PISSING ON THE ENEMY
There are some people who are convinced that world wide violence is gradually diminishing and they provide data to support that idea. I am not convinced even though the data appear solid. Their idea is that warfare is an aberration, something left over from ancient times when killing others meant survival, just a bad habit, thus expungible.
While it is a hopeful plausibility, it ignores how evolution shaped us. Fear and anger are built in, run like hell or fight like hell and survive until the next encounter. Pretty early on, bands of people, probably kin groups, realized that uncontrolled running or fighting easily disrupted the group and established rules of conduct. The kids, human kids, had to learn how not to run and not to fight when things went wrong; it makes little sense to kill someone who scowled at you though, alas that happens. After all, it could be caused by a distressed stomach. Still, the impulses are still there; civilization and religion have worked hard to tame the beast but outbursts abound. Another attack on a school, I forget where, occupied the news this morning. It's too early to know why, but you can be sure it has nothing to do with survival. It is most likely a version of: “Things should not be the way they are.” Most people feel irritated when caught behind a slow driver, but how many people wonder at that? Why the irritation? “He/she should not act that way.”
I remember discussing things with men who faced bitter guerrilla warfare. These were young American men who were trained by our society to treat people with respect, not to hurt others and to get along with the world. Alas, put them into combat and they are transformed into killers and often cruel killers. Desensitized to human anguish and pain, they participated in abominations and loved it. You may remember that some soldiers cut off the ears of the enemy dead and made necklaces of them. One of them, an old soldier of many campaigns could not believe that he acted that way. He and his buddies wore their necklaces and danced around blazing fires. Or, if an officer was disliked he might be “fragged.” Roll a fragmentation grenade into his tent and blow the sucker up.
All acted that way? Certainly not all, but such happened and became the liet motif of the Viet Nam war. Guerrilla war is sneaky, dirty and frightening.
We won the set-piece battles but dealing with the no-good, rotten MFs was personal. You see the cruelty of what they did to a friend's body and all you can think of is murderous revenge. A soldier had married a Viet Namese woman and had a child, both of whom were slaughtered by the Viet Cong. He dropped all the rules and became a fiendish killer. And, years after the events, he justified his response.
It may surprise you to learn that these are issues of personal freedom. Civilization restrains us. We know not to assault drivers who don't obey our rules of conduct, at least most of us know that. But, we have the urge. How many times have you said: “I'd like to . . .,” describing some form of cruel mayhem, but typically we don't. Rarely do we say: “I'd like to treat that person with respect” because he/she must have problems. I remember, in a novel, someone musing about his lack of freedom. If someone knocked off his hat, he would have to knock him down. His society would have contempt for him otherwise.
So, the marines pissed on some enemy dead. Hell, staying alive in a fire fight is a triumph that leaves one with surging adrenalin. Sometimes whooping and hollering, sometimes boasting and yes, sometimes desecrating enemy bodies is is a result. Guerrilla warfare leads to such.
All such behavior is motivated by fear and rage for which we should thank evolution and accept the reality that war is nasty and brutish; we better accept that guerrilla warfare is the future and men, and now women, will act accordingly. Think of what persistent fear and rage do to our psyches; an American soldier apparently slaughtered a number of Afghani citizens. He was in his fourth tour of duty; shall we execute him?
Though I try to do what is right.
How would I react in a fight?
Would I be staunch and quite brave?
Surely my morals I would save
Or be nasty and vicious … yes I might.
PISSING ON THE ENEMY
2-27-12
There are some people who are convinced that world wide violence is gradually diminishing and they provide data to support that idea. I am not convinced even though the data appear solid. Their idea is that warfare is an aberration, something left over from ancient times when killing others meant survival, just a bad habit, thus expungible.
While it is a hopeful plausibility, it ignores how evolution shaped us. Fear and anger are built in, run like hell or fight like hell and survive until the next encounter. Pretty early on, bands of people, probably kin groups, realized that uncontrolled running or fighting easily disrupted the group and established rules of conduct. The kids, human kids, had to learn how not to run and not to fight when things went wrong; it makes little sense to kill someone who scowled at you though, alas that happens. After all, it could be caused by a distressed stomach. Still, the impulses are still there; civilization and religion have worked hard to tame the beast but outbursts abound. Another attack on a school, I forget where, occupied the news this morning. It's too early to know why, but you can be sure it has nothing to do with survival. It is most likely a version of: “Things should not be the way they are.” Most people feel irritated when caught behind a slow driver, but how many people wonder at that? Why the irritation? “He/she should not act that way.”
I remember discussing things with men who faced bitter guerrilla warfare. These were young American men who were trained by our society to treat people with respect, not to hurt others and to get along with the world. Alas, put them into combat and they are transformed into killers and often cruel killers. Desensitized to human anguish and pain, they participated in abominations and loved it. You may remember that some soldiers cut off the ears of the enemy dead and made necklaces of them. One of them, an old soldier of many campaigns could not believe that he acted that way. He and his buddies wore their necklaces and danced around blazing fires. Or, if an officer was disliked he might be “fragged.” Roll a fragmentation grenade into his tent and blow the sucker up.
All acted that way? Certainly not all, but such happened and became the liet motif of the Viet Nam war. Guerrilla war is sneaky, dirty and frightening. We won the set-piece battles but dealing with the no-good, rotten MFs was personal. You see the cruelty of what they did to a friend's body and all you can think of is murderous revenge. A soldier had married a Viet Namese woman and had a child, both of whom were slaughtered by the Viet Cong. He dropped all the rules and became a fiendish killer. And, years after the events, he justified his response.
It may surprise you to learn that these are issues of personal freedom. Civilization restrains us. We know not to assault drivers who don't obey our rules of conduct, at least most of us know that. But, we have the urge. How many times have you said: “I'd like to . . .,” describing some form of cruel mayhem, but typically we don't. Rarely do we say: “I'd like to treat that person with respect” because he/she must have problems. I remember, in a novel, someone musing about his lack of freedom. If someone knocked off his hat, he would have to knock him down. His society would have contempt for him otherwise.
So, the marines pissed on some enemy dead. Hell, staying alive in a fire fight is a triumph that leaves one with surging adrenalin. Sometimes whooping and hollering, sometimes boasting and yes, sometimes desecrating enemy bodies is is a result. Guerrilla warfare leads to such.
All such behavior is motivated by fear and rage for which we should thank evolution and accept the reality that war is nasty and brutish; we better accept that guerrilla warfare is the future and men, and now women, will act accordingly. Think of what persistent fear and rage do to our psyches; an American soldier apparently slaughtered a number of Afghani citizens. He was in his fourth tour of duty; shall we execute him?
Though I try to do what is right.
How would I react in a fight?
Would I be staunch and quite brave?
Surely my morals I would save
Or be nasty and vicious … yes I might.
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