Invisible Guilt

Every American taxpayer is part of a terrorist state and technically complicit in its crimes. Myself included.

// Kevin Bond //

Of course, it's more complicated than that--taxes pay for good things too, and many of us participate in the system under duress, to preserve our own lives and livelihoods. That doesn't include me: I am privileged enough to have choices. If I were a true humanitarian, I would move to a less heinous country, or actively resist and reorganize the power structures in America. My family can afford to do so. Ironically, we're only in such a secure position due to generations of military service and business success. Less ironically, every day we continue our placid prosperity, fueled by genocide and slave labor overseas. Out of sight = out of mind, right? We are like infants, lulled by the simplest ruse.

Perhaps this seems overly harsh and moralistic, but it's just practical. Money and power are inextricable, basically the same goddam thing, and the US economy functions to endow itself with more and more of both. This country hangs onto its theoretical separation of church and state, but industry blended with government is the solid status quo. We criticize the state of affairs, but we still watch TV. (Every major news channel is owned by a corporation that allies with the military. I promise you.)

It's on my mind because I'm reading a dystopia at the moment--Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, set in San Francisco--and although I enjoy the protagonist's hijinks, I can't help noticing that the fictional, openly oppressive government is terribly inefficient. That's what I think of North Korea, too. It's a stupid way to operate your totalitarian human rights tragedy. For example, why interrogate with torture when you can cajole and get more reliable results?

Far better to give your populace the illusion of freedom and justice, so they won't resist. Cultivate public apathy, and you can have all the power that you want.