“Trumpet to War”: Spectators and Pragmatists…at Their Own Execution

Phillip Farruggio

The Military Industrial Empire has succeeded, ever since WW2. Our education system has incrementally been ‘dumbed down’ over these past decades. Our mainstream media is now a colorful prism of those terrible times during the Nazi and Stalinist eras. The use of ‘fake news’ then and now is the vogue. Truth has become hostage along with our cherished flag. Too many lies and disinformation have built this ‘House of Cards’ that the empire’s masters operate within. Yet, the mere handful of we truth seekers and truth tellers keep on ‘ keeping on’ despite the major obstacles in our way.

This writer’s baby boomer generation remembers well the ‘so called’ Vietnam War. It was never really a war between us and the Commies. No, it was a civil war that our empire decided to enter into, at such a great cost of both lives and national treasure. Too many of my fellow citizens either responded to the spin and hype, or simply couldn’t give a shit. The latter group were spectators to the demise of our moral compass , along with the demise of 50k + US military and millions of Vietnamese. Years later, once again the ‘Trumpet to War’ blew and many of my fellow citizens placed their yellow ribbons and flags out to signal their approval of Bush Sr.’s war on Iraq. Equally once again many of our populace remained spectators to the annihilation of that nation. Then we had 9/11, in reality a most mysterious event that the ’embedded media’ ran with, hook, line and sinker. Too many unanswered questions that only the ‘ dumbed down’ could ignore. This of course blended right into the Bush/Cheney’s cabal’s illegal and immoral invasion of another sovereign nation… which America never recovered from, fiscally, morally and politically. Too many of my fellow citizens once again bought into the lies and propaganda that still (sadly) drips out of that puss filled wound today.

Our nation is more than just being divided between the phony Two Party/One Party cartoon. It is more than just being divided between racial lines too. No, it is once again being divided between three camps: The dumbed down ‘true believers’, the spectators and the pragmatists. The first category fits well into what Herman Goering said about the manipulation of the masses:

Naturally the common people don’t want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, IT IS THE LEADERS of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is TELL THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. IT WORKS THE SAME IN ANY COUNTRY.”

So, the first category mentioned, the ‘true believers’, bought into the scam that Goebbels and company created so (sadly) brilliantly. Now we come to the 2nd grouping, the ‘spectators’. Many of them did not really buy into the Nazi rhetoric, but, as with most folks who disregard all politics, they just stood on the sidelines. As Hitler’s movement gained steam in the mid to late 20s, these folks were ‘too busy’ with their own lives to focus on things of national importance. They watched as the Third Reich took power. Finally, we had the ‘pragmatists’ who saw the terrible actions and rhetoric of the Nazis, and were quite chilled by it all. First and foremost, however, they believed in the Weimar Republic’s democratic process, and figured that just maybe the Storm Troopers were not quite as dangerous as the equally insurgent Red Guard.

After all, the German power structure and the media outlets it controlled both hated and feared the recent ‘Soviet miracle’, and: Mega propaganda does work. Of course, the height of pragmatism was when the center, center right and Social Democrat big wigs allowed Hitler into their living room of power, by the famous ‘Chancellor gamble’ . You know, keep Hitler on a lease by surrounding him with those of their own persuasions in the cabinet and…yeah right!

Remember: A pragmatist is the guy who asks for blindfold while facing the firing squad.

When the Trump gang took power, many hard working Americans who were fed up with the power structure followed his banner: Drain the swamp! He took office and began to place every super rich advocate of this Military Industrial Empire into his cabinet. While doing this, Trump (probably his handlers) continually played the anti immigrant and anti Muslim jihadist cards to rally his base. His promises were all hollow, and will continue to be so, when it comes to easing the strain on working stiffs… who sadly make up the overwhelming majority of his base. When all those fools out there lose their pensions and see benefits cut (if they have any- most of them are in non union jobs with no protections) and rents skyrocketing along with property taxes… the next hero may well be even more fascist than Trump.

The only hope for our nation, and that of all the industrialized world, is Socialism. So long as the lemmings out there think that Noblesse Oblige is the best way to run governments, we will be forever stuck in the hornet’s nest.

Philip A Farruggio is a son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. He has been a free lance columnist since 2001, with over 300 of his work posted on sites like Consortium News, Information Clearing House, Global Research, Nation of Change, World News Trust, Op Ed News, Dissident Voice, Counterpunch, Activist Post, Sleuth Journal, Truthout and many others. His blog can be read in full on World News Trust., whereupon he writes a great deal on the need to cut military spending drastically and send the savings back to save our cities. Philip has a internet interview show, ‘It’s the Empire… Stupid’ with producer Chuck Gregory, and can be reached at [email protected].

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