The Wars and i (1951–1971)
A History (With A Soundtrack)
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I find myself in dissent from the overwhelmingly popular narratives regarding the current war in Ukraine.
I am writing this to look at my thoughts, my perspectives, and my experiences — as well as my idealism and my cynicism — which have shaped the specific path that I have taken in response to all the horrors, physical and spiritual, of war.
No deep truth or justification has emerged to counter my growing cynicism around this human endeavor during the more than five and a half decades since I began to think for myself.
This is a convoluted history of the roots of my basic pacifism, my distrust of emotional nationalism, my unwavering skepticism regarding the motives of the government of the country I live in, and my cynicism regarding anything to do with the reasons presented for any and all wars.
Music has served as a companion on my life and anti-war journey.
I have included songs throughout that could well be part of my text. As well as those of the opposition. Listen to them if you have the time.
(Apologies for ads on YouTube—in most cases if you refresh the page, anywhere from once to a max of three times, you can get right to the content.)
“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.
A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”
— Major General Smedley Darlington Butler
My First 25 Years
The Second World War
(Not to be confused with World War One, aka The Great War, aka “the war to end wars”—in which…
