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Rebooted Time, part 3: The Military Dimension

Started by Doktor Howl, October 10, 2011, 05:04:33 PM

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Doktor Howl

It is fairly useless to discuss the 21st century without discussing the military aspect.  Now, as to what antics the military is actually up to, I will leave to more qualified people (Cain is your go-to guy, here.).  Right now, I want to talk about the 4 basic messages the military sends or receives.

First, the message to recruits:  Having a son who just went through the recruitment process, I got a pretty good look at the way they advertise the military.  When I enlisted a quarter of a century ago, they were advertising that you'd learn a trade.  Now they push "Are YOU tough enough?"  This, of course, is part of the indoctrination that soldiers need to do the job they are actually required to do (see message to the military and message to the people, below).

In WWII, only 20% of riflemen fired their weapons, even while under direct fire.  In Korea, that number went up to 85%, and by Vietnam it had reached 95%.  That's a 75% increase in 20 years.  This is why the message is "Are YOU tough enough?"  They aren't looking for people who are looking for a trade, they're looking for people who will shoot when they are told to shoot (which, of course, isn't exactly contrary to the goals of any military), and shoot without worrying about the why.

Second, the message to the people:  "These soldiers are fighting for YOUR freedom."  Americans have been conditioned to view huge defense budgets as necessary (we spend 5 times more money on our military than China does, and ten times more than France, the next runner up), or we'll all be under communism/Sharia law by next Tuesday.  Obviously, this is crap...The American military hasn't fought for the rights of its citizens since 1814.  Every war since has been about hegemony, economics (almost the same thing), or to safeguard allied nations (Korea, WWII), mostly to preserve hegemony.

Third, the message to the military establishment itself:  "You will fight wars as directed by the president".  At almost no time in the last 100 years has the military fought on a declaration of war from congress (WWI and WWII only, out of 11 wars and numerous "interventions").  The military, or at least anyone having served more than one term, understands their job precisely:  To advance American interests by force of arms when diplomats and business leaders cannot do it (or, in the case of Iraq, before it's even tried).

Last, the message to other nations:  "So long as we have hegemony, international law is what we say it is, and is enforced or not enforced based on our interests."  Make no mistake, the United States is largely viewed as the biggest armed robber in history, by any nation that has staggered into our crosshairs over the last 200 years.  Central and South America hate us, and with very good reason...We used the US Marines to force trade "agreements" down their throats for a solid century.  Now, of course, it's the Middle East's turn in the barrel.

Needless to say, these conflicting messages have a deep impact on the way we see the world, and the way the world sees us.  Americans who believe that the military is there to defend our freedom instinctively rage out on any nation that criticizes our military policy, or even disagrees with it ("Freedom Fries", anyone?).  People from other nations view us as nationalistic yahoos (and they're correct in this), and their leaders view us as barbarians at the gates.

Obviously, this is all both intentional, and deliberate, on the part of the actual policy-makers in the United States (and some of her "allies", such as Saudi Arabia, Israel, and a few other nations with seemingly diametrically opposed objectives).

And I have to ask you this...If we are getting support for our policies from both Saudi Arabia and Israel, at the same time, then what are the chances that our military is being used in a manner which is first and foremost in our own interests?  Yeah, those chances are somewhere between Jack and Shit, and Jack left town.

Combine that with the fact that all the news you hear comes from a grand total of 6 news organizations, all of whom are in bed with the government and its corporate backers, and you can see why there's no real solution available to the common man via recourse to the law.

This is "your" America, folks. 

Stick 'em up.

Okay for now,
Dok
Molon Lube

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."




hirley0

#4
pink Sat EoP Tomorrow ? a new start |   :fnord:Np
orange FridayTravel With Kids Peru - The Inca World - Machu Picchu & Cuzco {NooN posit
:fnord:U13 3:24D4
NooN Posit 10/13 2 session(s) are active 11:00  :fnord:topic=30262  :fnord:topic=30415
BROWN Wednesday 12th {the eLevator TaiLs? ^
teal Tuesday  11th
RiF 1/2 INCREASING.
Quote from: hirley0 on October 10, 2011, 05:21:40 PM
RoF 1/3MIN
Quote from: hirley0 on October 10, 2011, 05:17:26 PM
Quote from: Nigel on October 10, 2011, 05:06:49 PM
Oh shit yes.  :x (  :aaa: )
:mittens:

LMNO

Dok, dragging the truth into the light, whether you want him to or not.

Doktor Howl

Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 10, 2011, 05:28:24 PM
Dok, dragging the truth into the light, whether you want him to or not.

