Some people believe so strongly
in the ideologies they were either raised with,
or found in some other way
but they believe so strongly
that they’re willing to lay down their life
for their ideology
even if they can start to see it’s flaws,
they believe so much in the cause
that they’re willing to die,
that they’re willing to kill
that they’re willing to spill
as much blood as needed
for the cause
they never pause to think.
Trauma and oppression
can lead some people to an ideology
that they’re willing to kill for
but pledging allegiance every day
is another way
to groom someone
to die in a war
for something they know
little to nothing about
believing so much
in what they’ve been taught,
in what they’ve been told,
their mind was molded
to lay down their life for their cause,
to kill the people they’ve been trained to see
as their enemy
because they believe so much
that it will keep their loved ones free.
This ideology is their religion
and violence is their prayer
they don’t dare question
any aspect of it,
that shit’s above their pay grade
they made up their mind
when they signed up
as a soldier in the fight
but what if their ideology
is white supremacy
and they were born into a family
that raised them to see
people of color as the enemy
and they hear their commander-in-chief
barking orders about closing borders
about making America great again
and they listen to their God
and they say ‘amen’
and they know that great means white
so they’re ready to lace up their boots
grab their rifle and fight
for everything they’ve been taught to hold dear,
a racist, hateful ideology
overflowing with fear.
Some of these brainwashed,
ignorant, hate-filled men
grabbed a pen and scribbled their manifesto
before going off to take innocent life.
Then the president and his wife
appeared on the TV
and told America that they can see the problem:
Mental health.
It wasn’t mental health issues
that led me into the US military at 18
it was the naive beliefs
of an ignorant teenage boy
who was raised with an American flag
flying in the yard,
raised with toy guns
and real ones
raised idolizing the old vets
marching along Main Street
in the parade
I had made up my mind early on
that I would wear
the American flag on my shoulder
when I got older,
the flag I pledged allegiance to
since I was far too young to know
what pledging allegiance meant.
It was not mental health issues,
it was an unwavering belief in an ideology
that sent me to war
and if we blame mental health issues
rather than an ideology of white supremacy
there will be countless more terrorist attacks
in which people target those
they truly believe are their enemy.
Sure, the problem is white supremacy.
Sure, the problem is more guns than people.
The problem is also an ignorant society that glorifies violence,
and an apathetic country that has been stuck in silence for decades
as the blood of innocent people of color
has been shed overseas
and from sea to shining sea
in the name of an ideology
that pretty fucking closely resembles white supremacy.
An ideology I grew up naively believing in.
An ideology I was willing to die for.
An ideology I was willing to kill for.
Did a whole bunch of Germans in the 1930’s
have mental health issues?
No. They believed in an ideology.
Oh, some of them didn’t believe in it
but those ones still paid for the Zyklon B.
No ideology
yesterday, today,
or tomorrow
is worth killing for.
The truth is the only thing
worth dying for
and remember
that your dollar bills kill
once in the hands of Uncle Sam.
soitgoes1984 