• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Someone else put in what became the final words: “I agree, but think that grace will come if (and when) we stick with it long enough. And I need to add something for people to think about as civilization comes down: don’t leave out insects. They’re abundant, self-cleaning (not much disease), tasty, and contain lots of protein and good fats. Bon Appetit!”

After occupying Afghanistan, the United States invaded yet another country, Iraq.

The first night of the invasion I stood in the checkout line at Safeway, taking in the cover of a magazine—a picture of a fish with a human face—and pondering a question asked on another—whether after all this time Demi Moore will reconcile with Bruce Willis—when a man in his early twenties turned to me and said, deadpan, “So, we’re at war.”

I tried unsuccessfully to read his unshaven face beneath his baseball cap. I wanted to say, “We’re not at war. I’m not at war. It’s not my government. They’re not my troops.” But that would have required too much explanation. So I said, “Yes, the U.S. government is yet again bombing the shit out of poor brown people.”

He nodded, and said, “Yes, it is. It certainly is.” He turned away, and so did I.

As civilization falls, we all—rich and poor alike—have far more to fear than starvation, even more than the dioxin that permeates our bodies. Those in power time and again show no hesitation at killing to gain and maintain access to resources or to otherwise increase their power. Indeed, as is being shown right now in Iraq, and has been shown repeatedly the world over, they show an absolute eagerness to do so (I was going to suggest those who think the U.S. invasion has nothing to do with oil should put the book down, but realized they’ve probably already tired of the big words).

But their eagerness to use violence to gain power is nothing compared to what awaits anyone within range when their power is threatened. Anybody who has ever been in a violent relationship knows that to leave is extremely dangerous, as abusers often kill their victims rather than let them escape (showing they’d rather kill than give up their control, and, as my mom said, give up their identities). They sometimes kill themselves as well, showing they’d rather die, too, than give up their control and identity.

This happens not only on a personal level. When Hitler finally realized his war was lost, he tried to take down all of Germany with him. Disobedience on the part of his lieutenants prevented Hitler from succeeding. Had the Nazis possessed a nuclear arsenal comparable to what is now wielded by the United States, Hitler would certainly have attempted to use it to destroy the world. If an abuser cannot control a thing, it shall not be allowed to exist. This is the quintessence of abuse.

Lately at talks I’ve begun commenting that if those who run the U.S. government were to find their power seriously threatened, whether through internal rebellion or ecological collapse, there’s a good chance they wouldn’t scruple at nuking L.A. or any other seat of resistance. Heck, they’ve nuked Nevada for decades without any threat to their power at all.

People nod when I say this. There are no gasps of shock or disbelief. People easily accept the very real possibility of “their” leaders using nuclear weapons on the people and landbase they purport to serve. People are often far ahead of me in their analysis and understanding that those in power will do anything to maintain that power, and will destroy everything under their control before they see it let free.

Starvation, frightening as it is, may not be our greatest fear.

Given the radical obtuseness into which most of us—myself definitely included—are trained from infancy, I need to not be abstract but to be absolutely explicit. The United States government is a government of occupation. Capitalism is an economics of occupation. If a foreign power (or space aliens) were to do to us and our landbases what the dominant