Killer
Storm – Weapons of Mass Distraction
A few weeks' ago I Googled the term
“Weapons of Mass Distraction” - just at the time that one of our
Progressive Bromley Film Co-op members suggested that we watch 'We
Are Wisconsin', together.
Looking at the Image results for
“Weapons of Mass Distraction” included one of two women in the US
military, joyfully breast-feeding their children. The point of the
picture was that they were wearing US military uniform and their joy,
for them, was enhanced by the fact that, for the first time, they
were now allowed to breast-feed their babies while wearing military
uniform . . .
A search for 'We Are Wisconsin' (see
http://vimeo.com/33579940) revealed that, at Vimeo, there is a fairly
lengthy trailer for the film – it looks good, and I wonder if it
will be in a dvd format that can be shown here on my ex-Canadian Dell
lap-top (of such micro-detail trip-ups is technology made – grrr!).
There, I discovered that the film-maker – a woman, Amie Williams –
had also made two further interesting items, among many more.
The first ('Voices of the Heart') is
about a Band of plains Indians working hard to retain their native
language - a subject worthy of an extended discussion – while the
other is called 'Homeland': http://vimeo.com/74537004
This latter film relates well to that
photo-image, above.
In 'Homeland', we are introduced to the
life of a young plains woman, of European descent who decided to
enlist in the US military after seeing the images of the planes being
flown into the NEW York World Trade Center buildings:
Clip from 'Homeland'
She did two tours of duty in Iraq, but
only managed to survive them by using alcohol and other drugs.
As a consequence, she left the US
military with a 'Less than Honorable' discharge: the result of which
is that she's not considered to be a US Veteran and so not eligible
for pension, medical care, etc, etc. The film, however, showed her
being befriended by an older ex-military woman at a voluntary
organisation and her struggles to keep going forward.
One poignant clip showed the two
preparing a birthday party for the younger woman, in which she says
that it was the first time she could recall having a birthday party
being set up for her . . .
Another, earlier on in the film, showed
her in the cockpit of an armoured vehicle in Iraq – showing us the
size of the bullets that the vehicle's gun fired. Whether intended,
or not, another heart-wrenching moment was seeing a collection of
children's photos stuck around the inside edge of the vehicle's
cockpit.
My mind went back to those two
breast-feeding women.
So, what's this to do with the 'Killer
Storm', “Weapons of Mass Distraction” and 'We Are Wisconsin'.
Simply this: people complain that
'No-one's doing anything about this mess – they are all too greedy
and/or complacent/indifferent/bored/burnt-out/couldn't care
less/what-ever'.
In large part this is because there
isn't a well-known alternative (which there is – I call it
Co-operative Socialism, but others can decide if that claim is
justified), but also to the fact that there is, both, a continual
barrage of “Weapons of Mass Distraction” - like the frenzy around
The Killer Storm (no mention of average day deaths by capitalism in
the UK – road 'accidents', construction industry 'accidents', lost
fingers, eyes, what-ever – lives even), along with the –
consequentially-created – mind-set (literally, minds-set-in-stone)
of Contrarian, 'You know I'm right', alcohol- 'gaming-', TV-, Radio-
and other-drug maintained, brain-addled, brain-addling, assertive
narcissistic non-sense.
In a tellingly-titled book, John Hull,
reader in Religious Education at the University of Birmingham asks,
'What Prevents Christian Adults from Learning?'
The same, but secular, question is
urgent: how can adults learn? - a) when they have been groomed into
this assertive narcissistic state, and b) when they are under
continual bombardment of these capitalism-created, brain-altering,
“Weapons of Mass Distraction”.
The first step of the twelve Step
program would help: recognising that we - I – all of us - have a
problem,
Then a level of emotional-awareness
(that I tried to sketch in the Robert Owen, New Lanark, UK Society
for Co-operative Studies 2008 presentation, 'Emotions, Personalities
and Politics' – to be logged in the papers' section of the
Interest-free Money web-site - as part of an exploration of the
Co-operative Socialism option.
Finally, getting rid of your telly,
your radio, all capitalist newspapers (including 'The guardian' and
'Observer') and magazines, not buying other than you need (really
need! – all very hard!) and even, perhaps, helping set up a local
Progressive Film Co-op ('Just Films' in Birmingham is one good model!
Our Quaker Meeting has been very generous to us here in Bromley as a
free venue for our Progressive Bromley Film Co-op!
And finally – those Weapons of Mass
Distraction are intended to co-opt y/our mind and time.
The alternative to co-option is
co-operation.
Of the co-operative socialist-kind, I'd
say - of course!
John Courtneidge
Beckenham, Kent
29 October 2013
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