Author: Peter Crowley

A bully who regularly wallops kids has recently given a certain child a sharp punch in the mouth. The smaller kid responded with a deliberately ineffective jab to the shoulder, as a matter of pride. Expecting retaliation, the diminutive child abruptly brought up hands to cover his face. In doing so, he hit himself in the nose, causing blood to pour out.

And so, with the blood – the crocodile tears from the US media emerge – over a Ukrainian passenger jet accidentally shot down during US-Iranian hostilities. Though the Iranian government waited only three days to come forward with the truth, the media frames this as an indispensable period of time, which if admitted earlier, would have made all OK.

The media’s crocodile tears are to remind the audience that the US does not actually hate the Iranian people, it just deplores their government. And look how bad this government that we hate is! Iran shot down an airliner with their own civilians on it! Now all makes sense: this why we want the Iranian regime to collapse – they aren’t democratic enough, like Saudi Arabia, Egypt or apartheid Israel!

Continue reading “Crocodile Tears for Iran’s Accidental Downing of Civilian Plane”

Does fighting for an empire preclude greatness? Is it something about its hypermasculinity or raw power that makes Democrats and Republicans alike get on their knees and supplicate to the U.S. military and everything associated with it?

Military adoration is seen everywhere from shirts and bumper stickers, which often boast of being a military family or in the military, to militarism at sports stadiums where military personnel are usually recognized multiple times per game, in the national anthem’s psychical integration with the military and to a recent public opinion poll showing Americans’ 83% confidence in the military.

It may be of interest to look into the military’s demographics in order to see what drives those who join this putatively heroic organization. Although there is conflicting evidence on enlistee socioeconomics, with pro-military establishment think tanks claiming that the majority are middle class (to thwart the notion that enlistment is rooted primarily in economic gain), this much is established: minorities constitute 40% of the military, 61.5% of enlistees come from households below $61,000 and 83% from below $81,000. As middle class households earn between $40,000 and $120,000 per year, this places 83% of military enlistees in the poor and lower half of the middle class. Compared with the stagnant incomes of other Americans, military wages have steadily increased since 9/11 while their jobs are secure, both of which are unlike other Americans.

Continue reading “Military Worship Revisited”

It’s time to temporarily put away our left-right differences and form a mass movement to oppose a war with Iran.

Progressives, libertarians, liberals, and even some high profile Trumpists are against another military adventure in the Middle East. Laura Ingraham criticized neoconservatives like Bret Stephens for seeking an Iran War. Tucker Carlson denounced Washington "warmongers" for their hawkish bent. Chuck Schumer voiced his concerns that Trump may "bumble into war." The Nation and The American Conservative have long denounced the prospect of an Iran War. Progressives like Bernie Sanders and libertarians like Ron Paul have consistently done the same.

Continue reading “Come Together! Put Aside Differences To Form a Mass Protest Movement To Oppose an Iran War”