May 19, 2004

WATCHERS

Belmont Club wrote something that really hit home for me in his post News Coverage as a Weapon:

During the Civil War 15 percent of the total white population took the field, a staggering 75% of military age white males. During the Great War the major combatants put even higher proportions of their men on the line. Even after World War 2 it was still natural for children to ask, 'Daddy what did you do in the War?' and expect an answer. Reality affected everybody. But beginning with the Vietnam War and continuing into the current Iraqi campaign, the numbers of those actually engaged on the battlefield as a proportion of the population became increasingly small. Just how small is illustrated by comparing a major battle in the Civil War, Gettysburg, which inflicted over 50,000 casualties on a nation of 31.5 million to a "major" battle in Iraq, Fallujah, in which 10 Marines died in the fighting itself, on a population of 300 million. A war in which the watchers vastly outnumbered the fighters was bound to be different from when the reverse was true. A reality experienced by the few could be overridden by a fantasy sold to the many.

This war doesn't affect everybody and to say that the watchers outnumber the fighters implies that the watchers are actully watching. There are thousands out there who don't think the war on terror affects them at all, and they are quick to accept the "fantasy sold to the many" and then switch the channel to the last episode of Friends. In my parents' and grandparents' generations, everyone knew someone who went to war; these days the service flags are few and far between. We can't fathom the sacrifice previous generations endured because we rarely are affected by today's sacrifices.

Someday my children will ask "Daddy, what did you do in the war?" and he will have an answer that will make them proud. When they ask what Mommy did, I'll say I was proud to be a chickenhawk.

MORE TO GROK:

Strategy Page talks about how everyone is involved in a war.

Posted by Sarah at May 19, 2004 04:09 PM
Comments

The point is not well made. Just because the percentage of the population fighting in the war has gone down doesn't mean the effect is less -- it affects the whole family, the coworkers, etc. The violence continues and spirals outward.

A new military hero for the list with Ritter and Butler: Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey, who has come home from Iraq to talk about all the innocent people the US is killing, and how that has caused the "revolt against the military occupation".

Posted by: florian at May 19, 2004 05:10 PM

Florian, why is your definition of "military hero" anyone who actively breaks away from the military and its goals?

Posted by: Sarah at May 19, 2004 06:16 PM

Sarah, why do you assume Florian is using a different definition of the the term instead of a broader one?

Posted by: Bogey Mulligan at May 19, 2004 09:19 PM

I would guess, based on the response, Sarah has had previous dealings with florian.

Posted by: Mike at May 19, 2004 09:42 PM

"There are thousands out there who don't think the war on terror affects them at all"

Thousands? How about millions?

The number of apathetic Americans is a source of frustration for both pro- and anti-war people. Both sides wonder why the masses can't "get it."

Despite all the hype, names like Reynolds and Kos mean nothing to the vast majority of Americans. Ditto for Steyn, Hanson, Moore, and Chomsky.

It's the images and headlines from the mass media that stick in their minds. Abu Ghraib. Abu Ghraib. Abu Ghraib. Abu Ghraib.

The Right has lost the memetic war. The Left control the schools and the media. The White House is next. The Far Left will never get its way, but moderations leads to oompromise, and compromise leads to evil.

Meanwhile, warbloggers huddle in their echo chamber, reassuring each other in a world that hates them - or ignores them at best. They fool themselves with overblown rhetoric about "changing the world" while the average American chooses Kerry at the last minute.

Will any of us lie fifty years from now and pretend that we didn't support (in the real sense of the word) Bush, the "worst" president who ever lived?

I'd rather be an unreconstructed terror-hater.

Posted by: Amritas at May 19, 2004 11:01 PM

"moderations leads to oompromise"

I meant "moderation leads to compromise." A little poison can't hurt, right? Don't be an extremist. That's soooo unilateral.

Posted by: Amritas at May 19, 2004 11:03 PM

Sarah, wouldn't the goal of the military be to protect the United States? Gen. Smedley Butler, hero to the Marine Corps infantry, realized that he wasn't doing that. So he came out publicly about killing for a kind of corporate mafia, in wars based on lies, decades ago. We can see we are in the same situation now. The Ritters and Masseys have put their lives and careers on the line to tell hard truths. They haven't broken with anything, they are in fact being true to themselves, the American people, and the honor of the military. It is the warmakers who have broken away from these things.

Amritas, if the left controls the media, why was the year before the war a constant drumbeat of uncritical acceptance of the WMD canard? Why were the torture-as-policy reports from the Int'l Red Cross and Amnesty ignored until the photos made it impossible? Why was Clinton's lie about an intern drumbeated into an impeachment, whereas Bush & Co. can tell whoppers to lead the country into war that has cast the US into the image of torturing occupiers, and there is no media or radio talk show howling for impeachment? Truth is, the media generally supports the status quo, and the influential talk shows are overwhelmingly conservative/right.

Posted by: florian at May 20, 2004 10:07 AM

casinos online
online casinos list
online casinos and bingo
blackjack online casinos
casinos in spanish
online gambling and fun
online casinos
online casinos inc.
online casino

eagle casino
casino publishing and advertising
online casinos
festive online casinos
online casinos deluxe
online gambling at casinos
online casino graphics
imagine online casinos
play casinos online
casino online
where online casinos
best casino solutions
online casino gambling
casinos online
online casino groups
online casinos
how to play online casinos
my online casinos
become online casino player

gambling online casinos
casino online gambling
how to gamble at the online casinos
online gambling
rules of online casino gambling
casinos and games


online casinos on your computer
top casino gambling
casinos, online casinos
gambling at the best online casinos
online casinos,
online gambling,

play casino online,
online casinos and games,
online craps and casinos,
,
casino poker,
online casino and slots,
,
online casino
craps
, online casino
poker
, online casino
blackjack
, online
casino slots
, craps
online
, casinos
blackjack
, casinos
gambling online
,
casinos craps,
free casino online,
new casino online,
free online casino games,
online casino directory,
play casino online,
more online casino games,
casino blackjack online,
casino craps online,
poker casinos online,
list of casinos,
free casinos online,
new online casino,
free casino online,
play casino free online,
free casino games,
new gambling online,
new casino games,
online new casinos,
online free casino,
online casino,
free online casinos,
online casinos online,
top gambling casinos,
new casino gambling games,
best casinos,
best casino,
gambling online casino,
gambling online casinos,
free casino
online gambling
,
new casinos,
best online casino,
find online casinos,
list of casinos online,
internet casino,
net casinos,

most online casinos,
casino on the net,
internet gambling casino,
net casinos,
online casinos on the net,

free online casinos net,
new casinos online,
best casino online,

casinos online top,
best online casino net,
blackjack casinos
online
, video poker
online casinos
,
casinos
, online
casino

casinos online
online casinos
online casino games

Posted by: online poker rooms at May 27, 2005 09:10 PM