Gun-running
I just read an article about the Defence Systems and Equipment International Exhibition, which was held in London last week. According to organisers it was a showcase for “disaster relief, humanitarian and peacekeeping” equipment.
It doesn’t take a genius to realise that selling military equipment sooner or later leads to victims and death or to see the connection between arms sales and terrorism.
Today’s friends (figurative, I'm not referring to mine who are thin on the ground) are tomorrow’s enemies (Mujahideen groups in Afghanistan fighting the Soviet invasion who were given US$2 billion worth of light weapons by the CIA between 1979 and 1989, for example) and yesterday’s enemies are today’s friends (Gaddafi). What about tomorrow?
Apparently, (I know “apparently” often means there is no source to back up what's coming next) 12% of the UK workforce is directly or indirectly involved in making weapons. Although indirectly may mean working in a shop that sells sandwiches to a company that supplies plastic grommets to a missile manufacturer, figures on arms sales over GDP suggest the percentage is high.
Back in Sudan (Don’t worry. I have El Codger’s arm behind his back) I was approached three times by dodgy characters who were recruiting gun runners. I thank my parents for having brought me up in such a way that I would never have considered trading arms or drugs, etc.
According to Nathaniel Branden (psychotherapist and self-esteem/romatic love guru) in his website essay on What self-esteem is and is not, a healthy self-esteem requires “the practice of personal integrity: living with congruence between what we know, what we profess, and what we do; telling the truth, honouring our commitments, exemplifying in action the values we profess to admire”.
Not being a hypocrite? Government, political party, council, and employer etc. hypocrisy is blatant. “Living consciously”, which is what Branden suggests we should do, can neverthless also reveal the disparity between what we as individuals (OK, I!) say and do. However, by doing the opposite and not living consciously, one may end up with a Trident missile up one’s arse.
I just read an article about the Defence Systems and Equipment International Exhibition, which was held in London last week. According to organisers it was a showcase for “disaster relief, humanitarian and peacekeeping” equipment.
It doesn’t take a genius to realise that selling military equipment sooner or later leads to victims and death or to see the connection between arms sales and terrorism.
Today’s friends (figurative, I'm not referring to mine who are thin on the ground) are tomorrow’s enemies (Mujahideen groups in Afghanistan fighting the Soviet invasion who were given US$2 billion worth of light weapons by the CIA between 1979 and 1989, for example) and yesterday’s enemies are today’s friends (Gaddafi). What about tomorrow?
Apparently, (I know “apparently” often means there is no source to back up what's coming next) 12% of the UK workforce is directly or indirectly involved in making weapons. Although indirectly may mean working in a shop that sells sandwiches to a company that supplies plastic grommets to a missile manufacturer, figures on arms sales over GDP suggest the percentage is high.
Back in Sudan (Don’t worry. I have El Codger’s arm behind his back) I was approached three times by dodgy characters who were recruiting gun runners. I thank my parents for having brought me up in such a way that I would never have considered trading arms or drugs, etc.
According to Nathaniel Branden (psychotherapist and self-esteem/romatic love guru) in his website essay on What self-esteem is and is not, a healthy self-esteem requires “the practice of personal integrity: living with congruence between what we know, what we profess, and what we do; telling the truth, honouring our commitments, exemplifying in action the values we profess to admire”.
Not being a hypocrite? Government, political party, council, and employer etc. hypocrisy is blatant. “Living consciously”, which is what Branden suggests we should do, can neverthless also reveal the disparity between what we as individuals (OK, I!) say and do. However, by doing the opposite and not living consciously, one may end up with a Trident missile up one’s arse.
posted by Bob at 1:02 pm
3 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I just thought I ought to post one comment that isn't spam, and so doesn't have to be deleted.
As far as I know, my work isn't linked to the arms trade - and as the majority of the people I work with are retired, I'm not even providing services (in any sense of the word) for those who are.
Some in my congregation are retired servicemen. That's about as close as I get, here.
In other areas though, I have worked with people directly employed in weapon-production. Most of us are probably only an arms-length or two away, if we were to look deep enough.
I refused a job interpreting for some people who wanted to buy missiles. I know someone else would have done it but, like Branden says, it's a matter of "exemplifying in action the values we profess to admire".
I also recently refused a marketing job for a casino chain having seen the effects of compulsive gambling on on a neighbour and his family.
In fact, there are a lot of articles that are decidedly dodgy; alcohol, tobacco, for example, and marketing and advertising themselves when they seek to encourage consumers to want to buy things with money they haven't got.
Lucky the world's economy doesn't depend on me.
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