metonymy4u

During the first half of the 20th century we were pre-occupied with the efficient destruction of 100 million of our dear brothers and sisters. War was at least a useful specifier of the events, if nothing else. Now of course, we no longer have wars. Instead of fighting in war zones, we are entertained by operations that take place in theaters. Surgical dramas, in which the patient is anesthetized and the pathology excised, painlessly. Or so we keep telling ourselves. War, when we had it, was at least good for some level of clarity: Speakings that had some faint connection to happenings. Now I fear we live solely in linguistic delusion.