolanus Snow in the blockbuster movie series Hunger Games, was recently asked what the movie was really about – he held no punches in his answer.
“If there’s any question as to what it’s an allegory for I will tell you.
It is the powers that be in the United States of America.
It’s profiteers.
War is for profit. It’s not “to save the world for democracy” or “for king and country.”
No, bulls**t.
It’s for the profit of the top 10%, and the young people who see this film must recognize that for the future ‘blind faith in their leaders,’ as Bruce Springsteen said, “will get you dead.”
“AND YOU’RE GOING TO NEED A LOT OF INFORMATION TO KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO WANT TO DO. BECAUSE IN 1985 BLIND FAITH IN YOUR LEADERS OR IN ANYTHING, WILL GET YOU KILLED.” BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
“BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – WAR” Bruce Springsteen
Music video by Bruce Springsteen performing War. (C) 1986 Bruce Springsteen
1:23>Transcript, Bruce Springsteen: “I remember a lot of my friends, when we were 17 or 18, we didn’t have much of a chance to think about how we felt about a lot of things. And, the next time they’re going to be looking at you. And you’re going to need a lot of information to know what you’re going to want to do. Because in 1985 blind faith in your leaders or in anything, will get you killed. Because what I’m talking about here is WAR! WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.”
Lyrics
War
What is it good for? Absolutely nothing
Say it again, war
What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, come on
War is something that I despise
For it means destruction of innocent lives
And thousands words in mothers' cry
When their son's go out to fight to give their lives
War
What is it good for? Absolutely nothing
Say it again, war
What is it good for? Absolutely nothing
War
It ain't nothing but a heartbreaker
War
Friend only to the undertaker
War is the enemy of all mankind
The thought of war it just blows my mind
Handed down from generation to generation
Induction, destruction, who wants to die?
War
What is it good for? Absolutely nothing
Say it again, war
What is it good for? Absolutely nothing
War
It ain't nothing but a heartbreaker
War
Friend only to an undertaker
War has shattered many young men's dreams
Made them disabled bitter and mean
Life is too precious to be fighting wars each day
War can't give life it can only take it away
War
What is it good for? Absolutely nothing
Say it again, war
What is it good for? Absolutely nothing
Peace, love and understanding it all
There must be some place for these things today
They say we must fight to keep our freedom
But Lord there's gotta be another way that's better than
War
What is it good for? Absolutely nothing
Say it again, war
What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, come on now
War
What is it good for? Absolutely nothing
Say it again, war
What is it good for? Nothing
I'm talkin' about war
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/brucespringsteen/war.html
Buffy Sainte-Marie - The War Racket The Indie Folk Music Channel, Jan 20, 2018 4:10
[Verse 1]
Ooh, you're slick, you investors in hate
You Saddams and you Bushes, you Bin Ladens and snakes
You billionaire bullies, you're a globalized curse
You put war on the masses while you clean out the purse
And that's how it's done, war after war
You old feudal parasites, ya just sacrifice the poor
You've got the cutting edge weapons, but your scam's still the same
As it's been since the Romans, it's the patriot game
[Refrain]
That's the war racket
It's the war racket
It's the war racket
It's the war racket
[Verse 2]
You twisters of language, you creeps of disguise
Your disinformation's like worms in your eyes
You privileged bankers, you gambler thieves
You profit on war, you think there's just less money in peace
So that's how it's done, time after time
Country after country, crime after crime
You pretend it's religion like there's no one to blame
For the dead and impoverished in your little patriot game
[Refrain]
Honey, that's the war racket
That's the war racket
That's the war racket
[Verse 3]
You've got the world's greatest power and you team up with thugs
Make a fortune on weapons, destruction and drugs
But your flags and boots and uniforms start to all smell the same
When all sides are killing in the patriot game
And that's how it's done, and you've got our sons
In the crosshairs of horror at the end of your guns
And your national anthems all start to smell like shame
When all sides are dying in the patriot game
[Refrain]
It's just the war racket
That's just the war racket
It's just the war racket
Hey, that's the war racket
[Verse 4]
And war is never, ever holy
That's just a greedy man's dream
And you two-faced crusaders, both sides are obscene
War's not made by God, war's just made by men
Who misdirect our attention while you thieves do your thing
And that's how it's done, about every 30 years
The rich fill their coffers, the poor fill with tears
The young fill the coffins, the old hang a wreath
The politicians get photographed with their names underneath
[Refrain]
It's the war racket
It's the war racket
That's the war racket
It's the war racket
That's the war racket
That's the war racket
That's the war racket
https://genius.com/Buffy-sainte-marie-the-war-racket-lyrics
WAR IS A RACKET--SMEDLEY BUTLER. HOW MANY CELEBRATING WAR WORSHIP DAYS HAVE READ THIS?
