The militarization of everything

 It has occurred to me that we live in an increasingly militarized world. Peace is a fake word, it’s made up to sleep without nightmares. In this part of world, where wars ended many years ago, we’ve always thought that battles do not belong here. They are fought by less civilized people. However, have a look outside your window. There’s probably a security tool out there, if it’s not an alarm to protect your property, it’s maybe a surveillance camera or a drone which flies silently with some birds. Think about it. You have to prove who you are on a daily basis by e.g. giving passwords, showing your IDs, using a badge etc. Identification matters.

Step back now and look inside, take a glance at your self-impostions: inter alia, working out, eating less, no smoking etc. I’m not saying that we are all trapped, nor that we are all the same. Some people do not give a shit about “things that should’t be done”, however, I am pretty sure we have all dealt with social constraints. Because these are almost all social constraints. Take, for instance, exercising. The demonization of obesity is not just for health reasons. Aesthetic does play a significant role, especially in a country like Italy: you have to look good, you have to work out. There are no curves anymore and I am talking about “brain curves”, meaning flexibility. We are less flexible and more likely to accept the militarization of the soul, of the body and of the context we live in without questions. 

Ok, I am exaggerating now but it’s hard to deny that militarization is a state of mind, before being an actual fact. We follow rules, which are part of the social contract, and we comply with them even by self-imposing – at different extent- rigid behaviors. Sometimes I wonder whether this is the fate of human beings who pretend to be free but behave like caged animals. In this sense, zoos mirror society. We feed animals and see a reflected duplication of ourselves despite thinking of being different, if not superior. 

The internalization of power dynamics, of rules etc. led to the militarization of both the individual and of the society.