Many thanks to Dan Hodge for emailing me this excellent, albeit old, documentary on the dehumanization of "basic training." Basic training is the process by which "our" rotten Uncle Sam prepares teenage boys to kill strangers without hesitation or compunction. He often succeds at the former, but always fails at the latter, as the clearly haunted USMC Drill Instructors reveal through their comments in the film.
The documentary is longish for YouTube standards, but I promise that those with authentic pro-peace sympathies will be pulled in if they give the first 2 or 3 minutes a chance. It is narrated by a Vietnam-era Veteran of the US Navy:
Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.
It is unfortunate that violence is a part of our world, but it is a part of our world. Without it you would not exist, the Internet would never have been invented, and the Mona Lisa would never have been painted. And free markets are beautifully efficient because they are financially violent.
Equally inescapable is the logic that drives the game of violence. Organized violence is much more effective than the disorganized variety. A community of libertarians that chose to fight an organized army with a temporary militia would lose. Libertarians who chose to turn the other cheek would be victims at the mercy of their oppressors.
But on the bright side armies are generally much politer than they were in ancient and even recent times. They don't rape and pillage willy nilly. And if your army is conquered on the battlefield, it won't be humiliated by mass anal raping or having penises removed to pay for the general's future bride. Little by little our world is softened.
I honestly don't understand how you couldn't be at least a little bothered by this video.
And to say that violence is inevitable is quite a cop-out.
Pretty much everything military disturbs me. I have never had any desire to join the military. I don't even like flags.
But I also don't like being killed. And I would kill to not be killed. And I would really suck at it.
Some things in life cannot be edited out. But they can be changed. I think a moral, humane military is better than the alternative. And if you take the larger perspective, our military is by leaps and bounds more humane than in past and some current societies.
With work we can reduce violence. But ridding ourself of statehood and army won't do it any more than unlocking your door prevents burglary.
Well, I'm not an anarchist, so I believe that the government should provide for the common defense. Establishing and maintaining an overseas empire, not so much.
That's pretty much how I feel.
I don't think the point of this video is to deny that violence exists or that there is no "need" for it. To me these videos are attempting to reduce the infatuation with the military that our society has. No one is trying to, as you say, "edit" life. These videos are a brilliant example of how to mitigate U.S. exceptionalism.
I do want to comment on a topic that you brought up that has nothing to do with the intent of the video, and that is the question of statehood. You don't have to pretend violence doesn't exist in order to question the morality of tacit consent that our government claims over us due to the Constitution and Democratic elements of our society. Also, you don't have to be an advocate of pure violentless society. One must only believe that a monopoly of force, or a monopolization of the defense industry in a given geographical area, is wrong. One must only believe that capitalism can produce defense in a way that socialized defense cannot compete with except through the mass delusion of social contract theory that we now all huddle under to cover our inconsistent beliefs.
Capitalism is a better solution that socialism because of the cosmopolitan nature of it, the spontaneous complexity of it, and the utter order that can only be had when information can be freely disseminated in society (information in this case being the cost of market defense that is being stifled by a socialized monopoly).
"I don't think the point of this video is to deny that violence exists or that there is no 'need' for it."
Other than being a tad overdramatic, I don't really have a problem with the video. Kids are heaped with military propaganda and should have some clue as to what actually goes on. I was responding more to the post itself that suggested our nasty military, and maybe any state military, was yet another example of evil government.
"One must only believe that capitalism can produce defense in a way that socialized defense cannot compete with except through the mass delusion of social contract theory that we now all huddle under to cover our inconsistent beliefs."
I can understand being afraid of government's monopoly of force. But I don't understand why you wouldn't be equally or more afraid of competing private forces under no control beyond customer satisfaction. I can imagine all kinds of scary scenarios. The obvious possibilities are protection rackets and inter-militia fighting.
But my fear may just be ignorance, so if you have any good links on this line of thought, I'd be willing to take a look.
In relation to the video, I don't see why private forces would be any more humane than state forces. Same job, same training, less control.
"Capitalism is a better solution that socialism because of the cosmopolitan nature of it, the spontaneous complexity of it, and the utter order that can only be had when information can be freely disseminated in society (information in this case being the cost of market defense that is being stifled by a socialized monopoly)."
I agree with much of that. But in the case of producing the product of force, I think the dangers outweigh the dollars saved.
I also think there are limits to the value of spontaneous market solutions. Fragmented approaches work well for a fragmented population seeking to fulfill its own needs. But that's not the scenario in war where tightly organized and planned efforts are always going to be more effective. Even guerilla warfare works better with unified goals and strategy.
I can't help but see some similarities here to open source vs closed source software from a user's perspective. Open source is energetic, organic, and full of choices. But it tends to be weak in areas of critical or timely functionality. When the entire product is contingent on voluntary production of its pieces, you might not actually get the whole enchilada when you need it. Closed source solutions tend to shoot for the whole enchilada as a product.
Murray Rothbard explained in "For a New Liberty" that we would have to use thought experiments to postulate what a free market defense system would look like. However, there have been historical case studies as well as intense thought experiments ranging from those by Roberty Murphy in "Chaos Theory" to David Friedman (Milton Friedman's son) in an excerpt from his book that was put into "Anarchy and the Law" edited by Edward Stringham.
You can find a lot of these writings at www.mises.org
http://mises.org/media/4418
Search the site, it has some really good stuff.
Thanks. I'll check 'em out.
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using these types of moral arguments against war does no good. thinking that there is some kind of moral basis for being antiwar makes no sense because 1) morality is not a concern of politics, so it doesn't matter 2) if we were concerned about a moral gov't we'd be conservatives (vomit, gag, etc.)
You can describe politics as amoral but you cannot prescribe politics as needing to be immoral.
This is a little bit harsh... as well as melodramatic. You're stretching resources to try to prove a point that doesn't exist. Violence is not seen as a first choice for any nation.
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The first reason and the only one who managed to undo my intention to be a soldier. There's no way a soldier can create peace. Because, they simply obey the orders right. laptop cases
Let's say there was never any army in the world. I'll probably believe, that there is no such thing as war. If there is no war then the most powerful weapon is a sword.
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Basic training is the process by which "our" rotten Uncle Sam prepares teenage boys to kill strangers without hesitation or compunction.
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