With God on Our Side

The bad things we do
Are OK, we say, because
God is on our side.

I quote John Cale:

Read and destroy everything you read in the press
Read and destroy everything you read in books
It's a waste of time
It's a waste of energy
It's a waste of paper
And it's a waste of ink
Whatever you read in the books, leave it there
The word for it is:
Sabotage!

If you don't follow that advice, you might wind up an intellectual slave to your history books. "With God on Our Side" is Bob Dylan's 1963 song about discovering that everything he learned and thought was right is wrong. It appears on the album "The Times They Are a-Changin'."

1. I was raised in the Midwest, learning to obey the law because my country has God on its side.
2. In the history books, they say the Indians died at our hands because the country was young and had God on its side.
3. Spanish-American War, Civil War: they were fighting and dying with God on their side.
4. World War I: Who knows why they fought it, but I sure was proud, as we had God on our side.
5. The Germans murdered 6 million in the concentration camps, but now we're friends because they more recently have gotten God on their side.
6. If we have to fight the Russians, we'll do it with God on our side.
7. If we have to fight a nuclear war, we'll do that with God on our side too.
8. I keep wondering if Judas Iscariot had God on his side.
9. I'm sick of this shit. If God's on our side, he will stop the next war before it happens.