I have been binging M*A*S*H lately.

[Initech]

And one of the episodes I recently watched, the characters were talking about the current war and future wars. And it got me thinking about this. Since the Civil War ended, the United States has been involved in:

- World War I (1914 - 1918)

- World War II (1939 - 1945)

- Korean War (1950 - 1953)

- Vietnam War (1955 - 1975)

- The Gulf War (1990 - 1992)

- Iraq War (2003 - 2011)

- Afghanistan (2001 - 2021)

And now the dipshits in charge have changed the name from the Department of Defense to the Department of War for god knows what reason and they already have their sights set on their first target, which is all based on blatant lies and criminally insane Fox News conspiracy theories that speak directly to Trump himself. And he believes it. We are doomed as a country until we decide to do something about the military industrial complex. Something has to be done.

[DUU]

1. MASH was not what many thought

In every episode, MASH brought up the horror of war.
Many saw it only as a comedy, but some political reality(s) of war were aired in every episode.

Initech noted:
“We are doomed as a country until we decide to do something about the military industrial complex.”

That’s pretty close to a US president’s take in 1961:

“ …we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”

[themaguffin]

2. One of Hawkeye's great quotes in this exchange...

Some of you probably already know what I have pasted below from watching the show...

Burns: Well, everybody knows, ‘war is Hell.’
Hunnicutt: Remember, you heard it hear last.
Hawkeye: War isn’t Hell. War is war, and Hell is Hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse.
Father Mulcahy: How do you figure that, Hawkeye?
Hawkeye: Easy, Father. Tell me, who goes to Hell?
Father Mulcahy: Um, sinners, I believe.
Hawkeye: Exactly. There are no innocent bystanders in Hell, but war is chock full of them – little kids, cripples, old ladies. In fact, except for a few of the brass, almost everybody involved is an innocent bystander.

[Initech]

3. I'm amazed at how deep that show was.

And how many they said what we're all thinking. And how some things really haven't changed in 50 years.

[DUU]

4. Probably hasn't changed in 2000 year.