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> There is nothing noble about warfare Sure there is. There's gallantry and bravery and … nobility. There's also ugliness and cruelty and murder. Clauswitz
by zeveb 10y ago
> There is nothing noble about warfare
Sure there is. There's gallantry and bravery and … nobility. There's also ugliness and cruelty and murder. Clauswitz commented famously that war is diplomacy carried out by other means; more accurately, war is humanity carried out by other means. It's inhumane but carried out by men; it's uncivilised but carried out with the fruits of industrial civilisation.
In short, it's paradoxical.
I know that the author is right: there are people who are suited for war. They're not psychopaths — it's not that they don't have empathy for others (they do), but I wonder if they have reduced empathy for themselves.
- RUG3Y 10y agoI disagree that bravery and gallantry are qualities of war - they're human qualities that war sometimes reveals. A man's bravery doesn't lend nobility to war, in my opinion. I generally see war as exploitative. I can see where Clauswitz is coming from but those are intellectual arguments to me, they don't carry a whole lot of weight when bullets are flying and your buddies are getting hurt. Of course, I'm just sharing my opinion. I don't have any data to support how I feel about this.
- Retra 10y agoI don't understand why you'd say war is itself exploitative in lieu of those who are participating in it in exploitative ways. I would agree that war is an opportunity for exploitation to occur. But then maybe I don't understand what war is in a way that is different from a bunch of people who are willing to go to battle (for their own various reasons.)
- Pamar 10y agoI suggest watching "The Hurt Locker" for a very interesting portrait of what you describe ("reduced empathy for self").