The Ecstasy of War

A news report informs us that the federal government has found the drug “ecstasy” helpful to soldiers returning from the Middle East suffering from post-traumatic stress. No mention was made of how this drug might have helped other users deal with the stresses generated by life in a highly-structured, conflict-ridden society. Nor was any attention directed to the present conditions of the developers and street suppliers of this drug, many of whom may now be serving lengthy terms in penitentiaries. It is enough to know that Big-Pharma — with the blessing and probable patent protection of the state — will be able to generate massive profits from the sale of this erstwhile illegal substance to the soldiers drawn into (and their lives destroyed by)  the insanity of the war system.

No mention was made of the need to prevent the dehumanizing consequences of people living in a world dominated by the imperative of institutionalized thinking. Members of the media, academicians, politicians — the keepers of the questions to be asked in our world — would quickly lose their jobs were they to encourage any thinking outside the circle of established opinion.

Perhaps Big-Pharma has a resident Dr. Pangloss working on another drug that can be peddled — at monopolistic prices — to help the increasing numbers of normally-neurotic people to deaden the symptoms of our well-organized madness. Where is Aldous Huxley when we need him?

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11:32 am on November 28, 2012