I've never found conspiracies seductive; mostly just outlandish, as they attribute way too much intelligence to men who can't even keep their dick in their pants or control what comes out of their mouths. Of course, it all makes for some entertaining movies and video games, but otherwise, for me, it's the stuff of tin foil hats.
That said, there have been dark moments when I've feared that what we see today in terms of global politics, saber-rattling, new technology and ludicrous media like FOX News…that it's all eerily similar to the story in the popular video game, Metal Gear - Guns of the Patriots.
As the main character, Snake says in the prologue,"It's no longer about nations, ideology, or ethnicity. It's an endless series of proxy battles, fought by mercenaries and machines. War and its consumption of life has become a well-oiled machine. War has changed."
In short, war has become its own economy. Then again, it always has been. My father was a key player in naval military contracts in the 60s. He travelled all over the country and conducted business with all the top corporations. In the years before he died, he told me stories about many men; how deals were made and why certain contracts were awarded to certain people. You really don't want to know.
Small arms - handguns and rifles - are just another part of the larger global market and men like Wayne LaPierre are just shills for the industry. A whore in a 3-piece suit. A PR man who gets paid $1 million a year to do speaking engagements. The problem is, he's as crazy as any of the villains in Metal Gear. I think he actually believes what he says. It would be even creepier to think that he doesn't. LaPierre is not merely a cog in the machine, he's a sideshow barker, a snake oil salesman. He's Billy Reed, the guy in the plaid jacket. He sells weapons the way Harold Hill sold musical instruments in The Music Man.
And worst of all, there are millions of men at the grass roots level who either buy into all the political bullshit and dogma, imagining they are driven by "ideology," or they're just adult children, attracted to the fetishism of guns and "playing soldier."
Men being men, are attracted to mechanical things - engines, machinery, mechanical power - and even more attracted if those things make loud noises or large holes in things. They are - as a friend put it - ammosexual. And many will adamantly deny this, but they'd also deny their relationship with their own personal "equipment."
Being attracted to war in general - the militarism, much less the killing part - is really not healthy psychology. In no way is that mindset an extension of say, a simple sportsman hunting for food.
As Snake says in Metal Gear,"War has become routine." Unfortunately, domestic terrorism and violence is also becoming routine. And it is becoming so, not just because of people whose minds have snapped at some point, but also because of the people (mostly men) who have such an unhealthy love affair with tools of death and destruction.
And for some twisted minds, life, death and war have become detached from any sane sense of reality, from any pursuit of peace, and it's just become a game to them. A story line. It's come full circle.
They just enjoy dressing-up and playing a part, imagining themselves in some fantasy. They are Snake, in Metal Gear.
The guns, unfortunately, are real. The dead children, are real.
That said, there have been dark moments when I've feared that what we see today in terms of global politics, saber-rattling, new technology and ludicrous media like FOX News…that it's all eerily similar to the story in the popular video game, Metal Gear - Guns of the Patriots.
As the main character, Snake says in the prologue,"It's no longer about nations, ideology, or ethnicity. It's an endless series of proxy battles, fought by mercenaries and machines. War and its consumption of life has become a well-oiled machine. War has changed."
In short, war has become its own economy. Then again, it always has been. My father was a key player in naval military contracts in the 60s. He travelled all over the country and conducted business with all the top corporations. In the years before he died, he told me stories about many men; how deals were made and why certain contracts were awarded to certain people. You really don't want to know.
Small arms - handguns and rifles - are just another part of the larger global market and men like Wayne LaPierre are just shills for the industry. A whore in a 3-piece suit. A PR man who gets paid $1 million a year to do speaking engagements. The problem is, he's as crazy as any of the villains in Metal Gear. I think he actually believes what he says. It would be even creepier to think that he doesn't. LaPierre is not merely a cog in the machine, he's a sideshow barker, a snake oil salesman. He's Billy Reed, the guy in the plaid jacket. He sells weapons the way Harold Hill sold musical instruments in The Music Man.
And worst of all, there are millions of men at the grass roots level who either buy into all the political bullshit and dogma, imagining they are driven by "ideology," or they're just adult children, attracted to the fetishism of guns and "playing soldier."
Men being men, are attracted to mechanical things - engines, machinery, mechanical power - and even more attracted if those things make loud noises or large holes in things. They are - as a friend put it - ammosexual. And many will adamantly deny this, but they'd also deny their relationship with their own personal "equipment."
Being attracted to war in general - the militarism, much less the killing part - is really not healthy psychology. In no way is that mindset an extension of say, a simple sportsman hunting for food.
As Snake says in Metal Gear,"War has become routine." Unfortunately, domestic terrorism and violence is also becoming routine. And it is becoming so, not just because of people whose minds have snapped at some point, but also because of the people (mostly men) who have such an unhealthy love affair with tools of death and destruction.
And for some twisted minds, life, death and war have become detached from any sane sense of reality, from any pursuit of peace, and it's just become a game to them. A story line. It's come full circle.
They just enjoy dressing-up and playing a part, imagining themselves in some fantasy. They are Snake, in Metal Gear.
The guns, unfortunately, are real. The dead children, are real.
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