A classic text on the profit-driven making of wars by an American top ranking military man who finally realized what he had been doing and stepped out of the grave into the sunlight. Download it here free and freeing:
War Is A Racket, Smedley Butler (1935--2003 edition) https://archive.org/details/warisaracketelectronicresourcetheantiwarclassicbyam
From Chapter One ("World War"=W.W.I)
"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. In the World War a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their income tax returns no one knows. The general public shoulders the bill. And what is this bill? This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations."
GENERAL SMEDLEY BUTLER - WAR IS A RACKET - FORGOTTEN HISTORY Nov 22, 2022. 13:04
“Born on July 30, 1881 Major General Smedley Butler was the eldest son of a Quaker family from West Chester, Pennsylvania. Only two Marines ever received the Medal of Honor twice, Daniel Daly and Smedley Butler both in separate conflicts. Besides being twice decorated with the Medal of Honor, how did he display even greater courage and preserve the U.S. Constitution, preventing a coup installing a military dictatorship? Find out in this episode.”
ON THE U.S. GOVERNMENTS SINCE WOODROW WILSON & WWI “MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY”: GEORGE CARLIN “WE LIKE WAR”
1:52: “[The only white people we bombed] …the Germans, those are the only ones and that’s only because they were trying to cut in on our action. They wanted to dominate the world. Bullshit! That’s our fucking job!”
THE OLD LIE: DULCE ET DECORUM EST PRO PATRIA MORI
“It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.”
Dulce et Decorum Est (Footage from the Battle of the Somme) worcesterjonny, Jan 16, 2009. 2:55
Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Notes:
Latin phrase is from the Roman poet Horace: “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.”
WAR IS A FORCE THAT GIVES US MEANING MindCrimesInc, Feb 20, 2011
“Excerpt from a speech by Chris Hedges author of "War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning" given April 23, 2010 at the 8th Annual Western Regional International Health Conference "War & Global Health" held at the University of Washington in Seattle.”
"The enduring attraction of war is this: Even with its destruction and carnage it can give us what we long for in life. It can give us purpose, meaning, a reason for living. Only when we are in the midst of conflict does the shallowness and vapidness of much of our lives become apparent. Trivia dominates our conversations and increasingly our airwaves. And war is an enticing elixir. It gives resolve, a cause. It allows us to be noble. And those who have the least meaning in their lives, the impoverished refugees in Gaza, the disenfranchised North African immigrants in France, even the legions of young who live in the splendid indolence and safety of the industrialized world, are all susceptible to war’s appeal.” War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges
WHEN WAR CRIMINAL TONY BLAIR MET HARRY PATCH StoptheWarCoalition, Feb 6, 2013. 5:37
WAR IS A RACKET Horsingabout, May 1, 2018. 4:40
The Youtube video talk is by a young U.S. soldier who served in Iraq. He says: “We were told we were fighting terrorists. The real terrorist was me.” Be warned, this is a difficult video to watch, especially if you believe in your country’s military. The speech in this video is by Michael Prysner, a corporal in the Army Reserve who came home in February 2004 from the war in Iraq. It was given at the “Winter Soldier”.
Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan was an event at which more than 200 U.S. military veterans and active duty soldiers, as well as Iraqi and Afghan civilians, provided accounts of their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. The event was inspired by the Winter Soldier Investigation of 1971. It was organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War, and held from March 13 to March 16, 2008, timed for the fifth anniversary of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Soldier:_Iraq_%26_Afghanistan
Here is link to transcript of the video: https://ighulammustafa.wordpress.com/2011/02/09/transcript-for-amazing-speech-by-war-veteran-mike-prysner/
MORAL INJURY IN VIETNAM VETERANS nhpco, Sept 18, 2019. Video 1:28:45
Narrator 8:36> “So what is moral injury? we know that moral injury involves the definition, the formal definition is about events that are considered morally injurious if they transgress the person either deeply held moral beliefs or expectations and shatter the moral and ethical expectations that are often rooted in either religious or spiritual beliefs. But could also be related to being raised in a culture that is you know very Christian and very involved at doing the right thing; or in a family based culture of other military veterans and or members of security positions or fire rescue positions; and in that culture, in those cultures there's also a sense of right and wrong, and being tough and big and loyal and stoic; and so this is stigma about asking for help. Organizationally we also know that the military supports those types of values and beliefs and includes things about fairness and devalues life and so on that can interfere with a person's ability to integrate what happens to them and make them feel more prone to guilt and shame. So we know that moral injury as it been defined describes this kind of harmful--both psychological and spiritual--aftermath of an exposure to events that conflict with a person's values. We also know that there's a lot of overlap between moral injuries in terms of the way it has been defined and the symptoms that describe it; both PTSD and moral injury. We know that both moral injury and PTSD include a person reacting to reminders having an avoidance or a denial based response to symptoms and to events that happened to them; they also include intrusive thoughts, sleep issues. substance use and they often go on with both of the disorders with guilt and shame, anger and distrust, betrayal and a negative view of your of one's self; the social problems are also very much overlap.” 10:45 ENDS
MORAL INJURY Psychology Today Staff
“Moral injury is the social, psychological, and spiritual harm that arises from a betrayal of one’s core values, such as justice, fairness, and loyalty. Harming others, whether in military or civilian life; failing to protect others, through error or inaction; and failure to be protected by leaders, especially in combat—can all wound a person’s conscience, leading to lasting anger, guilt, and shame, and can fundamentally alter one’s world view and impair the ability to trust others.”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/moral-injury
IRAQ WAR VETERAN'S SUICIDE LETTER DESCRIBES TRAUMA OF WAR, ABANDONMENT BY GOV'T Democracy Now!, June 26, 2013. Video 1:57
“In a letter first quoted by the Phoenix New Times and written to his family before he killed himself just two weeks ago, Daniel Somers wrote: ‘During my first deployment, I was made to participate in things, the enormity of which is hard to describe. War crimes, crimes against humanity. Though I did not participate willingly, and made what I thought was my best effort to stop these events, there are some things that a person simply cannot come back from.’”
MORE VETERANS HAVE DIED BY SUICIDE THAN IN COMBAT, STUDY FINDS ksat 12, June 25, 2021. Video 2:32
Moral Injury and Killing in War Vital Dissent With Patrick MacFarlane July 20, 2021. 50:10
MacFarlane 4:52> “One thing that you learn in Dave Grossman's book, to make a long story short, is that there is an inherent resistance in the human psyche to killing its own kind; and that killing in general is…that through studies throughout time, um the military, the officers and the military, and historians and psychiatrists, have discovered the fact that soldiers actually will avoid killing at all costs. And in fact at certain points in time if soldiers are not conditioned or taught to kill they would rather die themselves or fail. This gets complicated, but they would, they would rather die themselves than kill another person in combat; or they might, fail to protect their friends in combat; however that's not quite the same; there's nuance to that as well. And in fact the history of the most effective armies in the world have been the armies that have been able to overcome that inherent psychological barrier that soldiers and that everyone has to killing their own kind.” 6:02 END
JONNA GAULT - WHAT IF THEY GAVE A WAR AND NO ONE CAME? (1968). 45sUS, March 11 2021
Lyrics
What if they gave a war and no one came?
If ev'ryone refused to play the game?
If peace broke out 't would really be a shame
with no more hate, things wouldn't seem the same
And if there were no lions left to tame
alas, who could we find to take the blame?
And what of our good name, our fortune and our fame?
What if they gave a war and no one came?
All around the mothers wrought up:
"You can't steal the lives we brought up!"
Up and down the students milling;
They're not able, they're not willing.
Ev'rywhere the sidewalks teeming
"Not my boy" the crowds screaming.
Yet with ev'ry crack of dawn,
another truck load
gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone!
What if they gave a war and no one came?
If ev'ryone refused to play the game?
If peace broke out 't would really be a shame
with no more hate, things wouldn't seem the same
And if there were no lions left to tame
alas, who could we find to take the blame?
And what of our good name, our fortune and our fame?
What if they gave a war and no one came?
