More examples of Zizek’s “will-to-ignorance.”

In Dissident Voice:

Perry O’Brien, an Afghanistan war veteran (a medic), Winter Soldier organizer, and now Conscientious Objector, suggested in an online video interview that there is an unofficial “don’t ask don’t tell” policy between military personnel and civilians–civilians want to glorify the warrior, but don’t want to hear the gory details of war. He suggests that the people at home have a willful ignorance that goes hand in hand with the military telling soldiers that the civilian psyche can’t handle the reality of war and that soldiers should keep what they do in war to themselves.

Amen.

Winter Soldiers speaking publicly will allow citizens to understand the reality and true cost of war.

What if the f***ing civilians don’t want to know any of this? They don’t even want to know what happens to their own soldiers let alone the hapless civilians at the receiving end.

We know that the US government lies.

But not too strenuously. Nor does it try to keep the facts away from those who really want to know. And both for the same reasons: the apathy and indifference of the civilian population.

The “all volunteer army” is in fact, a poverty draft. Testosterone laced recruitment campaigns featuring F-16s, helicopters and aircraft carriers appeal to youthful idealism and dreams of adventure while promising job skills, and being part of something greater than oneself—not to mention large signing bonuses and college tuition. All this sounds mighty fine to young men and women without prospects following high school graduation. This deliberate targeting of the most vulnerable and destitute in society for use as cannon fodder is despicable and sickening at best. 

Yep: get your negroes, mestizos, and white trash to fight your wars. Though I think most of them go in cynically with their eyes open. But prospects in civilian life are virtually non-existent. No need for a draft when there aren’t that many alternatives. Calling it despicable is a moral judgement of the kind I refrain from.

The reality for soldiers returning home is that the war is no longer a topic of conversation—either in the news, or on the public’s mind. One soldier described his dismay one night in a bar when someone remarked on his uniform and exclaimed, “You mean we’re still over there?!”

It never was. Somehow these idealists think the public is seething with moral fervor and concern, anxious to do the right thing. Hell, they couldn’t care less. They’re fickle, have a short attention span, and fundamentally don’t want to know as 1) it makes them uncomfortable 2) makes them feel impotent, and 3) lies outside the orbit of their humdrum lives. Every ruler learns this pretty fast.