It is not the business of a Doktor to tell you pleasing lies.

The next one is just going to be a list.

A list of the 6 media corporations, and the broadcasting companies they own.  You're going to like it.
Molon Lube

Luna


Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 10, 2011, 05:31:52 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 10, 2011, 05:28:24 PM
Dok, dragging the truth into the light, whether you want him to or not.

It is not the business of a Doktor to tell you pleasing lies.


This.  Very this.

I...  No, fuck it.  This needs its own thread, not to spag up yours.

Awesome OP, Dok.  I gotta write this, now.
Death-dealing hormone freak of deliciousness
Pagan-Stomping Valkyrie of the Interbutts™
Rampaging Slayer of Shit-Fountain Habitues

"My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake, and they live in a state of constant, total amazement."

Quote from: The Payne on November 16, 2011, 07:08:55 PM
If Luna was a furry, she'd sex humans and scream "BEASTIALITY!" at the top of her lungs at inopportune times.

Quote from: Nigel on March 24, 2011, 01:54:48 AM
I like the Luna one. She is a good one.

Quote
"Stop talking to yourself.  You don't like you any better than anyone else who knows you."

hirley0

#8
S16 12:4309:00 B  On ha+BARf Ms SUN.watt's v J =enforced stupiditY
M17 11:08 UNable {yesterday) to connect at NoOn for (NoVA) posit oday 06:22CH10 BAC
UNable today by phone to connect to amy\opto\va
+ wifi disconnect here ATTempting to post this noon posit (unABLE):

T18 :fnord:Gravity Games / :fnord: R ?managePhoto
W19 MLcode18 did reach 53494 via 0820 so Later4m
U20 :fnord:Salad & Soup2
F21 McLiB video&ML dsp :fnord:
s22 Me v phD :fnord:
S23 BROADview :fnord:
M24 :fnord:Math? { the proper sequence is URL ( :fnord: ) &then color
T25 :fnord:Clear New News ban

hirley0

#9
S11/6 ? My9 {Jade-
so it goes? & it came to pass: that the Mayan (13) way is here to stay
at least for November 2011. by being prepaired off line & days ahead?
(currently U11/3 / S11/6){3d) it gives time to  look4 errors & make
corrections. Also reduces on line connection time reducing line hacks?
the Situation now arrises however about sequencing? should there be
sequencing? OR will random distribution become reality {possibly)::
My current point being? WHERE eXactly do i post this?/?/?/?/? etc
Mus comes to mind 1st however some though needs to be put in place
the can dates R v prior 1/T1(9) W2(4) U3(7) | F4( s5( S6(
1 4c4 2 SS 3 Mat 4 Mus 5 CMe 6 FF 7 CN 8 n'POS 9 ME V PHD
1Lime 2Mar 3Navy 4Teal 5Brow 6Bei 7Blu 8Purple 9Orange
AGreen BPink CYellow DRed
-
REMinder 4 additional topic threads (PROBABLY} will be added to
make 13 subjects eventually? OK 8 'Pos seams probable
8 (Purple) get it? U11/3(Navy) /+3/ = S11/6(Purple)
= =
thus the above revieled an error in the color line SO corrections
are due  to prior entries: to bring the Nov entries in color sync



?/? Yesterday11/30 at 04:53:45 AM

hirley0

9 IK "M1 " (wind\day) 11/19
11/18 as these events Near it comes to mind here?/? to REMark about
EVENTS that lead up to this NEARness. To be true it no doubt began
prior to OUR Arival at the atoll. i'LL gloss over that an begin from
Hardtack. the name of the TEST. being there at T0 gave me a T0 HARD-
tack entry into the Neuclear events log, whether i like it or not.
the event itself (10^18th Power} thats what i call it, Was not Earth
shattering on the Scale of the 9. TZnomi | I'll Look up a figure |
fig1 energy (M e) of 1. 9 ± 0.5×10 17 joules
Mostly my eXperiance'S are those that followed Having been there .
For reasons (i dont actuaLLy comprehened} there are Nations WHITCH
Like to clain Neuclear bragging Rights. ("That they have) & several
of those HAVE eXpended energy & Resources ( directed against Me } ?
None of them to inprove my coondition! Always to improve there rights
to record themselves as having {etc etc} Hardtack took place April 58
the NEXT move o the God (gods) (godess} (godesses}?/? of war took
place about 10-11 years later in 1969 at Portland State University.
i refer to those events as the Kent State ERA. As the Main event (deaths)
took place there. & the move against me at the time Here(pdx) was not
A success { my assanation failed)(although by the narrowest of margins}
The May 18th 80's event i refer to as Icon/Eron was Mag 5 ritcher &
natural whilst the 69 event was chemical WAR (LSD) Next was the 90's
events (Bush Push} i call it | & the LaTest BioLogical (Long Term} TBC   
11/17 14:07  it seams rather clear Y end of time approaCHeth?
21:21 O.p=50
11/14 3:44P bbc news Occupi(Oakland\Ca) RU.maned & Morris Mus
11/14 revised 13r2 to correct color / MyA day #
: Rebooted Time, part 3: The Military Dimension