No one came. No one came.
https://www.antiwarsongs.org/canzone.php?lang=en&id=53569
PAT BOONE - WHAT IF THEY GAVE A WAR AND NO ONE CAME? Toty Italy, July 24, 2016. 2:35
WHAT IF THERE WAS A WAR BUT NOBODY CAME? LIKE JOHN LENNON IMAGINE OR BOB DYLAN BLOWIN' IN THE WIND. Charles Szabo, May 21, 2016. 1:45
SUPPOSE THEY GAVE A WAR AND NOBODY CAME? VHS (1981) (USA). Jesse Coffey, March 17, 2019. 1:54:01
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SIXTIES SLOGAN:
“Suppose they gave a war and nobody came.” Possibly coined by James R. Newman, American mathematician, writer and editor of Scientific American magazine.
In the 1960s, several updated versions of Carl Sandburg’s line became popular. They were often used in the context of opposition to the Vietnam War. The most common version, “Suppose they gave a war and nobody came,” was used as a slogan on posters that were sold in Hippie shops in the late Sixties (like the blacklight poster shown at left). It was also used as the title of a comedy movie in 1970, giving it even broader recognition. Some posts on the Internet claim the now familiar words were first written by Bertolt Brecht in the 1930s. However, they give no source and I couldn’t find one, so I deem that claim doubtful. (As Abraham Lincoln said, “The problem with Internet quotations is that many are not genuine.”)
In contrast, the origin of the variation “Suppose They Gave a War and No One Came” is well documented. It was used as the title of a widely-read article written by the American poet and author Charlotte E. Keyes (1914-1980). The article, about her growing admiration for the anti-war activism of her son Gene, was published in the October 1966 issue of McCall’s magazine. Charlotte’s other son happens to be the quote and phrase maven Ralph Keyes. He noted in his excellent book The Quote Verifier (2006) that his mother saw the phrase “Suppose they gave a war and nobody came” in a 1961 letter to the editor in The Washington Post, written by James R. Newman. Newman was referencing, but apparently misremembering, Sandburg’s line. Charlotte cut out and kept the letter for future reference and later adapted the title of her article from it. Newman may or may not have coined “Suppose they gave a war and nobody came.” That paraphrase of Sandburg may already have been floating around at the time. However, I found no use of those words dated earlier than Newman’s 1961 letter in any newspaper archive or anywhere else online. So, he may deserve credit for creating the Sixties slogan (though perhaps inadvertently.)
Another variation, “What If They Gave a War and No One Came,” surfaced in 1968 as the title of a song by the now forgotten "Symphonopop" composer and musician Jonna Gault. And, in 1972, poet Allen Ginsberg echoed her version in his 1972 poem “Graffiti,” which included the lines “What if someone gave a war & Nobody came? / Life would ring the bells of Ecstasy and Forever be Itself again.” http://www.quotecounterquote.com/2011/12/suppose-they-gave-war-and-nobody-came.html
WHAT IF THERE WAS A WAR, BUT NOBODY CAME? Political Violence At A Glance, by Will H. Moore
[1] The anti-war slogan “Suppose they gave a War and Nobody Came” was the title of a 1966 essay by Charlotte Keys, the mother of an activist son was imprisoned for refusing to serve after being drafted, that was published in McCall’s magazine. The 1970 comedy “Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came” was a cinematic depiction of the tension between the World War II generation and the anti-war movement of the 1960s in the US.
https://politicalviolenceataglance.org/2014/12/02/what-if-there-was-a-war-but-nobody-came/
SUPPOSE THEY GAVE A WAR AND NOBODY CAME FEE, by Marco den Ouden, November 9, 2017
The Origins of a Peace Activist
During the anti-Vietnam War movement of the 1960s, the title phrase of this essay became popular - suppose they gave a war and nobody came. The line has its origins in an epic poem by Carl Sandberg called "The People, Yes".
The line would probably have been forgotten except that it was misquoted in a letter to the editor of the Washington Post in 1961.
Sandberg was a prolific writer and the winner of three Pulitzer prizes, two for poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. “The People, Yes” is an epic poem filling 300 pages of a book. Published in 1936, it is a tribute to America, and includes many folk tales as well as history. The actual line from the book is, "Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come." The line is spoken by a small girl watching a military parade.
Buried on page 270 of the book, the line would probably have been forgotten except that it was picked up by James R. Newman, editor of Scientific American, who misquoted it in a letter to the editor of the Washington Post in 1961. Writer, poet and peace activist Charlotte E. Keyes saw the letter and filed it away for future reference.
