[lbo-talk] Hersh on Bush & Iran

[Josh Narins]

> > The source of meaningless babbling here seems to be your own 
> > keyboard.  Your "Lord of the Flies" defense -- i.e., that 
> > "there is a sadistic asshole in virtually everyone of us" -- 
> 
> Where did you get the idea that what I posted was a "defense" of any kind?
> I simply stated that there is enough debased, sadistic people in the world,
> that the elimination of the military would merely eliminate only one venue
> for the actualization of this vast debased sadistic potential.  One can as
> well argue that keeping these debased sadists in the barracks poses less
> threat to civility than keeping them at large.
> 
> As to the US military -it indeed is the force of the evil empire and all
> that, no question about that.  I also understand that the US military often
> suffers from the "cowboy/badass attitude" - as for example described by
> Parenti in his The Nation piece on Iraq and Afghanistan, much more so than
> the EU or Canadian troops - but let's not lose the sense of proportion here.
> If you think the US military is particularly debased and sadistic, I suggest
> you try other countries - Russia, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, China, Rwanda,
> Liberia, Zimbabwe and so on.  
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3756866.stm
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4674366.stm
> By these standards, the US military is a paragon of professionalism.    So
> focusing on the US military without denouncing military forces of other
> countries is pointless and disingenuous.   It is, as you say, a debased
> institution almost by definition, but also one that is unlikely to disappear
> any time soon, or for that matter, when the Revolution finally comes.  So
> let's keep things in a perspective.
> 
> To reiterate - I am not trying to "defend" the military - either US or in
> general.  I am merely trying to be less moralistic and more realistic.

Please read Stan Goff's "Hideous Dream"

On the one hand, it will confirm some of your worst opinions.

And it will also, hopefully, also open your eyes to some alternatives.

Force is required to defend yourself from force.

Also remember that most of the kids who joined the Marines with me were
17-19 years old, and some had (for instance) never met a Jew before.

A third were avoiding trouble at home, inevitable gang-ness.

Some of them? I'd have definitely wanted on my side if someone started a
fight.