I woke this morning dreaming of blood and oil. It is no surprise, in retrospect. Much of my reading and thinking of the last four years has revolved around the two topics. Both are incredibly importart to modern life, one because it is the lifeblood of the body human, the other because it is the liefbood of the modern state.
And so I woke thinking...
Both blood and oil are essentail to life as we know it here in the United States, and both are what we are fighting for now. Our oil and their blood.
I remember a number of signs, from a number of protests, over a number of years that included the phrase "No Blood for Oil". Little did those people know that oil, like blood, has a high price, and many gladly threw the opposite formulation back as a seemingly legitimate rejoinder. "Hell yes, blood for oil...how else are we going to get it?"
The number of people who would do so now, and those who defend this foolish war of choice has dwindled tremendously. There are very few now who defend the war on the original argument for it (Our Safety), there are even fewer who would defend it on the second argument (Their Freedom). Both of these arguments are provably laughable four years in.
Now, the only argument that most people who defend our actions will use to try to rationally defend the war is along the lines of "Well, we already fucked it up, now we have to try and make right." In other words, now we fight for (Our Honor).
We are now fighitng to save face. A hard realization to swallow for those that believe it was , in fact, our honor that was besmirched when we embarked on a war of choice in the first place.
True, there are still other reasons we still fight. Legitimate to some, immoral to others. We have already won the oil (as long as the current government holds), and our "Ally in the Region" has indeed become bolder in their own military conflicts.
So I dream of blood and oil, and I wonder which is thicker. Which is more viscous. Which is a more powerful giver of life.
Then I look to my science and history, and I see that blood has been flowing and burning and giving life for millions of years. And I look to my science and history again, and I see that oil has been flowing and burning and killing life for hundreds.
And when I sleep on this knowledge and I dream of blood and oil, I wake with the knowledge of why we lost this war.
As my blood boils and my body wakens, I move to my computer to share my dreams with the world. I know why any army that invades for resources is bound to lose, for they have have lost the honor of their blood and replaced it with their desire for oil. They fight for death.
I know why any army that fights for blood will win, for their will can never waver, because they fight for life.
--
Now I will get ready for work. And later I will walk in that direction, and my blood will flow through my body, for I have one, yet no oil flows through my car, for I have none (nor have I since this war started).
Perhaps this is why I dream as I do, because I have been able to separate the two in my mind and in my life. Perhaps that is why I dream of blood and oil.
--fin--