Eye-Openers - Probes beyond the obvious

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We are standing on the railroad track. Altogether there must be close to a hundred of us, all waving placards with messages such as: Stop the War Before It Begins, No Blood for Oil and Thou Shalt Not Kill. In the distance ahead of us we can see a train coming at full speed. A few kilometers behind us the Bridge of Peace spanning Death Canyon has collapsed. The train must be stopped or disaster will result.
Thoughts and images are exploding in kaleidoscopic fashion in my head. I see North Korean soldiers goose-stepping with synchronized precision behind tanks and carriers of missiles controlled by an anachronistic dictatorship that has enough money for advanced weaponry, but not enough for food to feed its starving citizens.
I see a parade of balaclava-masked Muslim men knee-jumping in unison as they pass through some dusty street in the Middle East, shouting slogans. They proudly and menacingly press their rifles against their chests, cheered on by supporters: all energized by hate and inspired by religious fanaticism. Young boys with impotent rage throw rocks at Israeli tanks rolling through their neighbourhoods.
Both Israelis and Palestinians bury their dead with predictable regularity. Both sides promise revenge as the non-winnable conflict escalates. Calls for peace are drowned out by the sounds of endless explosions, security remaining beyond the grasp of both parties When will political leaders understand that real and lasting security can never be achieved with weapons no matter how powerful? To achieve security the billions of dollars now spent on weapons and military personnel should be spent on education, health care and improved infrastructure.
As the train speeds towards us, many other images explode in my head: I remember the TV clip of an American middle-aged woman who quit her job to work in a bomb factory to "help" her country. I recall her grandmotherly face. She paints bombs with pride and loving care as though she were decorating a birthday cake. To her the bomb she is painting symbolizes patriotism. She is completely oblivious of the fact that the bomb is in fact encapsulated evil that will rip apart little children, loving Iraqi grandmothers and other innocent civilians after it is dropped by an American plane over Iraq. She is in fact a mindless participant in the forthcoming mass murder of people she does not even know, people who pose no threat to her or the US. Yet, I have no doubt she would risk her life to save a child if it wandered into the path of an oncoming car. How does one explain such dissociative behaviour?
All of a sudden I feel chills creep along my spine when I realize the North Korean soldiers, the Muslim fanatics, the American woman, the Israeli soldiers, the Palestinian suicide bombers are all the same: robots incapable of independent thinking, manipulated like pliable puppets by their diabolical leaders. How do the Hitlers, Stalins and other demoniacal demagogues get such absolute power over their puppet populations? Through propaganda. As Herman Goering explained: "The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
When religious doctrine with its self-righteous claims is added to the brainwashing mix, very few people will escape the propaganda net and brutality will be justified by those who inflict it. How does one stop Muslim fanatics who believe that blowing up a school bus full of children will be rewarded by God with a shortcut to paradise where 24 beautiful virgins will be waiting to pleasure them? You can't, because you can't reason with irrational people or as Voltaire put it so aptly: "Anyone you can make believe absurdities you can make commit atrocities." How does one convince Israelis that occupying the land of Palestinians, bulldozing their homes, building settlements in their midst, killing innocent civilians from the ground and from the air is not the road to peace and security?
How does one make Americans aware that they live in a culture where violence is not only rampant, but is used as a form of entertainment in video arcades, movies and TV programs? Very few American movies without guns and explosions are financial successes. The very profitable Star Wars is basically a modern version of a cowboys and Indians movie set in outer space. The Wild West mentality is still very much alive in the US.
How does one make people everywhere aware that essentially we all want the same things: food, water, clothing, housing, education for our children, health for all and a decent income that allows people to live with dignity. Instead the parasitic wheelers and dealers in the world's stock exchanges and corporate power towers exploit and suppress the poor and downtrodden at home and abroad.
There are more than a million millionaires in the US, while more than two million fellow-Americans are in prison, three million are homeless and 18 million American children are undernourished- -all in the wealthiest country on earth. The American Dream is just that: an illusion. But the reality is there can never be peace without social justice.

The train is getting quite close now. We all shout "Stop!" but the train is not even slowing down. People left and right jump off the track. We stand mesmerized as the train roars by. It is a strange sight for the first car is a caboose. Hanging out of the window is Bin Laden and his Taliban sidekick Mullah Omar, both shooting into the air. Next are dozens of wagons with plates displaying their origin, including Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, North Korea, Chechnya, Russia, China, Britain and the last one: USA. We can see there are many people- -including children-- on the train. We can hear them sing various national anthems. How do people justify bringing innocent children into this world, this cauldron of misery, suffering, injustice, pain and violence?
The last unit is the engine. The Stars and Stripes are painted on the front. The train obviously is going full-speed backwards. Clearly no one on the train has a clue what the ultimate outcome of the cataclysmic chain of events will be once the train plunges into Death Canyon with its oil refineries and munition depots. I get a fleeting glimpse of the smiling engineer at the controls. It is George Bush. He gives us his two-finger victory sign. A few reciprocate with a one-finger salute. Moments later the train plunges to its doom. Deafening explosions fill our ears and huge billowing black clouds rise out of Death Canyon. I have images of countless thousands of charred and dismembered bodies of people who until a few moments ago shared laughter and hope and had dreams of justice and victory. I think of the definition of homo sapiens (wise man) which people have given the human race and I recognize it as yet another example of cunning conceit and deadly deception.

COPYRIGHT: John J. Moelaert 2002