War As Human Sacrifice

"War is a Racket" is U.S. Marine General Smedley Butler's classic treatise on why wars are conducted, who profits from them, and who pays the price. Few people are as qualified as General Butler to advance the argument encapsulated in his book's sensational title. When "War is a Racket" was first published in 1935, Butler was the most decorated American soldier of his time. He had lead several successful military operations in the Caribbean and in Central America, as well as in Europe during the First World War. Despite his success and his heroic status, however, Butler came away from these experiences with a deeply troubled view of both the purpose and the results of warfare.

The sort of war General Butler describes is imperial gangsterism. This is the corruption of war to install and protect satraps loyal to the Imperial power. (And I mean "power", not "state", because the sort of imperial organization here is not tied to a specific state.) It is a new form of the Persian model of Empire, one that John Perkins would describe in detail with Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.

This criticism, however accurate it is, has ignored the spiritual dimension and can lead critics astray (as Perkins was). This model of war is not merely a racket. This model of war is nothing less than the scaling up of human sacrifice to a massive scope and scale, where all combatants on all sides are considered (and treated as) sacrifices upon the blood-caked altar to their god Empire (in reality, Satan).

And yes, I do mean "all". Your dead, maimed, and crippled relatives are as much sacrifices as the enemy combatants and all of the civilians affected. They have no qualms wielding symbolism to do virtually what formerly had to be conducted literally. They take your sons, your brothers, your fathers from you and your homes. They put them into stylish costumes called "uniforms". They invoke sacral power to justify the wars, and they reap great power and wealth by the wholesale slaughter of men and willful destruction of material that these wars involve; the consumption of the sacrifices results in something rewarding them as desired beyond all reason.

This has yet to be brought up from the depths of the Internet, as it would break Normieland. This world is not what we were told it is. It exists solely because something that otherwise would not be is propped up; Empire is that thing, and the Thralls prop it up by feeding it in return for power and wealth. Take that away and Empire falls.

Guess what's happening?