David Rees: Cannonball Press
Get Your War On (2004)

"Aspiring for the impossible never makes it happen."

Eventually, the tin pot dictator's proclamations take on the distinctive scent of irony, irony utterly lost on him, of course, but, increasingly, not lost on almost everyone else. He becomes the parody he always was, finally even in his former partisans' eyes. His plans seem absurdist and not only because they virtually never turn out as announced. Eventually, few, if anybody, can even imagine how they might have ever worked. When the advertised revolution can no longer quite qualify as believable fiction, society widely releases a collective sigh, clear evidence that we can begin GettingOver another sorry chapter.

We have had many sorry chapters to get over in our past. Why should our present and future be any different? Nobody fondly remembers 2004, when the so-called War On Terror was being waged as if victory might still be possible. A relatively simple misconception burned through trillions in treasure and what was once considered to be an inexhaustible reservoir of goodwill. We sought to redraw ancient maps and force acceptance of absurdist plans then, but only managed to kill way too many people and fuel an ennui that haunts us to this day, and might have even been responsible for the emergence of the newly absurdist MAGA movement. There's always another one waiting in the queue.

Real people get killed and wounded. This first seems inevitable rather than merely necessary to maintain belief in the underlying fiction. War somehow seems more real than peacetime. We firmly believe in the transforming goodness of our wars. If you don't believe me, go see what we built along The Mall in Washington, DC. You will see cathedrals constructed in homage to our secular religion: organized killing. From the Civil War Freize at the foot of Capitol Hill to the Lincoln Memorial on the Western end of the Reflection Pool, each war is remembered in turn. People go on vacation to walk the length of this sad history with nary a wary ounce of irony when passing by. Each war, though, eventually became a parody of its originating intention, engaged in less to save civilization than to insult it.

Those who worship war seem bound to engage in it. Those who see entertainment in war, like our current incumbent, who imagines himself fierce but whimpers in the wee hours, seem most likely to produce absurdist engagements. He dropped the biggest bomb to little effect, making up for destructive results with a fresh public relations blitz. He seems like a kid strapped into a car seat that has a small steering wheel attached. He actually believes he's driving. Those who do control stuff will never confide in him, for their power utterly depends upon extending his delusion. Most of those who thought they might personally benefit from their association with him have already joined the throngs of his victims. They belong to a mutual victimization society, most decidedly including the guy who firmly believes he's the victimizer.

I'm GettingOver taking any of these clowns very seriously. They probably deserve to be taken almost as seriously as they take themselves, but that could only multiply the absurdity. It's absurd enough without us pretending to be serious, too. Our dialect must reflect the irony of our times. We must make jokes in response to such seriously unserious business. Yes, I know that people are getting hurt. My own feelings have been deeply wounded. But I no longer expect to get even. The Karmic load has already been aiming at the protagonist-in-chief, and her aim tends to be true. The silliness will continue until it collapses beneath its own absurdity. The damage done will not necessarily ever be recoverable from, but as long as we collectively believe in political salvation, we will very likely continue to inflict such absurdist damage upon ourselves. Maybe if we sincerely sought to make America mediocre again, we'd initiate a greatness few evangelical Repuglicans could ever envision. Aspiring for the impossible never makes it happen. We could more easily GetOver that urge instead.

©2025 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #FollowingChapters, #PureSchmaltz