| “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
― Frank Herbert, from "Dune” The number one emotion that's been pumped into the American society and much of the world by those with selfish motives is: Fear. This is nothing new but has been heightened as of the not too long ago yet now fading from memory Global War On Terror (GWOT) or more aptly Global War OF Terror (GWOFT) because of perpetuating more terror than it has claimed to want to prevent; there are statistics backing that statement but you can, as my nine-year-old computer-savvy friends say, “search it up!” Nearly two decades after GWOFT was declared, the color-coded terror chart has faded like a watercolor in a thunderstorm, and the geo-political sands have shifted with the resurgence of China and Russia. Thus GWOFT was re-branded, “Great Power Competition.” Ho-hum. Yawn. Step back, there's nothing to be terrorized by here, continue shopping, couch-potatoing, and raging against the Orange Twitter machine . . . while a variety of living-beings burn, melt, or run for their lives. The re-brand plays as a Military-Industrial-Complex shell-game power-play from Fear to Greed ― though the two vices were never really far apart. Fear distracts, stuns people so that Greed can do its hungry ghost thing. When GWOFT wore stale (the masses' synapses defaulting to Fear, any very loud public noises or an explosion prompting PTSD reminders of the 9-11 Attacks), they didn't send in the clowns rather the intellectual verbiage of Greed – dull, innocuous and so thoroughly un-promoted hardly anyone noticed. Greedy gamesmanship distracts, too, further enabling Fear to do its dirty deeds in semi-retirement. It's not Great, though, so let's call it Greed Power Competition, the USEmpire's last-ditch effort to maintain its dominance in a geo-political uni-polar world shifting to multi-polar while de-dollaring. Am not sure which amazes me more, the horrific residues of the Military-Industrial-Complex or the nonchalance with which such atrocities are forgotten or ignored, as with trillions of dollars un-accounted for, millions of lost lives, Land, Air, & Water tainted, and new generations of PTSD. After being media-center-stage, GWOT was officially re-branded in January 2018: “The U.S. military has put countering China and Russia at the center of a new national defense strategy unveiled on Friday, the latest sign of shifting priorities after more than a decade and a half of focusing on the fight against Islamist militants. … 'We will continue to prosecute the campaign against terrorists that we are engaged in today, but great power competition, not terrorism, is now the primary focus of U.S. national security," barked Defense Secretary Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis[1]Mattis, by the way, “resigned in December, citing differences with Trump over the deployment of U.S. troops to Syria and Afghanistan.” According to the NYTimes, the choice was “in protest of President Trump’s decision to withdraw American forces from Syria [roughly 2,000 American troops] and his rejection of international alliances.”[2] July 23, 2019: “Trump's choice: Senate approves Mark Esper as defense secretary”[3] And on verbal cue: “During his confirmation hearing last week, Esper said his top priorities will be modernizing the Pentagon while balancing the 'growing threats' posed by 'great power competitors' China and Russia and regional threats such as Iran and North Korea – 'all the while maintaining pressure on terrorist groups such as ISIS and al-Qaida.'”[4]Well, that covers all the army bases, doesn't it? One of the key motivations for Greed Power Competition sure seems to be China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), “a global development strategy adopted by the Chinese government involving infrastructure development and investments in 152 countries and international organizations in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas.” [5] Shifting attention from flat-out terror to mere fear of losing so-called power has induced one of the greatest amnesias of these times, from sci-fi B scary movie to “All the world's a stage,” er, theater of potential war where competition currently rules the script. A segment in the film “In the Light of Reverence”, a 2001 documentary produced by Christopher McLeod and Malinda Maynor (Yumbee), shows the Lakota “Run of the Sacred Hoop, 500 miles in 5 days.”[6] That scene touched me the most, showing what appears as a relay race except it's not a competition, rather a prayerful working together with no individual more important than another. It reminded me of how every link of the journey is significant, of how something as simple as getting a coffee and bagel en route to work involves where the ingredients come from and whether they were gathered/produced in a manner respectful of the workers and Mother Earth . . . and on to those who deliver the products, then someone else to prepare and serve them; IF a seamless flow, a day gets off to a good start. As to the layers of Fear embedded in society and the world-at-large, I don't care if it sounds trite or naive, what has existed since Creation and outlives Fear are: Love, Caring, Empathy, and Generosity, to name a few. More of these nurturing emotions 'pumped' into our daily and nightly lives would help because, for one, they feel good; two, they counter-balance the Fear and Greed; and three, those good feelings create healing energies and transformations. While individuals can surmount great odds and inspire masses, it is collectively that wider change occurs. PS - July 26, 2019: “House Approves $1.48 Trillion Pentagon Budget”[7] NOTES: [1] “U.S. military puts 'great power competition' at heart of strategy: Mattis” [2] “Jim Mattis, Defense Secretary, Resigns in Rebuke of Trump’s Worldview” [3] See here [4] Ibid. [5] Belt and Road Initiative [6] “In the Light of Reverence” [7] See here Mankh (Walter E. Harris III) is an essayist and resident poet at Axis of Logic. In addition to his work as a writer and small press publisher, he travels a holistic mystic pathway staying in touch with Turtle Island. See his new book of nonfiction with a poetic touch, “photo albums of the heart-mind”. © Copyright 2019 by AxisofLogic.com This material is available for republication as long as reprints include verbatim copy of the article in its entirety, respecting its integrity. Reprints must cite the author and Axis of Logic as the original source including a "live link" to the article. Thank you! |