realms of war
I've been thinking about cyborgs and pacifism lately. I haven't worked on it long enough for a full blown manifesto, let alone what the intention of this manifesto would be. I do know war is misunderstood by those who desire it. Sun Tzu's most important lesson was that no one wins in war, it's really about who loses less.
I'm from America which is an extremely militant country. We have an absurdly large military budget. It's completely normal for the US Army to approach teenagers, even in schools, about enlisting themselves. The strangest place I've ever been pressured into joining the army was outside of a doctor's office. These are purposely exploitative locations.
War is in every aspect of living here. Competition is ingrained in every aspect of life. Dating is treated more like a competitive conquest than an exploration of partnership. The end goal of war torn lovers is domination over each other resulting in best case scenario an endless cycle of submission. Our school systems are reliant on affirmative hierarchies to measure intelligence. Workplaces will quicker adapt competitive pay instead of a higher wage. Even though the ladder would be more effective to improve worker performance. Even with beauty being one of the biggest industries in the world, it is treated as competition and major conglomerates in the space rely on misogyny to instill a fear all women are at risk of their worth declining next to a "prettier" woman. Even our system for gaining employment is entirely based on competition where we war with subjective merits.
I suspect this external battlefield becomes ingrained in the psyche, and how could it not? As above so below. I feel as though I live in division with myself, my undesirable qualities dictated by my conscious mind are bastards. I prescribe myself weakness and feel vulnerable in the presence of a seemingly better man. When reality is I can't remember the last time I truly needed something and it didn't come to me. Only when I let go, of vicious self narratives and venomous cynicism, did the thing come to be. It was always mine. I feel like my whole life I've struggled to quantify ease until now.
I don't really have practical answers on retaliating or surviving in this system without compromise. Not yet anyways. It's hard not to feel jealous of the guy holding an iron piece to your head. Makes you want to feel untouchable like that too. There's a distinct difference between the defensive and offensive. In the blind eyes of power, I often wonder if they look the same.
