Hell is everywhere in the US

“War … is hell,” observed a famous US soldier, William Tecumseh Sherman, in 1879. If there is any truth in Sherman’s observation, the US seems to be descending into a hell of its own making. The signs and symbols appear everywhere; from the streets of towns and cities, to the schools and on television. One is cautious not to sound paranoid, but there may well be cause for deep concern. This descent is not just overt or loud, it is subtle and insidious. It moves from the wars of the state and the industrial complex that underpins it, to the video console and cable television in family homes almost seamlessly.

The noisy descent
This descent into the hell of war is, of course, not a recent development. At any given time after the Second World War, the US has been involved in a war against societies around the world. There is a long list of wars ranging from low-intensity conflict, endorsement of coups d’etat and civil war to outright invasions or full-scale fighting funded, provoked, manipulated or fought by the US. While the industrial complex and the military itself has systematically increased its expansion and recruitment, war has slipped into the daily life of people, and appears to have become permissible, and perhaps even a good thing … such is the insidious nature of this militarisation (and if the declining hegemony of the US is true) that its industrial production forces have enjoyed a saprophytic relationship with the decaying hegemon that is that state. The best developed example of this saprophyte may well be Lockheed Martin.

William Hartung, director of the Arms Trade Resource Centre at the World Policy Institute explained that in 2008, Lockheed Martin received $36 billion in government contracts, more than any other company in the country’s history. The company works across several government agencies including the departments of defence, energy, agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency, the Census Bureau and even the post office. Lockheed Martin is believed to be involved in hiring interrogators for US prisons abroad (like Guantanamo Bay in Cuba) and managing private intelligence networks.

“If you want to feel a tad more intimidated, consider Lockheed Martin’s sheer size for a moment. After all, the company receives one of every 14 dollars doled out by the Pentagon. In fact, its government contracts, thought about another way, amount to a “Lockheed Martin tax” of $260 per taxpaying household in the US, and no weapons contractor has more power or money to wield to defend its turf. It spent $12 million on congressional lobbying and campaign contributions in 2009 alone,” Hartung wrote.

The silent slide
If fighting war and militarism are the loud and overt dimensions of this society’s descent into the hell of war, its silent slide can be witnessed on the streets, in schools, at video consoles and on cable television in family homes. It is a subtle and insidious slide which conspires to make war permissible, and “OK”. On the roads of the country one is faced with a constant thwack of road signs promoting the military and enticing young men (it seems to be mainly men, they seek out for recruitment) into joining the war machine. The “recruitment” starts at home and in schools. Killing skills are forged on any of the hundreds of paintball fields that have proliferated the country, or on video consoles at home.

Many South Africans were appalled by the military indoctrination of white youth during the apartheid period. In the US there are military recruitment and training centres, ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps), on university campuses around the country. While the ROTCs declined in popularity since the Vietnam war, they are currently enjoying a “boom”. The army also encourages high school students to get ready for entering the war machine. (Follow this link, and click on the “high school student” tab). The training to kill starts at home, as it were. Military-themed video games are a $20 billion industry in the US and are among the best-selling entertainment products in the world. Names like “Battlefield,” and “Call of Duty,” romanticise war and “their phenomenal success affirms our admiration for warriors”, remarked Brier Dudley of the Seattle Times. One of the top war-themed games, “Call of Duty: Black Ops” sold an estimated 5.6 million copies on the first day of release in North America and the UK. Last year, at my local carwash in Columbia, South Carolina, I was greeted by loud slogans of blind loyalty to US soldiers fighting wars abroad. Today, in Burlington, North Carolina, small businesses promote causes to support their soldiers.

The permissibility of war seems to have taken a new turn of legitimacy. In April 2003, the celebrated network news anchor Katie Couric heaped direct praise on the military with the slogan, “Navy Seals Rock”. Cable television is increasingly presenting “real time” or “actuality” shows with war themes. From the much revered National Geographic Channel we have Border Wars. The seemingly benign Food Channel, gives us a new show, Cupcake War! The A&E TV channel presents, Storage Wars and Parking Meter Wars. In his outstanding book, War is a Force that Gives us Meaning, Chris Hedges observed that “the prospect of war is exciting” and the act of war is “the ultimate definition of manhood”. On television, beer commercials run under themes of manliness. Real men do not drink “light beer”. Products are advertised on television, and their appeal and credibility are filtered through slogans like, “as used by the army” or “as approved by Navy Seals” … It is impossible to generalise about a country as large and diverse as the US, but for the most part it seems “war” and “warfare” are becoming the defining features of this society. If Sherman was right and war is hell, then hell is everywhere in the US.