Hope on the Battlefield
I do not read much about military history because I usually find it boring, but Wayne found this article and it surprised me. I guess I do not know at all if what he is saying accurately represents the evidence, or if the studies he sites have any merit. However, he seems to consider a variety of arguments, so it appears plausable.
This stuck out to me as problematic:
“I have realized that there was one major factor missing from the common understanding of this process, a factor that answers this question and more: the simple and demonstrable fact that there is, within most men and women, an intense resistance to killing other people.”
“Indeed, the study of killing by military scientists, historians, and psychologists gives us good reason to feel optimistic about human nature, for it reveals that almost all of us are overwhelmingly reluctant to kill a member of our own species, under just about any circumstance.”
I could easily mistake these passages as stating that people have this same reluctance to violence at home, in regular society. Most murders, rapes and other violence are directed at people who know their attacker. On a battlefield you do not know the person you are harming, but if you know him, live with him, or have a grudge against him, you might feel compelled to hurt him. You may even feel justified.
There might be hope for less violence on a battlefield (although that seems to be self-defeating), but I do not think it applies at home, where we do not need to manufacture contempt against others.
on August 8th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
As I re-read the article, I think he is saying it is the case across the board–after all, most people at home probably are not rapists or murderers. I suspect that in the context of his argument, they’d be considered some sort of anomaly, similar to the soldiers that actually did shoot to kill without the psychological training.
I do kind of wonder how much these statistics are specific to a particular type of fighting, though. I know it’s probably not practical, but I’d be curious to see what sort of difference there might or might not be when it comes to hand-to-hand combat or the guy who pushes the little red button in some control center.
on August 8th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
My response will probably be too long for a comment, so it’s a separate post.