RE: Ranting About a General's Speech and "the State's Monopoly on Legitimate Violence"
"Monopoly on legitimized violence" sounds like something the Yakuza or Mafia would state. Rather it sounds like something Nixon said during one of the Frost interviews. In effect, I don't remember the exact phrasing but it was similar to: "when the president does it, it is not illegal." George Washington or Andrew Jackson would have said the same while "the wars between the indigenous inhabitants and the American settlers stop being conflicts between two ... peoples and start looking like the 'just' and 'righteous' state fighting against 'dangerous criminals,' 'terrorists,' or what have you."
Peter van Uhm has demonstrated that "settler-colonialism" as a concept is alive and well in human society regardless of country. "Why I chose a gun" is it makes my purpose of life easier if it is "legitimatized" by the state. God, bless ________ (fill in the blank with whichever state can commit "legitimate" violence).
Yeah. There are a ton of examples of that attitude. I think Peter van Uhm was just a little easier to see through because he isn't a propagandist by trade. His bs isn't as polished as the stuff that we are used to hearing so it struck me even though I was only half watching the video the first time I played. Then I went over it again and actually listened to what he was saying and it seemed pretty wrong to me.
Haha Jackson always comes up. It is bad when Davy Crockett, who bragged endlessly about how many indians he killed and admits to eating potatos cooked in human fat (he tells that story in his book), says that the way Jackson treated the indians is too harsh.
Good ole Davy Crockett, "King of the wild country." Or whatever was one of the lines in the stupid song written for the Disney films during the early years of the Cold War. Who the fuck played him? Oh yeah, Fess Parker; the same dick that played Daniel Boone for the patriotic lovefest show in the early 60s. That old beat goes on: victors who eat potatoes in human fat become "legends" for little boys to emulate. "Why I chose a gun." Settler-colonialism is alive and well. As Dylan wrote when he still could show concern: "bury the rag deep in your face, for now is the time for your tears."