BLOOD LUST AND OUR NATURE-- MANIPULATED FOR A BUCK (WELL... BILLIONS OF BUCKS)

Someday when we get honest with ourselves, the world will not seem so complex and confusing. This week I read about a Left Behind type video game where so-called Christian characters are to roam the world looking for enemies to Christianity, which included not only people of other faiths, but people of the same faith different brand, a la mainstream Christianity, and kill them. Today as I make my way through the news I see a story of a young man who went AWOL when he saw his fellow soldiers kicking around the heads of decapitated Iraqis. Network news is all ablaze with the Haditha mystery. And, many sternly deny such a thing is common; it is unthinkable they say. Is it?

In a world where the followers of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, begin to find ways to dramatize their hatred for outsiders by inventing a video game based on killing their fellow citizens, many of whom are their neighbors, is it really that hard to imagine that we have created a present in which the unthinkable has become downright common? They are not alone; many have been brought along that path ahead of them.

This country is increasingly split into warring factions. The public mood is ugly. If you do not hate the enemy without reservation then, you are not worthy to be a member of (insert the name of your group here). Between O’Reilly and Limbaugh there is little ground to stand on, you have a narrow parcel. Love it or leave it.

Never in my life have I seen so much fawning over those who display the most undesirable of human characteristics. Liars are rewarded, the narrow minded are applauded, PR is vowed to be reality. Medals are handed out to team players no matter how cowardly they prove themselves to be by betraying their offices. And, murderers are sanctioned because they are, after all, our murderers. They are on our side. Is there really any fate that is too bad for our enemy? No, certainly not.

Somewhere in our minds we have been encouraged to be incensed. We have been goaded to give in to our baser nature, to act out. What we have forgotten along the way is that the laws we established in our country were to guard us against this very occurrence. We instituted laws in order to dispense justice with a cool and reasoned hand. We signed the Geneva Convention and make other international treaties for the same reason. As human beings we acknowledge from time to time that we cannot be trusted. And, it is the truth. Though we talk civilization there is a deep seated incivility within us. There is a blood lust which we have forever it seems tried to quash, rightfully so.

To put it mildly, I am dismayed, dismayed and disgusted by what I hear us saying, by what I see us doing. What is worse is that we pretend like we do not know how it happens. We know very well. We are like addicts to our inner childish and brute natures and we are not about to name the beast just yet, because the beast is us. We know we are all capable of killing without mercy. We all know that a beast whose cruelty is limitless is within each of us and can and will come out given the right circumstances.

We can pretend that we are all above this. Continue in our rhetorical charade or we can meet ourselves head on. To avoid confronting ourselves we have become lawless. Confrontation is not easy since acting out on all the undisciplined urges within us feels so good. Let it all hang out. Oh, yeah! If it feels good, do it. It is the same reason the right used to admonish the left. Little did they know, they had their own hedonistic demon stalking them from the bushes, (pun intended). I will forego here the discussion of whose hedonism hurts who the most. But, “Make love not war” does spring to mind.

By now, it is clear that the so called leaders of this country are brutal liars full of greed to the point that they will lie to anyone at any time for a dollar or for the chance to get the power to steal that dollar. They are NOT partisans. They are simply a band of criminals seeking to enrich their own bank accounts. This is about illusion and sleight of hand. The comments you are getting from any number of sources are not about politics. Nor are the policies legislated in congress about what is effective or necessary. No, this is about unbridled greed. And, to accomplish this feat of robbing a whole nation of all of its assets and all of its resources the perpetrators have played upon the baser natures of all of us.

Sadly, Americans are used to the corporate message. The millions they have spent on getting to know our psyches and the millions they now pay to get our email and phone records and net navigations are well worth it. They know how to get us to fight amongst ourselves….fences on borders, shouting matches on “news” shows, nasty comments on blogs, a bill against gay marriage, encouraging the winning at any cost mentality….as they make off with the dough. We have been had on so many fronts that much of what we now do and what we tolerate as a country is simply to save face for being so stupid.

It is time for us to face facts, inconvenient ones. People will do about anything under enough pressure. We need to insist that we return to the rule of law and calm our passions before we destroy ourselves and everything else in response to our body chemistry, our reaction to the fear the puppeteers induce everyday. When I see Christians being encouraged to imagine a world, to act out shooting and killing their neighbors for differing beliefs, I know it has gotten as bad as it can get before all hell breaks loose.

Get honest America! We know how scenarios like Haditha happen. It is no great mystery, pressure, fear, grief. We know why people burn crosses and march against difference, the desperate need to feel special, safe. The need to feel in control is the make up of our genetic material, but it need not be our destiny. We can be better and smarter than that.

If the Jesus that Christians worship is for real, then he came to a world to teach us all how to reach for something better than brutality, better than the beast within us. He stopped the stoning of the adulteress. He taught acceptance and peace. He healed the sick and raised the dead. He fed the hungry. He disparaged the government and organized religion. If there was anger it was displayed in response to betrayal, cruelty, or greed. The message is so appealing because it speaks to all of us. We know who we are. Blessed are the peacemakers, but rich are the promoters of war.

-Mags