“The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. McDonald’s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas…. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley’s technologies to flourish is called the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.” — from The Lexus and the Olive Tree
At the bottom of Public Servants or Corporate Security? An Open Letter to Law Enforcement and National Guard in North Dakota the authors provide elaborate self-descriptions.
Activist energy has to be centered more on downplaying individual importance, except in the sense that each individual citizen — not the corporations or other usual suspects — needs to change their habits. The ones that make them (to some degree) support our hegemonic military.
Perhaps some questions are in order.
1. What’s your diet’s relationship to our military’s M.O.? What imports do you require?
2. What oil-based products have you embraced which make our military’s M.O. mandatory?
3. Does your work prop up our military?
4. Do your vacations abroad have any association with our military’s influence?
5. Do you go along with our glorification of our military in sports, school curriculum, etc.?
6. Do you downplay (look the other way) respecting our military’s role in environmental destruction?
7. Do you speak out against the military’s recruiting practices and/or their abominations abroad?
8. What entertainment do you purchase or support in some way that feeds the military’s agenda?
9. Are you doing anything to undermine our military, or are you leaving that up to others? Maybe you’ve become resigned on that score.
Rachel Olivia O’Connor is freelance journalist. She can be contacted at invisibleparadecall@gmail.com
