THE WAR ON STUFF

As of late, We, as a Nation of Folks, appear to have forgotten how to think for Ourselves. Our Intellectual Sloth has led to our Intellectual Hobblin'. Faith has been traded for Blind Faith. What passes these days for Intelligent Discourse is now nothin' more than a vulgar Exchange of Soundbites lifted from whatever particular flavor of Slanted Media our associates currently find fashionable, which promptly decays into a Swappin' of Insults and Name-Callin'. The Layin' of Blame. The questions "what's wrong?" and "what happened?" are now immediately met with the proclamations "they did it" and "not our fault."

Unproductive? Would that it were that simple. Destructive, Fatalistic, Myopic- these words are among the best at describin' the Current Norm. Accountability? Non-existent. Responsibility? Only in its tiniest, most selfish form.

When posed with a Taxin' Situation, a Complicated Issue, we are all too quick to turn to the Bag of Blurbs with which we have been inundated.

Sorta what I felt like talkin' about, thinkin' about.   Particularly, the oft-pitched "War on..." phrase.

Could we perhaps have a discussion about the solid things, the indisputable things?  The kinds of things that are abundantly clear?  I ain't talkin' about the things that result from a series of assumptions, suppositions, all that "what if" stuff. I'm talkin' about the abundantly clear things that stand on their own.  You know: Conclusions arrived at through careful study, through the gathering and interpretation of things such as historical data rather than high-level supposition and postulation and assumption.  Maybe even throw in a little of that old chestnut, "Scientific Method".  

(Remember that crazy thing you learned about in grade school?  Scientific Method?  Ahh, memories...)

Gettin' off track.  

Notice how everything is referred to as a "War" these days?  I mean, all kindsa stuff.  Used to be, War meant armies and guns and ships and planes and bombs.  But then, at some point, things began to change.  

"The Cold War."  I reckon that's the earliest example of atypical usage of the word "War" that I can think of.  I'm sure there are other examples that predate it, but the Cold War was that thing that sorta replaced all that actual combat, helped change our modern idea of traditional war.  It was a War of Ideologies, of Concepts.  A War waged for the Upper Hand, Influence and Power.  Control.

It ain't like all the old timey "I'll blow your ass to Hell" stuff went away.  Nope.  It never did and likely never will.  But it seemed to narrow in the types of participants: Dictators in Banana Republics, Despots that robbed and oppressed, many times their very own;  Skirmishes over a line in the sand or a stronger neighbor takin' someone else's shit just 'cause they wanted it. Sometimes, Lead against Stones, Poisons versus Sticks.  Armed conflicts sometimes carried out by surrogates and even mercenaries.  (Hell, that's just your classic Rapin' and Pillagin'.  Nothin' to see here.  Move along...)  

Nothin' short of a Catastrophic Global Event or Divine Intervention is gonna stop that shit.  (Take your pick: Armageddon, Meteor Strike, Nuclear War, Space Invaders maybe...)

Wheel in the ditch.  Stand by...

Sorry.  Gonna just make a short list here:

The War on Drugs

The War on Free Speech (First Ammendment)

The War on Guns (Second Amendment)

The War on Religion (Essentially any and all of it)

The War on Christmas (One of the most ridiculous)

The War on Immigration

The War on Family (Typically the "Leave it to Beaver/Father Knows Best" fantasy one)

The Race Wars

The War on Coal (Extra stupid)

The War on Science

The War on Democracy

The Trade Wars

The War on Intellectualism (similar to the War on Science)

I'm sure there's plenty more, but I'll stop here.

I think we can all agree that the word "war" can be considered an aggressive kinda word.  Strangely, we now use it to describe damn-near any and all disagreements or efforts or as a way to paint a particular group as somehow bein' victims, especially ourselves.

Fish~

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/war/