DENIAL

Tank on display at London arms fair (DEI)

The first instinct after trauma is to say, if conscious, "I think I'm OK." Pain and terror usually set in after the shock of the event wears off. 

Europe is in a state of shock after the trauma of invasion. This is evident from the outside, as I hear the conflicting and troubling reports on the current crisis. Just calling this invasion "migration" is a symptom which denies the reality of the situation.

The denial is gradually wearing off. "Head and heart." is the new slogan of some European politicians who have done the numbers for the cost of absorbing the invasion. This is the bargaining phase of adjusting to trauma. Trying to mentally minimalize the damage to avoid having to accept the inevitable results, which are life-transforming. 

There are cheery stories about Italians putting African migrants to work as chefs who devise fusion cuisine. But there are also less cheery stories about the sudden infusion of children and adolescents into the European sex trade, which is dominated by large organized crime syndicates. There are even stories which try to compare the internal migration of Europe in World War II to the current situation. This is indeed a stretch.

The arms dealers of the U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China are all largely responsible for the current crisis. Yet a huge arms-dealing 'fair' was held in London this summer as the invasion occurred. This is hard evidence that corporate power is not invested in global peace or leadership which honors human dignity through progressive civilization. The arms dealers are not traumatized. They are celebrating. 

Unfortunately, many on the Left in The West have juxtaposed arms-dealing with invasion in a clumsy self-defeating paradigm: Weapons bad; refugees good. This is a stunningly myopic denial of the larger issues of dysfunctional religion, overpopulation and climate deterioration. Cramming human beings with Iron-Age belief systems and no respect for the environment into tighter spaces with those who are educated beyond superstition and committed to progress, even without weapons, is a recipe for conflict.