The military industrial complex President Dwight D.
Eisenhower spoke of in the 1960s – a conjunction of powerful military
institution, the defense industry, and branches of government – has grown into
what sociologist Nick Turse calls the
“military-industrial-economic-entertainment-academic-scientific-media-intelligence-homelandsecurity-surveillance-national
security-corporate complex.”
Today, almost any economic activity, from individual
purchases to corporate mergers, is part of this complex. Serving in the
military as a soldier is not the only way one participates in the wars and
aggressions of our country.
(Read the list below and ask people to raise their hands
when they hear a company they have patronized or whose product they use).
IBM
Ford and General Motors
Microsoft
NBC and General Electric
Columbia TriStarFilms and Sony
Pfizer
ESPN and Walt Disney
Johnson & Johnson
Lowe’s Home Center
Maytag
Kohler
Starbucks
Apple
Hewlett-Packard
All of these companies have contracts with the department of
Defense. No, Walt Disney doesn’t make drones. But they, like all of us, in some
way benefit from and contribute to our
war economy.
It’s unlikely any of us could totally divorce ourselves from
this economy. We will instead need to examine our own lives to discover opportunities to direct
our resources toward peacebuilding instead of contributing further to the
status quo. But we must acknowledge (and mourn) our participation in the
systems of war.
