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I found this article interesting. A little long, but a good read.http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_3_military_history.htmlAlso, check out the link to The Peace RacketIn that article was this:
Peace studies students also discover how to think in terms of ?deep culture.? How to prevent war between, say, the U.S. and Saddam?s Iraq? Answer: examine each country?s deep culture?its key psychosocial traits, good and bad?to understand its motives. Americans, according to this bestiary, are warlike and money-obsessed; Iraqis are intensely religious and proud. Not surprisingly, the Peace Racket?s summations of deep cultures skew against the West. The deep-culture approach also avoids calling tyrants or terrorists ?evil??for behind every atrocity, in this view, lies a legitimate grievance, which the peacemaker should locate so that all parties can meet at the negotiating table as moral equals. SUNY Binghamton, for instance, offers a peace studies course that seeks to ?arrive at an understanding of contemporary violence in its ideological, cultural, and structural dimensions in a bid to move away from ?evil,? ?inhuman,? and ?uncivilized? as analytical categories.?
Quiz: Explain why Petraeus and the cultural anthropologists involved in counterinsurgency are doing it correctly, and why the “liberals” in the above quoted section have it all wrong?
…offers a peace studies course that seeks to ?arrive at an understanding of contemporary violence in its ideological, cultural, and structural dimensions in a bid to move away from ?evil,? ?inhuman,? and ?uncivilized? as analytical categories.?
The task I have for those folks is to frame Hitler and the Nazis, or the KKK in light of their contemporary thinking, and then we'll see if they truly practice what they preach. “{B}ehind every atrocity, in this view, lies a legitimate grievance…”…I actually do not doubt that to be true; however, it's how people deal with these grievances, how they skew them for political and social power, and how they exacerbate problems with their particular form of “justice” that are the questions that need to be addressed.
Behind every atrocity is an atrocious idea.Sometimes I wonder where people get their logic from, but skiguy's excerpt has me asking what their overall premise is? Do they find humanity altruistic by nature and only victimize itself from cognitive dissonance or social confusion? I find that very hard to believe. Humanity is very prone to violence because of greed in a world of limited available resources. The only way to ensure peace is to have a viable deterrent at the ready. Our world is governed by the aggressive use of force. Our only hope is to control and contain the usage of force through clear and effective deterrents.
Wish I could remember who said this (and, I don't completely agree with it, but it makes sense): Who cares if they like us as long as they fear us.The peacemakers mentioned in the article (although not in the excerpt) are wrong, IMO, in that they are anti-American. That's the difference between what Petraeus is doing and those mentioned in the article. “They hate us because we did something and we need to figure out what we did to anger them”. That's just not correct, and that's appeasement, not peacemaking. If “they” are mad at us for some reason, we need to show them that their reasons are wrong or untrue. In other words, we don't need to change, they do..but they must want to because it will work out better for them. Cutural awareness is necessary so we'll know what will work for them and what won't.
Wish I could remember who said this (and, I don't completely agree with it, but it makes sense): Who cares if they like us as long as they fear us.The peacemakers mentioned in the article (although not in the excerpt) are wrong, IMO, in that they are anti-American. That's the difference between what Petraeus is doing and those mentioned in the article. “They hate us because we did something and we need to figure out what we did to anger them”. That's just not correct, and that's appeasement, not peacemaking. If “they” are mad at us for some reason, we need to show them that their reasons are wrong or untrue. In other words, we don't need to change, they do..but they must want to because it will work out better for them. Cutural awareness is necessary so we'll know what will work for them and what won't.
I agree. We scratch their back and they will scratch ours. If we show them how our relationship can be mutually beneficial, they will often convert to our side. Fear only causes resent, but a strong deterrent can also be cultural awareness where they at least appreciate the fact that we are trying to communicate with them in terms of their worldview.
Behind every atrocity is an atrocious idea.Sometimes I wonder where people get their logic from, but skiguy's excerpt has me asking what their overall premise is? Do they find humanity altruistic by nature and only victimize itself from cognitive dissonance or social confusion? I find that very hard to believe. Humanity is very prone to violence because of greed in a world of limited available resources. The only way to ensure peace is to have a viable deterrent at the ready. Our world is governed by the aggressive use of force. Our only hope is to control and contain the usage of force through clear and effective deterrents.
Humanity altruistic? I don't think so. Sadly, the opposite is evident everywhere.
Behind every atrocity is an atrocious idea.Sometimes I wonder where people get their logic from, but skiguy's excerpt has me asking what their overall premise is? Do they find humanity altruistic by nature and only victimize itself from cognitive dissonance or social confusion? I find that very hard to believe. Humanity is very prone to violence because of greed in a world of limited available resources. The only way to ensure peace is to have a viable deterrent at the ready. Our world is governed by the aggressive use of force. Our only hope is to control and contain the usage of force through clear and effective deterrents.
And I will probably take issue with that statement, which I failed to islolate here: Behind every atrocity is an atrocious idea.Damn! You gotta love C & P !!I could not disagree more, but I might have to look up atrocity; I know, it's bad, but is it appropriate at given times?I don't know, but research will probably confuse me! ;)HF (aka Grey Mouser, Holy Roller on other sites ….)Sometimes, I wonder if I can keep all these handles in order. Other times, I wonder ……. sorry, for you to share those thoughts require continuous love …..more later ….Study war becuase it is enveloping you. Or, not. Your choice.Fart Passer
