Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

Continued from Part 1

Demonization and Wars of Annihilation
To make people fight with the will necessary to win, the other side must be demonized, often dehumanized. We must fight them because they want nothing less than to wipe us from the face of the earth. Within such a framework, it is hard to see the other side as having honor and accept the idea of innocent bystanders. Within such a framework, logical goals and acceptable stopping points get lost.

Since “they” want to kill you, it is better for you to kill them first. The world of limited warfare gives in to the world of total war.

Civilian-Military Split

Ironically, the rise of “civilian” armies ended up segregating the “civilian” world from the “military” world. Before Napoleon, Bell argues, soldiers were civilians. The officers were the nobles of the land. The grunts were part-time soldiers. When not at war, they had to go find other jobs in order to get paid. Every person in the military, from the kings on down, was fully in the civil world.

Then, with the start of total warfare, the “military” world came to be thought of as its own sphere. It has its own rules and status. People would and could do things in war that they would not do as “regular” people. Wars became fought by specialists, by soldiers and warriors. The military became professional.

This last point is extremely interesting to me because it is the opposite of what I had previously learned.

Summary
That’s what makes total war so destructive and desperate. The line between combatants and noncombatants are blurred. Almost everyone is fair game. The levels of hatred and destruction are ratcheted up but they are compartmentalized as exceptional feelings.

These feelings and actions are not acceptable in the normal world, but in a state of war, everything is ok. The actions by “0ur” professional fighters are rationalized as necessary in a state of war when all of “them” are trying to annihilate us. The actors are excused while the targets are undifferentiated and many.

In the meantime, the other side is applying the exact same standards to us.

Tags: Books, History, Politics by Ms. SP
Comments Off

It’s been a while, but back in my post about The First Total War by David A Bell, I mentioned that he has some really interesting ideas that are worthy of consideration. Here I go…

End of War
Bell points out that our world has a lot in common with Napoleon’s world. For us, before the Communist block broke up, there had not been armed conflict between the major world powers for a while. Then, once the Soviet Union fell, there seemed to be a sense that large-scale world peace may be possible. After all democracies do not fight democracies, right?

We’ve seen how quickly that idea crashed and burned as we’ve been in almost non-stop warfare for the last two decades.

The same pattern occurred with the success of the French Revolution. The thinkers of the day saw the fall of the “old world,” a world of royals fighting for greed, power, and territory. With the people in charge, surely we would not fight amongst ourselves, right? The Enlightenment idea that Man and Man’s history were perfectible was demonstrating itself.

Then Napoleon and his Republican army brought into Europe warfare of a style and scope that they have never seen before.

Civilian Warfare
In fact, it seems that putting warfare into the hands of “the people” only escalates the affair. This is something that the majority of today’s people do not understand.

Tyrants and dictators are relatively easy to deal with. Even if they are “crazy,” like a Gaddafi or a Kim Jong Il (or a Napoleon), they have one goal in mind. They want to remain in power. Everything else is negotiable. Accordingly, they may be scary or dangerous, but you can put them in the rational actors category because what they want is easy to understand.

When the kings of Europe fought each other, the civilian population was, more or less, left alone. There were rules, and it was to no one’s benefit to decimate the population or destroy the lands that the fighters wished to rule. The nobles fought each other, and it was better to capture one of your social equals alive for the ransom that they would bring than to leave them dead on the field.

When “people” fight, they don’t use warfare as a tool. It often becomes an expression of hatred and irrationality. To make the people fight, when they have little to gain from the endeavor, you have to make a very strong “Other.”

Continued in Part 2…

Tags: Books, History, Politics by Ms. SP
Comments Off

Fifty years ago yesterday, these famous words were delivered: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”

Well truthfully, I don’t feel I have done a lot for my country. Sure I pay my taxes and vote, but I have not really had to sacrifice or serve or endure hardships for the security and prosperity of my country.

There have been a few economic downturns but I’ve gotten through them (/knock wood). I’ve also lived through several wars with very little inconvenience. (Frankly, that just seems ridiculous to me.)

But now, our country is broke. Our states are broke. Our cities are broke.

By all accounts, the 2% Illinois income tax increase is going to go through soon. According to the numbers, this tax increase, which is scheduled to go for four years, will give us a surplus by the end of that time. Our $13 billion deficit will be erased.

No, it’s not a perfect solution, but it is one that can work. Can’t we just stop arguing and whining and just do this? It’s an extra 2% of my income.

This time, I’m willing to sacrifice.

Let us be brave. Let us be stalwart. Let us leave the next generation of leaders a new start and an even ground instead of a hole.

We, the citizens of Illinois, need to insist that all subsequently elected legislators hold spending and cut costs where they can. No increases in spending. Reductions as we go. And yes, they can have the increased collection of revenue.

It’s four years. Surely we can do this.

In a democracy, we always get the government we deserve and to stand around pointing fingers is meaningless. We all let the debt happen. We were too busy. We were too lazy. We were too apathetic.

We didn’t want to try.

Now, we can actually solve this problem with relatively little effort. If we can really hold additional spending (meaning no new programs), we won’t even have to do any work. It’s sit around and let the math work itself out.

Yes, 2% will hurt. But it will hurt a whole heck of a lot more later.

Tags: Governance, Life, Politics by Ms. SP
Comments Off