A Mystique of Violence

"There is a hardly a nation on earth today that is not to some extent committed to a philosophy or to a mystique of violence. One way or other, whether on the left or on the right, whether in defense of a bloated establishment or of an impoverished guerrilla government in the jungle, whether in terms of a police state or in terms of a ghetto revolution, the human race is polarizing itself into camps armed with everything from Molotov cocktails to the most sophisticated technological instruments of death. At such a time, the doctrine that "war is the will of God" can be disastrous if it is not handled with extreme care. For everyone seems in practice to be thinking along some such lines with the exception of a few sensitive and well-meaning souls."—Thomas Merton (The Asian Journals, 1968)

In the U.S.A., at this time when at least an incremental step is being considered by Congress toward legally guaranteeing that all citizens have some form of health-care coverage, the pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies are spending record sums to advertise the benefits of the status-quo. This would be the same status-quo that has enriched insurance companies for many years while leaving millions of citizens young and old uninsured or cheated out out of the often unreliable and over-priced coverage that they might barely afford. The same status-quo that has allowed pharmaceutical companies, with the collusion of our government representatives (most of whom are heavily-lobbied and campaign-funded by these very companies), to make huge, unjustified profits. What does this massive surge in public relations spending by the insurance and pharmaceutical companies, to the tune of millions of dollars a day on all media advertising, tell you? Does it perhaps beg the question of why so many members of Congress are dragging their feet, trying to dilute and delay legislation until it amounts to a practically meaningless change in the national health care system? Does it explain the resistance from mainstream television and radio spokespeople to real change in the system, or the voice given to disreputable hack doctors and scientists that have suddenly been enlisted to resist this change? Does it throw some light on the motivations of extreme right-wing corporate shills like Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, Beck, Medved (and too many of their clones to mention) in their efforts to vilify President Obama or anyone wanting to at least try to set up a slightly more equitable and efficient health care system in this country so that we might take another step toward becoming a civilised nation? V.M.

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Is it part of this mystique of violence to deny health care to those least able to afford it? That will soon become most of us unless we take a big step in the right direction of health care reform now. I have worked as a health care professional for my entire working life. I have been a recipient of health care as a patient. The consensus of opinion among my coworkers and fellow patients is the same. We need health care reform now. VT

Editorial~Viggo Mortensen at Perceval Press

picture~warning on my gamma camera