One More Cold Mountain Tragedy.

(note- I post at a forum at slate.com called The Best of The Fray...it is to that location that certain references are sometimes made in my pieces; by way of explantion)

This afternoon I saw 'Cold Mountain'. I'd expected it to be good. It was much better. The acting and casting were superb. The direction was a work of genius. Yes, there were the few trite sops to that section of the public for whom such things are important, but it was uniformly brilliant. During certain moments it became the best film I've ever seen. It should have been Oscars all round. Go figure. This post isn't about the movie though. It's about the things the movie brings home and how it relates to the life we live.

I don't read about the Civil War. I'm not intrigued by the strategies and heroic's. I've a friend who is very knowledgeable on the subject and sometimes he tells me tales. Ironically, this friend was writing a book composed of fictional Civil War letters from a young man to his intended. This was a few years before Frazer's book came out. I read some of it. My friend is a good writer. He didn't finish the book though. That is a problem he has.

The Civil War was a horrible, stupid event created to feed the fires of violent fantasy in the minds of fools. It was a bloody, ugly mess and no amount of heroes and vicarious thrills will ever justify the raw stupidity, greed and arrogance that brought it about. The movie brought that home to me far more eloquently than any war film I have ever seen. And don't tell me it was about slavery.

Most wars are like this. On the surface they are about 76 trombones and eager-eyed young men looking for glory; young, dumb and full of cum. This isn't to say war is always avoidable. Hitler had to be stopped. Even though he was financed by the grandfather of the current president as well as others, including the banking firms of The Warburg's and Rothchild's; both Jewish families. The tragic irony of the truth behind the hype can bring a mean dispair about the human condition.

The Vietnam War was another stupid, un-necessary conflict. The proof that it was un-necessary lies in the fact that we lost that war and it didn't make any difference in the aftermath except to the survivors and those who lost someone.

Today another evil, un-necessary war is being fought for no other reason that that this country did not heed the warning given in the 70's and 80's about oil. The gas lines meant nothing because it's not our nature to learn about these kinds of things. We don't give a shit. We don't fund research. We don't conserve. We are, in large part, assholes. Men, women and children die now, because we are assholes.

Saddam was a postcard, nothing more. It wasn't WMD's that got Saddam in trouble, it was thinking about converting to the Euro. The real facts of the case have no connection to the excuses given. Men, women and children are dying because we are a fat, indifferent nation who wants our material comforts...and WE WANT IT NOW!

Lately we see this carpetbagging of Ballot Boxers and other deep thinkers to the shores of BOTF. Hardly a post is made that is not intended to outrage. A large portion of these posts are no more than trolling. It's unfortunate that anyone even answers them. Some of us are so reasonable or outraged, we can't let it pass. We have to defend and explain. There is nothing you can explain. You're not dealing with anything human. Peel away the human visage and there's a snarling beast. The beast is either a lumbering, stupid luddite who deserves the fortune to which he is headed, or it's something with the cunning of the hyena and the jackel; a beast nonetheless.

Tanks roll through a foreign land blasting Led Zepplin from the speakers. Bullet-headed cretins imagine themselves squatting among the bodies with a cigar in their mouth and proclaiming some version of "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning. It smells like victory."

Every thought, every word, .....affects the whole world. Those of you who celebrate in your safety; who makes jokes about the awful loss and pain among those defending their land, who smirk and preen and toss off the flatulent bon mot...your day is coming. Every thought, every word, every deed is recorded. They reverberate through the whole world. You murder everyday in the name of stupidity, greed and indifference for reasons you don't even comprehend.

You think it only fair that a psychopath is empowered to replace a psychopath we removed. You rationalize that it is the Iraqi will, implemented by the Iraqi Council representing the desires of the Iraqi people. The Iraqi's didn't orchestrate this, you did. Now they have put this holy city of the Muslims to flame. How is it that the cardinal lesson of martyrs is never learned? How is it that you do not understand that from every drop of blood another soldier rises to avenge them. Sadr understands this. And whether you or I consider them martyrs is immaterial. They consider them martyrs.

Look closely and you can see that the intention is just to provoke the people beyond restraint so that they can massacre them entire. Those who remain will be those whose genetics include the shuffling tread and the bowed head.

You're going to reap the whirlwind America and you fucking well deserve it. It may not come tomorrow and it may not come next year...but it's coming. Every thought, every word, every deed.