[su_label type=”info”]Column: The Devil’s Advocate [/su_label]
A couple of weeks ago, as I was walking around the Mission, all of a sudden a deafening sound came from the sky: it was caused by the flyovers of “The Blue Angels,” a group of six U.S. Navy planes, celebrating “Fleet Week.”
I am aware that there are many among you who might love that display of military might and the rather dumbfounding accuracy of the planes, as they overwhelm our everyday pedestrian existences. I beg to differ. I cannot celebrate those pesky angels.
I am against what I consider a naked glorification of militarism, a noisy reminder that this country is the number one seller of weapons in the world. It is also a sad fact that “the bombs bursting in air” have always been bursting over the skies of many countries of the world (most of the time, for dubious reasons).
I was not aware that “Fleet Week” was upon us, until that noise came. I almost went under the bed with cats and dogs all over the city! Then, I wasn’t just surprised, I was pissed!
A few days before the flyovers, the entire country was reeling from the atrocity that happened in Las Vegas, when a single shooter killed 58 people attending a country music concert, and wounded hundreds more, before apparently taking his own miserable life.
The televised images from that massacre also left, in my body and in my soul, the sound of the repeated tac-tac-tac-tac vomiting of machine guns, mowing down helpless victims—a horrible sound, a nightmare.
And here, a few days later, those blue planes overhead took me back to that horrific night in Las Vegas. Was that exhibition necessary? For whom? Why didn’t “the leaders” of our city, beginning with our absentee pro-techie landlord, Mayor Lee, cancel these flyovers?
That exhibition was not necessary at all and I believe that “the leaders” did not give much of a thought to the people’s fragile mental health, already wounded by the tac-tac-tac-tac of the machine gun bursts in Las Vegas.
So, once again, in the name of patriotism, the U.S. Navy invaded our spaces.
Sometimes it happens because of “Fleet Week.” Other times, it is because the Giants, or the Santa Clara 49ers receive good money from the military to fly their war machines over crowded stadiums. It is estimated that fly-overs in the Super Bowl cost an average of $450,000… for about three seconds worth of “spectacle.” From 2011 to 2014, the Department of Defense (shouldn’t be called Department of Attacks?) paid 14 NFL teams about $5.4 million!
As per the “Blue Angels,” they cost $40,000 per show. Just in gasoline! The total cost for each show is really about $1.26 million—a taxpayer-funded cost!
Those flyovers happen because of what the military calls “public relations,” a euphemism for the need, its need, to recruit new blood into the ranks. The military is an all-volunteer force, that has to advertise an upbeat image of itself. Besides engaging in a never-ending succession of wars, the recruiting of young people to serve might be the greatest challenge for the military.
The competition between the Navy, the Army, the Marines and the Air Force to feed new young men and women into their “machine” is heavy. The military needs would-be “heroes and heroines” and they must recruit them from a rather reluctant population. The cost of advertising for a volunteer military is part of the overall price paid for maintaining a constant war footing.
Edwin Starr, an African-American singer and personal hero of mine, wrote the song “War” a number-one hit in the charts of 1970. A clear anti-Vietnam war song, “War” became one of the most popular protest songs ever recorded:
“War, huh, yeah! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing! War, huh, yeah! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing! Say it again!
“Oh, war, I despise!, ‘cause it means destruction of innocent lives! War means tears to thousands of mothers’ eyes, when their sons go to fight and lose their lives!”
“War” was one of 161 songs on the Clear Channel no-play list after 9/11. Of course! At that time, the government was busy inventing the second Iraq war in the Persian Gulf. That song told too much truth.
Most wars are fought away from the United States, but there are also some internal “wars” being fought, such as the ongoing debate over sitting or standing while the National Anthem is played before sports games.
In these internal “wars,” the issue of patriotism is much debated. Are the players who kneel unpatriotic, cowardly and disrespectful of the anthem, the flag and all that is quasi-sacred among those who set the rules in this country?
No, these players are just expressing their disapproval of the historically bad treatment African-American people have experienced. I am standing (or sitting) with the players.
To me, a hero (or a heroine) is someone who gets up everyday to face the heavy task of living.
Teachers, nurses, workers in general, burdened by the danger of poverty which lurks right around the corner, they are the real heroes and heroines of this world.
I much rather see our sky covered by colorful kites saluting peace and diversity, than to see and hear those “Blue Angels” with their devilish roar.