Pressure

Christopher Morris, Patriotism

All that you eat
Everyone you meet
All that you slight
Everyone you fight
All that is now
All that is gone
--Eclipse, Pink Floyd

Now here you are with your faith
And your Peter Pan advice
You have no scars on your face
And you cannot handle pressure
--Pressure, Billy Joel
______________

Regarding the photo: Christopher Morris's photo of troops waving flags upon receiving dignitaries was featured in Time magazine recently. It looked like patriotic overkill, but I think the irony was lost on that reading audience. I only confirmed my suspicion by checking out his other work. Visit Hasted Hunt Gallery online for his haunting images of vapid, gape-mouthed American patriots. Android-like citizens stare like Madame Taussad wax figures at rallies, transfixed by the rhetoric and indoctrination they have come to hear, always American flags plastered on their shirts or ditty bags.

But conspiracy theory is the purpose of my post. AOL greeted me this morning with the following: "Danger Is All Around Us: Woman Nearly Dies After Detox Diet; Chimp Grabs Gun, Almost Escapes." Now detox diets and chimps don't scare me much, as they aren't a part of my daily routine. But I'm not above constructing conspiracy theories of my own, and mine is even scarier than grapefruit and chimps.

My theory follows from my recent post on the obesity epidemic, "Wide Load," and draws a linkage to the abysmal state of psychiatric care for returning veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, plus the Department of Defense's removal of a popular military blog this week. Here goes.

It does a conspiratorial and dictatorial government no good to have engaged, lucid and communicative citizens among the populace. Likewise, there is no desire for a fit base of citizens trained in the military arts. Doubly bad is the citizen who can use and clean his weapon plus write tracts questioning military/government actions.

Soldiers who return after a tour of duty and become depressed are no asset. They are depressed for a reason. Better to have them self-medicate, and call them a hero should they commit suicide.

Hence, George Bush's directive to get out there and shop, and spend those bonus checks on Cheetoes and the like. Meanwhile, diabetes meds plaster the airwaves, often with overweight actors telling how various meds helped them "get their life back." During any half hour of t.v. you will see an array of medications to allay your depression, and help knock you out at night. But you won't wake up drowsy, so you'll be able to get back up in the morning to do it all again.

Lietenant G's "Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal," has been stopped; the Lt. has been promoted. Prime directive is to keep 'em happy. Not so for another soldier who kept a blog, "Milo Freeman" (The Calm Before the Sand.) Milo/Seth this week wrote an excoriating farewell posting. All the more poignant coming from a religious young man who joined in 2004 in good faith.

Milo said he will upend every yellow ribbon magnet, and he will not mourn the fallen soldiers, as they are doing wrong. In other words, he will not feign normality. It is a radical statement meant to make his point.

So my theory: keep them overweight, dim-witted and remove as many thinking soldiers from the brew as possible, either actively or passively.

Decide for yourself how far off-base my theory is.