[babesh]

A pawn has value to the state as a tool. One such example is to be used as cannon fodder.

The US democracy is fake. Entrenched interests hold virtually all power.

You have 6 trillion dollars and thousands of lives lost over fake wars. Where are those WMDs? Why didn't we pull out after getting bin Laden in Pakistan?

Go back a generation to the Vietnam War. 50k American lives lost.

History keeps on repeating itself and people are oblivious.

[dleslie]

Even tools have value; better to be a tool of the state than an obstacle of an adversary.

I'm not American, and I'm rather proud that my elected representatives voted against joining the USA in the Iraq invasion. Americans voted for the Iraq invasion. It was popular[0]. It still remains reasonably popular, with slightly more Americans opposing it than supporting it in 2018[1]. Despite two decades of expenditure, pain and suffering.

0: https://news.gallup.com/poll/8038/seventytwo-percent-america...

1: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/19/iraq-war-co...

[babesh]

That adversary is that of the state that you identify with. Neither state cares about you one iota.

[babesh]

The second invasion was on a false pretense of WMDs. The government in concert with the media manipulated and deceived the public.

You are a pawn. Pawns have NO value in of themselves. They are used solely to advance the cause of a side. They will be sacrificed to do so.

You can take solace in identifying with an entity that cares for you not one iota.

Waitbutwhy writes extensively about this phenomenon. It is called tribalism and delusion.

https://waitbutwhy.com/2019/08/story-of-us.html

us vs them, good vs evil

It has all the hallmarks.

"A superglue story also jacks up the Us > Them values. The story needs to be all about good guys and bad guys, with a crisp, clear distinction between the two. The good guys must be good in every way—in knowledge, talent, motivation, and virtue. They’re good now, they were always good in the past, and they’ll continue to be good in the future. The bad guys are the opposite—they are and always have been stupid, ignorant, malicious, and morally backwards. Strife between the good guys and bad guys is always the fault of the bad guys"