Victory! Winner?
It’s VE day (Victory In Europe) and agreeably a time for reflection, and paying tribute or doing whatever it is you do, or saying whatever it is you wish to say. Let me take this opportunity to reflect a little from my limited perspective.
What would your grandad or dad, or grandmother, or mother, sister, brother, son or daughter say? If they were alive now, what clea message do YOU think they would say? Let that percolate, and I’ll give you my best answer.
I have not personally seen, tasted or smelt the horrors of any war zone, not like many soldiers, reporters, journalists (like Chris Hedges) and poor innocent civilians. I have read books and watched films, documentaries about war, and in particular World War II, an extremely popular subject matter on a lot of very popular platforms like, The Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Netflix and thousands of independent(ish) channels. You would think we would all be experts by now on the subject of war, on Hitler and on the Nazis. What happened, how, why, and most importantly how to ensure that it NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN!
My instinct tells me that anybody who has seen the horrors of war, killing, mutilation and terror, no matter what the outcome, would not be doing a jig in celebration of victory. No, that was for the people back home who only saw what the media showed them, and read about what the newspapers told them. Any celebrations might be reserved until they were sure the Nazi’s and the violent aggressors were completely destroyed, never again able to take root in a country and stir up nationalistic hatred for out-groups using lies, distortion and violent propaganda.
War, and World War II in particular was a noticeable presence in my childhood, from playing army down the woods, probably inspired by war films, to dressing up as a World War II child refugee and taking part in WWII themed day out organized by the school, where we visited RAF Cosford. Naturally this interest in War, ignited by playing war games with other children for fun, not to take a neighbours house or occupy their garden, destroy anything. These were imaginary games of harmless fun. And so it is with the spirit of play and what I hope is harmless fun, that I reflect on WWII, Nazis, and war in a general sense. My way of paying respect. Attempting honesty, and brevity.
My Grandad Jim served and fought in WWII, and my Grandma Mae, with Jim, lived through the pre-war, war time and post war periods. Yes, fighting was the ultimate sacrifice, but for many the struggle was consistent throughout the 1930s, 40s, 50s, 60s. Let’s also remember and give thanks to those who stayed human and kind and resilient when surrounded by violence, hatred and horror. To have not joined up with the local fascist racist political party at home, and helped forward their slow burn populist agenda. That alone is worthy of praise and respect. And lend a thought to the generations of ancestors before you who sacrificed, endured and escaped death by various means to produce YOU! Human.
I’ve been brazenly shouting “Look, Nazis!” for quite a while now, bolstered by the rise of the Republican son of the CIA, George Bush Jnr. After a moderate amount of reading into the Nazi CIA Tsarist alliance, featuring General Reinhardt Ghelen, James Jesus Angleton, Brothers Dulles and a gang of so called ex-nazis who gained employment with the United States government and intelligence and technology firms, oh, and some banking business too, I was only slightly worried they..were back again in a new mask. Sprinkle in some Mafia connections, some secret exclusively white male member secret societies, and all manner of religious maniacs who’d trade a toddlers lunch for a bullet, if it meant victory for their side, and you are close to what I thought was going on.
What is their side? Who are they? I mentioned a lot just now. Can’t we just call them the dead Nazis of WWII, and forget about the rest? Surely, those enacting eugenics based laws, deporting foreign people without legal permission, supporting the genocide of an entire people, trading weapons with known agressors and genocidal maniacs, surely these are not Nazis! They’re all dead, I saw the documentary on Youtube.
So it begins, what is your interpretation of events, the current battle space and the way we got here? How would you describe the marker points on your Nazi-ometer, or your fascist-ometer? How do you compare, what is your method and by what measure? Logic, reason, suspicion, fact, feeling, opinion, axiomatic? I wasn’t even close, it turns out that the fictional works of Robert Anton Wilson are closer to the current reality I perceive, (insane Trump / Vance / Putin / Theil), than his non-fiction work. We seem to be all living in an episode of Illuminatus! Trilogy (co-authored with Robert Shea). Terrifyingly absurd, dangerously dicing with extinction.
I’ve laid my theories out over the last two decades, in blogs and books and albums, for anybody to go back and look at, compare, judge, analyse, rebound back at me. In a nutshell, I’ve been warning about the rise of far-right populism, ideology and anti-science for a while, admittedly for the most part powered by and bolstered by the writing of Robert Anton Wilson. Read him. What Bob says. He does not mistake the symptom for a cause. Wilson lays out all the choices, both collectively (Fuller, McLuhan) and as self-owning individuals, without sounding preachy or self-righteous or in any way dictatorial. Take a look at my afterword to his book TSOG for a condensed answer to the above questions.
What is to be done? Breathe properly, be good to yourself and others. Take it one step at a time. Listen more than you speak. All that good stuff is obvious right? Right. Meditate, turn compassion and empathy into a martial art. Transform patience into a deadly species of Kung Fu. While at the same time, strengthen your community bonds, friendships and relationships, check in often, try to engage with parts of culture you would not usually choose, dip your toe in, never be afraid to try new things. Make it new.
So coming back to the question I started with, more or less, what would your ancestors say? What would the spirit of those who died fighting in wars say?
Never Again Is Never Enough. Eternal Flower Power. Perpetual Vigilance. Solidarity With All Oppressed People Suffering Anywhere On Earth. Be The Change You Wish To See.
Love, respect.
–Steve Fly.
Amsterdam, Europe.
08/05/2025 (VE Day)
DEEP SCRATCH 