Get Smart (War is Dumb)

A More Perfect Union #2 / 2019 / Mixed media abstract painting / Russell C. Smith

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the Cone of Silence on Get Smart, and how it never worked. It seems the world we’re living in isn’t working the way it should be. Our democracy is broken, and the lives we’ve built are being stolen, piece by piece. After a decade of putting up with awful and awfully dumb extremist politicians, and dealing with the baked-in lies of bothsidesism and a TV channel dedicated to propaganda and hate – we’re done with it. Enough of neverending wars, never-stopping lies, destroying democracy, bullying everyone, systemic racism, women-hating, pissing on the Constitution…and on and on. War has always been a dumb choice – throughout the history of the world. Now in the year 2025, we can witness the brutality, horror, and stupidity of war as it’s broadcast on social media channels worldwide 24/7. Showing us clearer than ever before – humanity’s need to collectively get smarter, or we’ll soon create our own extinction. How close are we to ending the human species by one stray finger on a nuke button, or firing the highly trained people who know which nuke button to push? Let’s get smarter – before the next global pandemic happens, ahead of the ramping up of our global Climate Emergency, before even more citizens succumb to TV-brainwashed stupidity, before mass deaths due to pure dumb carelessness, messy kidnapping and murder due to autocratic blind rage, ahead of the next ice age, or any other types of history-altering events – take your pick. Why not, at long last finally fully accept in our hearts world peace must be spoken of openly, longingly, realistically, and then enacted on a global scale? In regard to senseless murder happening under the guise of war (which usually isn’t even called war in an oh-so-Orwellian way) – killing people who lived their lives like you or me, being ruled by psychotic dictators, shrugging off human rights abuses, the horrible treatment of women and children – it all must end. Doing nothing can no longer be an option. When inaction leads to the downfall of our democracy, it’s action time. Planetwide, we must get smarter.