The Most Recent False Justification for War

Of course there is no evidence that there was any imminent attack, even according to Mark Esper, the U.S. Defense Secretary. That's because Trump's claim of "self-defense" was torn right out the well-worn US Playbook of War Justifications. It's the chapter right after the two chapters dealing with "The Gulf of Tonkin" and "Weapons of Mass Destruction."

When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. The U.S has such a enormous arsenal of war machines that it makes military actions an almost irresistible temptation. It feels so good to do something--almost anything--rather than doing nothing. The focussing illusion makes launching an attack feel like the right thing to do even when the big picture shows that a killing of a prominent leader of a country could stir up massive intense hatred toward the United States. Trump's inner circle of warmongers (which apparently might not include Esper) are true believers that a show of military force is powerful, effective and bitter medicine for Iran. Maybe so, but those who stir up intense hatred should be careful when their country has thousands of soft targets (schools, shopping centers, airport lobbies, banks, stadiums) that are realistically indefensible. And this is especially true in that we also have dozens of realistically indefensible big cities that could be horrifically paralyzed by dirty bombs, biological weapons and cyber attacks well within the means of a technologically sophisticated country like Iran.

I'm sure that Trump felt really happy--probably orgasmic-- when he killed Qassim Suleimani. But based on how he has handled many things, including North Korea, I am fairly certain that he didn't think through the long term consequences of that feel-good moment.

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If Only There Were a Well-Funded Peace Lobby as a Counterweight to the Military Industrial Complex

If only there were an industry of businesses that manufactured goods and services specifically geared to maintaining the peace (something more profitable and focused than libraries). Then there would be a weighty lobby to counterbalance the military-industrial complex. This Peace Lobby could sponsor NFL half-time shows. Instead of showing pretty photos of missiles taking off, they could show what happens to human beings when those missiles land. And they could sponsor research to explore the extent to which U.S. articulates meaningful objectives regarding its wars and also set forth detailed metrics to show whether U.S. wars actually achieve those objectives, using (as one example) the 20-year war in Afghanistan.

They could investigate the extent to which the U.S. government has been honest with the citizens regarding the need for each war. They could have teams of analysts assess the risks and benefits of going to war or not going to war. They could warn us that many media outlets uncritically and gullibly join in whenever politicians beat the drums to go to war. They could also explore the effect on diverting massive U.S. tax resources to war, and they could run campaigns showing the lost benefits of failing to spend those tax resources on peaceful uses, such as decaying U.S. infrastructure. They could also educate Americans of the dangers of the sunk cost fallacy.

Related Thought: If only were were better incentives for Hollywood to produce storylines where war was averted. Unfortunately, scripts permeated with visual violent conflict sells, especially visual conflict involving physical fighting.  I wonder about the filtering that likely occurs when Hollywood script-writers and producers want the cooperation of of the military to use military resources in their movies (e,g., military hardware and access to military ships, planes and bases). If only we had the following data: How often does the U.S. military turn down cooperation of a movie-maker because the script puts the military in a bad light or makes war look like a bad idea?

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What is the Biggest Problem for Society: Government or Business?

There's no doubt in my mind that the government is the biggest problem with our society.

Except for those many times when unregulated corporations are the biggest problem with our society. Here is Exhibit A these days, Boeing's conduct regarding the 737 Max, resulting in 346 deaths. . Tomorrow it will be some more gross misconduct or price gouging by Big Pharma, or Wall Street banks fleecing the taxpayers.

Rather than pushing and pulling on this false dichotomy, can we agree on this compromise: Unchecked power operating outside of meaningful sunshine is the biggest problem with our society?

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On the Critical Importance of Friendships

Two stunning items about friendship from Eric Barker's article: This is How to Make Friends as an Adult: 5 Secrets Backed by Research.

1. Excerpt from "Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect" (2013) by Matthew D. Lieberman:

In a survey given in 1985, people were asked to list their friends in response to the question “Over the last six months, who are the people with whom you discussed matters important to you?” The most common number of friends listed was three; 59 percent of respondents listed three or more friends fitting this description. The same survey was given again in 2004. This time the most common number of friends was zero. And only 37 percent of respondents listed three or more friends. Back in 1985, only 10 percent indicated that they had zero confidants. In 2004, this number skyrocketed to 25 percent. One out of every four of us is walking around with no one to share our lives with.

2. Excerpt from Friendfluence, by Carlin Flora (2013):

[N]ot having enough friends or having a weak social circle is the same risk factor as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. We’ve had such great public health campaigns against smoking in the last 20-odd years, and now we’re finally learning that having a good and satisfying social life is just as important, if not more important, than avoiding cigarettes.

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Alcohol-Related Deaths: More Than a Big Number

The following excerpt is from an article at Gizmodo: "Alcohol Is Killing More Americans Than Ever."

More and more Americans are drinking themselves to death. A new study this week finds there were around 72,000 alcohol-related deaths among people over the age of 16 in 2017—more than double the number of similar deaths recorded two decades earlier.

When an airplane crashes, killing 200 people, we get upset and we demand to know how airplanes can be made more safe. When the equivalent of 360 airplanes filled with people die of alcohol use each year, we shrug. We shrug even though every one of these alcohol deaths affects many other people, including members of the dead person's immediate family. We shrug even though for each death, there are many living alcoholics out there destroying precious relationships they used to have with their loved ones.

Gizmodo based its article on a study published January 7, 2020.  Here is an excerpt:

The number of alcohol‐related deaths per year among people aged 16+ doubled from 35,914 to 72,558, and the rate increased 50.9% from 16.9 to 25.5 per 100,000. Nearly 1 million alcohol‐related deaths (944,880) were recorded between 1999 and 2017. In 2017, 2.6% of roughly 2.8 million deaths in the United States involved alcohol. Nearly half of alcohol‐related deaths resulted from liver disease (30.7%; 22,245) or overdoses on alcohol alone or with other drugs (17.9%; 12,954). . . . The largest annual increase occurred among Non-Hispanic White females. Rates of acute alcohol‐related deaths increased more for people aged 55 to 64, but rates of chronic alcohol‐related deaths, which accounted for the majority of alcohol‐related deaths, increased more for younger adults aged 25 to 34

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