We are brainwashed to follow the political will of whoever is in charge, irrespective of the fact that another political force is inculcating the same hatred towards us.
All our histories are littered with conflict, conflicts which
become the stuff of legend, legends our children absorb and in their
immature minds, the insecure foundation of history and the nationalistic
impediment we all imbibe with the propaganda is
born over and over again.
Men have fought battles of which they have no idea of why they are
fighting, other than some spurious "Your Country Needs You" poster.
They give their lives for some jingoistic claim, often based on a
falsehood, without thought. It's amazing.
The call of the Queens shilling, the sound of the regimental band as it marches to the quay draws these young men away from their mothers apron strings into a world they can not imagine, nor would they wish to.
The Americans (and there's some information that the British tried
it too) used hallucinatory drugs (LSD) in the Vietnam war to smooth the
horror but the broken veterans who returned from Indonesia China to
receive the "spite" of a nation not used to
loosing was pitiful.
The mournful sound of Dylan's harmonica and his snide lyric which
mocks the whole edifice of war and our willingness to be drawn into it.
Simple driving chord structure sets the mood for the inevitable thrust
forward which is the hallmark of war itself.
Joan Baez rendering of his song has a more reflect approach in her
feminist call for peace but Dylan's near inarticulate method of
articulating the sadness of histories hubris is the one which drew the
hippy revolt out into the open and scared the establishment
silly.
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