I am watching the Ken Burns series “The Civil War”. I, honestly, find much of it self indulgent and the style of it kind of cliched. I s’pose if you find a formula that works you stick to it. But the whining violins and whimsical tone get old for me. But what else is there when you’re talking about such a national tragedy? It is difficult to watch.
This episode ended with the Gettysburg Address. Heavens. Shelby Foot notes (*) that both sides were doing the work of “God”, and were convinced that “God” was on their side. The freed slaves were singing of “God’s” work, and that all were praying for victory.
How can such slaughter be allowed to take place? Why does it continue to this day? We authorize our representatives to spend the lives of others with such callous disregard for their worth in order to achieve our (?) own ends. No other living thing pursues murder with such indifference. And we regard our species to be the “top of the chain”? It may bear out that we are but a virus upon the surface of a planet that will not tolerate us.