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At the 10.30 minute mark he starts talking about change. I especially liked the example of the soldiers in 1914 that, within hours of a cease fire to recover bodies of their respective dead soldiers, changed the "us" narrative to include all soldiers and the "them" to the people forcing them to kill each other.
Thank you. Interesting to hear that part about the My Lai masssacre you don' hear - a Us helicopter gunship came in between.
But I long had a problem on the one side a fascination wih armies, war and military history and on the other side, not believing in war as a good thing. Now I have no problem, because studying war teaches you that it has marvellous uniforms, fine weapons, brilliant tactics and moments of glory, but in the end it is beastly and wasteful.
And one thing that I learned was that soldiers did not take it personally -well they did, but yey respected the other side who were doing a lousy job just like themselves.
But I long had a problem on the one side a fascination wih armies, war and military history and on the other side, not believing in war as a good thing. Now I have no problem, because studying war teaches you that it has marvellous uniforms, fine weapons, brilliant tactics and moments of glory, but in the end it is beastly and wasteful.
And one thing that I learned was that soldiers did not take it personally -well they did, but yey respected the other side who were doing a lousy job just like themselves.
I am the same way. I have been a lifelong fan of military history, but see no glory in it, just destruction and cruelty. What I have learned is that regardless of the cause for which men marched, they ultimately wound up fighting for their comrades.
It has also given me an evolving perspective on Buffy Saint Marie's "Universal Soldier" in which she blames the common soldier for always responding affirmatively when the leaders called for war or sent them to engage in some atrocity. I recognize now that some war "heroes" are actually people who were more afraid of being viewed as cowards by their local communities than they were of calamity in battle.
Quite correct. But rather than condemn the grunt for not refusing to fight, or indeed the officers urging them on to Do Their Duty, or the generals trying to win a battle or the politicians trying to find a balance between doing the best for the country with the best for the party and no forgetting the best for themselves, we should try to understand what drives them to do it and us, as populace, to expect that they should.
Quite correct. But rather than condemn the grunt for not refusing to fight, or indeed the officers urging them on to Do Their Duty, or the generals trying to win a battle or the politicians trying to find a balance between doing the best for the country with the best for the party and no forgetting the best for themselves, we should try to understand what drives them to do it and us, as populace, to expect that they should.
A good place to start trying to gain such understanding might be viewing the tremendous crowds which turned out to support their nations at the beginning of the First World War.
if i said you that there is a big ship; it contains different goods ,There is no one to steer it, no one maintaining it. Yet, this ship keeps going back and forth; it even traverses big waves on the oceans; it stops at the locations that it is supposed to stop at; it continues in the direction that it is supposed to head. This ship has no captain and no one planning its trips , Without a doubt you will tell me That's impossible, What kind of strange and silly thought is this? How can any intelligent person think that some thing like this can occur.
so If it is impossible with ship , so how is it possible for the universe, in all its vastness came by random or natural coincidences?? how Can we attribute the existence of and the whole world to mere chance.
if i said you that there is a big ship; it contains different goods ,There is no one to steer it, no one maintaining it. Yet, this ship keeps going back and forth; it even traverses big waves on the oceans; it stops at the locations that it is supposed to stop at; it continues in the direction that it is supposed to head. This ship has no captain and no one planning its trips , Without a doubt you will tell me That's impossible, What kind of strange and silly thought is this? How can any intelligent person think that some thing like this can occur.
so If it is impossible with ship , so how is it possible for the universe, in all its vastness came by random or natural coincidences?? how Can we attribute the existence of and the whole world to mere chance.
There is a stream. It begins with a trickle of gush of water from out of the ground. It runs down the slope and would you believe it, meets up with other streams just tailor -made to combine with it to make a big river, and when it is at full size, well, damn' me if it doesn't debouch into an ocean put there to receive it. Now tell me how that can be without someone planning it and directing it.
And when you've realized how that can be, apply it to all the workings of nature and apply that on a larger scale to the universe, and that's your answer.
I am the same way. I have been a lifelong fan of military history, but see no glory in it, just destruction and cruelty. What I have learned is that regardless of the cause for which men marched, they ultimately wound up fighting for their comrades.
It has also given me an evolving perspective on Buffy Saint Marie's "Universal Soldier" in which she blames the common soldier for always responding affirmatively when the leaders called for war or sent them to engage in some atrocity. I recognize now that some war "heroes" are actually people who were more afraid of being viewed as cowards by their local communities than they were of calamity in battle.
Tim O'Brien - author of several novels and memoirs which almost all revolve around the Vietnam War - writes in If I Die In A Combat Zone about his moral opposition to the war, his extensive planning to go to Canada to avoid being drafted, and his ultimate decision that being from a small town on the Minnesota prairie, he could not do that this parents; ie, saddle them with being the parents of the kid who fled to Canada instead of serve his country, which every one in their small town would know. He makes it very clear that his service was ultimately the easy way out, and that he lacked the courage of his convictions. He does this without passing judgment on other others who served, just noting that this is what he believes regarding himself.
Tim O'Brien - author of several novels and memoirs which almost all revolve around the Vietnam War - writes in If I Die In A Combat Zone about his moral opposition to the war, his extensive planning to go to Canada to avoid being drafted, and his ultimate decision that being from a small town on the Minnesota prairie, he could not do that this parents; ie, saddle them with being the parents of the kid who fled to Canada instead of serve his country, which every one in their small town would know. He makes it very clear that his service was ultimately the easy way out, and that he lacked the courage of his convictions. He does this without passing judgment on other others who served, just noting that this is what he believes regarding himself.
I went through the same sort of terrible conflict. I was of draft age during the Vietnam War. I very much opposed the war as a moral wrong, recognized that I would probably make for a rather poor soldier even if I was gung ho about the war, yet still could never get completely past the idea of of escaping service obligation which fell on everyone. I lucked out and had the problem resolve itself when I got a high number in the first draft lottery. To this day I still cannot say what I would have done had I been drafted.
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