“The mother of a draft-card burner, a young man already imprisoned four times for his beliefs, tells of her own agony - and her son's," goes the introduction to the article Keyes wrote for McCall's magazine in 1966 https://www.genekeyes.com/CHET/Chet-1.html#Suppose . She used that filed away letter from the Washington Post to come up with the title, Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came. https://fee.org/articles/suppose-they-gave-a-war-and-nobody-came/
The Costs of War
Speakers take a full look at the costs of war on individuals, society, freedom, and history. May 1994, Atlanta, Georgia.
https://mises.org/podcasts/costs-war
War and the Leviathan State | Robert Higgs (1994) misesmedia, Nov 14, 2023. 31:42
John Lithgow on Avoiding the Draft Strombo, Oct 27, 2011 2:38
When the U.S. Army was drafting people to go to Vietnam, John Lithgow managed to avoid being sent. George asks him how he did it.
Lithgow 1:12> “people don't understand it nowadays in the US the military is a voluntary operation it's no longer compulsory; you're not put to that test; and you know I, I I don't object to a compulsory draft; in fact because it sort of holds a government responsible in many ways”
Dodging the Draft - Vietnam War Art Sandoval, April 21, 2016 4:51
A VIETNAM VET. 20 MILLION VIEWERS WATCHED HIS STORY START TO FINISH David Hoffman, July 20, 2018 15:25
“William Ehrhardt is a Vietnam War veteran, author, and poet. He served in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, and his experiences during the conflict have heavily influenced his writing. After returning from the war, Ehrhardt began writing poetry as a way to process and express his emotions about the war and its impact on his life.”
Hoffman 6:44> “The sole purpose for my being in Vietnam at that point was to stay alive until I could get out. Then the reason for that is that, you know, the kinds of questions that began to present themselves were just, the questions themselves were ugly and I didn't want to know the answers. It's, it's like it's like banging on a door, you knock on a door and the door opens slightly and behind that door it's dark and there's loud noises coming like there's like there's wild animals in there or something and you peer into the darkness and you can't see what's there but you can hear all these ugly stuff. You want to step into that room? No way, you just sort of back out quietly pull the door shut behind you and walk away from it and that's what was going on. The questions themselves were too ugly to even ask, let alone if I had to deal with the answers.”
DID AMERICA COMMIT WAR CRIMES IN VIETNAM? New York Times, Cody J. Foster Dec 1, 2017
“On Dec. 1, 1967, the last day of the International War Crimes Tribunal’s second session, antiwar activists from around the world gathered in Roskilde, Denmark. The panel, also known as the Russell Tribunal after its founder, the philosopher Bertrand Russell, had spent a year investigating America’s intervention in Southeast Asia and was now ready to announce its findings. Tribunal members unanimously found the United States “guilty on all charges, including genocide, the use of forbidden weapons, maltreatment and killing of prisoners, violence and forceful movement of prisoners” in Vietnam and its neighbors Laos and Cambodia.”
A BRIEF LIST OF THE UNITED STATES’ WAR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY TRT World, April 25, 2022. Video 4:42
Narrator 2:40> “The U.S.'s fight against communism meant that the U.S. committed its armed forces extensively in several proxy wars such as those fought in Vietnam and Korea. The U.S. involvement in Vietnam cost the lives of some 365,000 civilians; this includes massacres committed by troops against unarmed civilians such as the Maile Massacre. Vietnam has stated that 2 million civilians on both sides and some 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters were killed. The U.S. extensively used chemical warfare during this period. A U.S. program codenamed Operation Ranch Hand sprayed 20 million gallons of various herbicides over Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos from 1961 to 1971.” 3:30 END
World War III Is Over (If You Want It) Corbett Report Extras, Dec 7, 2017 8:12
FULL LECTURE:
https://www.corbettreport.com/?p=24001
We may be looking at the echoes of WWI, but we are no mere shadows consigned to observe the events taking place around us. We are conscious actors with the ability to give our identities over to the next "great" war cause, or to retain our humanity and refuse to give in. And make no mistake: your choice does make a difference. This is an excerpt from "Echoes of WWI: China, the US, and the Next 'Great' War," delivered at the Open Mind Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark in September 2017. Please watch or listen to the full lecture at corbettreport.com.
Corbett 6:35> “Your mind is the battlefield, and it's not about China and the U.S., it's about every person on the planet. It is about conquering your mind. Which is why maintaining our cognitive independence and not giving in to the idea that we have to fight anything for the benefit of some Kissingeresque. horrible minion of some global order that we don't want. We have to resist that and that is our power--our power lies in our consciousness.” 7:05 END
I hope I live to see that day.