By Perry Willis and Jim Babka, Zero Aggression Project
Veterans Day used to be called Armistice Day. Armistice Day remembered the moment when World War One ended, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. Armistice Day was a valuable holiday. It constantly reminded people of the biggest mistake that politicians ever made—a world war fought over nothing. Alas…
The political class could not abide such a reminder of their folly, and so Armistice Day was eventually changed to something the politicians could exploit—Veterans Day. Whereas Armistice Day highlighted the dangers of militarism, Veterans Day has come to celebrate militarism. Yes, Veterans Day also includes a solemn remembrance of all the young lives lost in past wars, but…
There is never any mention made of the role politicians played in squandering those lives. Instead, a Big Lie is propagated. We’re told that soldiers died to defend freedom or to protect our way of life. Nothing could be further from the truth. We provide a link below to demonstrate that claim. It will take you to a summary history of U.S. wars. As you read that history, please consider the following proposals…
- We can best serve the memory of fallen soldiers by being honest, and by doing our utmost to see that no more lives are squandered in senseless fraudulent wars.
- We should stop letting politicians manipulate us with propagandistic holidays based on lies.
- We should let the politicians celebrate Veterans Day by themselves, without our participation. Instead…
- We should remember Armistice Day, or better yet, give it a new name—Victims of Statism Day.
That would be an even better name, because…
- The State murdered hundreds of millions of people during the 20th Century.
- Many of those victims were actually murdered by soldiers, including U.S. soldiers, or lost their lives due to the unintended consequences of U.S. foreign policy.
- Civilian deaths have far exceeded military deaths, but there is no holiday to memorialize them.
Such a holiday would expose the myths that sustain both statism and militarism. Learn the real history by reading “Has U.S. Military Power Been a Force for Good or Evil?” We can think of few better actions to take on Armistice Day. But one of those actions might be to share this message with someone who will find it interesting.
Reproduced with permission. The original post can be found here:
Willis, Perry and Jim Babka. “Should We Stop Calling It Veterans Day?”. Zero Aggression Project. Undated. Accessed November 11, 2015.
Further Reading
Rummel, _____. “Democide: Murder by Government”. University of Hawaii Political Science Department. Undated. Accessed November 12, 2016.
Wikipedia contributors. “Armistice Day”. Wikipedia. November 12, 2016. Accessed November 12, 2016.
Willis, Perry and Jim Babka. “Has U.S. Military Power Been a Force for Good or Evil?”. Zero Aggression Project. Undated. Accessed November 12, 2016.
Willis, Perry and Jim Babka. “What Do Libertarians Mean by the Terms Statist and Statism?”. Zero Aggression Project. Undated. Accessed November 12, 2016.
Willis, Perry and Jim Babka. “What is The State?”. Zero Aggression Project. Undated. Accessed November 12, 2016.