Make 'em Cry
I made a point in my group class a couple of weeks ago and I think it bears repeating on my blog. There's been a lot of talk about whether or not all the anti-war movement emboldens the enemy. They anti-war folks (pretty much everybody here in SF) seem to think that it's nonsense to believe that their actions actually encourage the enemy. Let me say that I don't particuarly have a problem with the anti-war movement as a group. This is America and they are welcome to believe what they want. But what I would like them to do is take responsibility for their actions. It's fine for them to say and do what they are doing. They should just grow up and recognize that there are consequences for their actions.
The problem is pretty simple actually. I would guess that most folks who are in the anti-war movement have never actually been in a fight and if they have, it's at the losing end. Getting picked on as a kid pretty much disqualifies you from being able to speak coherently about conflict. There are some exceptions but they are few and far between.
Let me say this: I've been in a lot of fights. Recreationally and professionally. In the ring and out of it. As a bully and on the side of the Angels. I've won a few and I've lost a few. I've fought to impress the ladies and for my life. Given all those circumstances, one truth is consistent throughout. If I hear my opponent whimper, cringe or even make the slightest indication that I've affected him or he's not enjoying the fight, I become stronger at that very moment. However, I felt previously, at that moment, I know that I have the mental endge and I've won the fight. That's cold, hard truth.
To the rest of the world, we look like a bunch of spoiled whiners. And that in and of itself makes us a target. Add to that our wealth and our standing and you understand that being nice is no guarantee of safety. We need to learn what every kid who grew up in a rough neighborhood knows. Being nice is never as good as being strong because your safety should never be dependant on the whims of another.
posted by Kahuna6 at 6:22 AM
3 Comments:
Exactly right...
One must ALWAYS negotiate from a position of strength. If violence erupts, then one is prepared to deal with the violence on their own terms. If one is not prepared, then one either complies with the attacker's will or dies (or at least gets injured). If one is strong, then an opponent will think twice before taking a swing. If they see weakness, they will go for the throat. The anit-war crowd fails to grasp the profound consequences of this basic law of reality.
This certainly does not mean violence is the solution to all problems...it most certainly is not. But one does prepare for the worst in the likelihood violence becomes manifest. The desire by the anti-war crowd to supress or even eradicate our ability to wage war if necessary disturbs me more than anything.
And I agree...most on the anti-war path have ZERO credibility when it comes to conflict. If you have fought in a war and paid your dues, you can dissent with credibility, and I will listen. But do not sit in the plush and sheltered confines of American democracy and claim to "understand" the "ravages" of war if you have never been there, much less never even served in the military.
And sorry...watching the nightly news from a 3 bedoom/3 bath house with a white picket fence, 2.3 kids, a dog, with a silver Volvo and black Jetta sitting in the driveway in Suburbia, USA, does not qualify you as having "witnessed the horrors of war".
4:10 AM
Check out this article by Kaplan at The American Interest: "On Forgetting the Obvious"
http://www.the-american-interest.com/ai2/article.cfm?Id=289&MId=14
5:10 AM
"In affairs so dangerous as war, false ideas proceeding from kindness of heart are precisely the worst. . . . The fact that slaughter is a horrifying spectacle must make us take war more seriously, but not provide an excuse for gradually blunting our swords in the name of humanity. Sooner or later someone will come along with a sharp sword and hack off our arms."
-Carl von Clausewitz, On War
5:12 AM
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