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- War is the ideology of the United States.
We have wars on drugs, wars on poverty, wars on terrorism, wars on illiteracy, but we don't seem to be "winning" any of them.
What does it mean to declare war? In this metaphor, it seems the goal is to wipe the enemy from the face of the earth. Does that mean that we imagine war as genocide?
Maybe it's time to come up with a new metaphor - one that works. In a war, people kill each other. There are no obvious "good guys" and "bad guys." There are people on either side who may believe, to some extent, in the cause they're fighting for, but mostly, who are ordered to go in and do the dirty work of politicians. In war, there is heavy "collateral damage" as innocent lives are lost, but the desired ends seem to justify the means.
War as a metaphor is as old as the act of killing. If we want to come into a newer age of reason and compassion, perhaps we should change our metaphors to reflect the ideology we would like to perpetuate, rather than the old ideology of murdering the opposition.
Please email me with any suggestions for new metaphors that are better suited to the kind of world we want to live in.
What would it take to lessen poverty, ignorance, aand violence? War is not the answer.
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