16:43 2011 11/11 16:43 2011 11/11 pdx Mayor/National
http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=30579.msg1117934#msg1117934

Pæs


Cain

To back up the incoherent nature of the military and the grander purposes it serves, just look at the five most recent Middle Eastern conflicts where intervention has happened or been called for:

Afghanistan: it is OK to fight a war to crush an insurgency
Iraq: it is OK to fight a war to preserve the power of a majority
Libya: it is not OK to fight a war to crush an insurgency
Bahrain: it is OK to fight a war to preserve the power of a minority
Syria: it is not OK to fight a war to crush and insurgency and preserve a minority, but we won't do anything to stop it

Emanuel Todd (whose "After the Empire" should be required reading) was right.  The US rarely meddles for some grand purpose, benevolent or otherwise.  It does so because it's an act of national self-affirmation, it proves "how tough" America is.  The irony of this is, of course, it picks the Middle East, the only place in the world without a regional hegemon who could truly bloody it's nose, to act out in this manner, and even there the results are...inconclusive.  Jonah Goldberg summed up the entire state of mind accurately, when he expressed his desire for the USA "to pick up some small country and slam it against a wall to show everyone we mean business".

The money just adds to the problem, but there would be one even without it.  Nations have often forged identities through war...Sweden purposefully entered the Thirty Years War in order to cement an identity of being the "protector of Protestantism", for example.  Unfortunately, the national discourse in the USA is not as...elevated as sixteenth century Europe, where the religious conflicts centered, ultimately, on the nature and scope of civil authority and territorial sovereignty, but instead a paranoid acting out in response to a world which, ultimately, does not require America as a leader.  The need to manufacture enemies, the fear of decline, the desire to strike out and to involve oneself in every minor conflict eventually comes back to the deep uncertainty that the US has about itself in times of peace, and the growing suspicion that, without conflict, it is not actually needed.  Naturally, the liberal interventionists like Samantha Power and the neocons like Bill Kristol wrap this up in a whole bunch of fancy talk, but the message that resides behind all of their bloviating is the same: the US can, and should, solve this problem.

hirley0

#13
Quote from: Cain on November 19, 2011, 08:33:20 PM
To back up the in same: the US can, and should, solve this problem.







9 MEN "Military Dime" (wise one\day) 12/2
IT does seam rather clear to me, the Bio-Logical War fair
released by the US invasion of the middle East by G. W. was a
Miss Calculation. Who was she anyway? Rice? i donno. Listen
My guess, about what happend is about as Follows:
Once the command had entered the ?"AREA"? WHERE the Biological
agents were kept, the KEEPERs were instructed to turn over
those (i'LL call them BACKterIA} {even though i doubt thats
the correct word going forward) to the new owners, WHO seeing
the advantages in WAR fair of such devices simply ship the
groups (there were several spicies (not just 1} of carriers
{bugs) & pathogens{bacterium}? into the US where they fell
into the wrong hands & were deployed here ALREADY. there
eXists {at this time) no defence. thus My guess is the
bushes were wrong, not about what they were UP against,
But what would happen, once they had :?command?" (to Late)
enter Your Arms Are Getting (YAAG) YUCK YUCK YUCK (yyy) Y0



hirley0

#14
12/15? 7:44-tbd
yeah? {Puke}: .1 i try to cover the war4Pacific HERe ?{Maybe)
2: so? i watch BBC & NHK on TV 6:30 & 7 AM ch 10 OPB/pbs
3? today NHK {radio Japan Had a segment about volcanic pediction

----------------------------------------
0. WeLL? i2 try to predict this / see FuGi
& THus will attempt to update this entry with soME Links Later
8:18 AM pSt 12/15
http://www.theweatherspace.com/news/TWS-3_11_2011_threevolcano.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prediction_of_volcanic_activity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_volcanoes_in_Japan
http://japanvolcano.wordpress.com/