4 ms·

“If I had more money,” Wilson said, “I would put it into lethality, not bureaucracy.” What a terrifying quotation

by jonahrd 9y ago

godzillabrennus 9y ago
What a terrifying job.
- andrewflnr 9y ago
  Specifically, his job is to be terrifying. His job is to be lethal, so this quote translates to "I want to do well at my job". You can argue that it's a job that shouldn't exist but, while this may not be what GP intended, it's unreasonable to ask that he do it badly (unless he's sabotaging it, which he still wouldn't state publicly).
  - thinkfurther 9y ago
    Very generally speaking, no matter how I slice it, at best military defends against military. I know you can't just dismantle unilaterally overnight, but the question whether it fulfills a useful function in the big scheme of things, much less one that would excuse the atrocities, is an open one to me, to say the least. I tend to think "no". Though it's absolutely not on to just blame the military for the military, civilian society elects the politicians that send soldiers into wars, civilian society ignores issues like this and elects the politicians that allow them to fester. If this actual person didn't do their job because they considered it immoral, everything else being the same, someone else would be found for the job. If "everything else" changed, and the person would be the same (assuming for the thought experiment he's a horrible monster), they would still not get to do the job of lord space death or whatever. So indeed the finger pointing at soldiers or generals is way too easy, and not productive. As skeptical and critical I may be of them, it's between themselves and their friends if they meet their responsibilities as human beings, just like it's for all of us. That person is much less interesting than the wider questions, and it's positively diabolical to spend more energy on demonizing people working within our (incentive) structures, than examining our potential propping up of those structures. Not that anyone is doing that, just generally speaking. All that said, bleh to the militarization of space, there is no excuse for allowing it. Occupy Cape Canaveral!
  - phyller 9y ago
    I'm sure you have no ill intent, but Heather Wilson, the Secretary of the Air Force who made that statement, is female. It's interesting that it is so natural to assume that someone whose job it is to be "lethal" would be a male, but in this day and age, especially in the air force, that's not the case. Not really relevant, but I have some connections to the Air Force and people seem generally happy that she is the Secretary of the Air Force (the civilian leadership of the Air Force) because she was an Air Force officer, academy grad, seems smart, and she has political experience.
    - andrewflnr 9y ago
      Oh, woops. I sort of skimmed past the first names, but I should have known to check. It's interesting that you say "especially in the air force", because I had sort of gotten that impression, but wasn't sure if it was real.

“If I had more money,” Wilson said, “I would put it into lethality, not bureaucracy.” What a terrifying quotation

godzillabrennus 9y ago

What a terrifying job.

andrewflnr 9y ago
Specifically, his job is to be terrifying. His job is to be lethal, so this quote translates to "I want to do well at my job". You can argue that it's a job that shouldn't exist but, while this may not be what GP intended, it's unreasonable to ask that he do it badly (unless he's sabotaging it, which he still wouldn't state publicly).
- thinkfurther 9y ago
  Very generally speaking, no matter how I slice it, at best military defends against military. I know you can't just dismantle unilaterally overnight, but the question whether it fulfills a useful function in the big scheme of things, much less one that would excuse the atrocities, is an open one to me, to say the least. I tend to think "no". Though it's absolutely not on to just blame the military for the military, civilian society elects the politicians that send soldiers into wars, civilian society ignores issues like this and elects the politicians that allow them to fester. If this actual person didn't do their job because they considered it immoral, everything else being the same, someone else would be found for the job. If "everything else" changed, and the person would be the same (assuming for the thought experiment he's a horrible monster), they would still not get to do the job of lord space death or whatever. So indeed the finger pointing at soldiers or generals is way too easy, and not productive. As skeptical and critical I may be of them, it's between themselves and their friends if they meet their responsibilities as human beings, just like it's for all of us. That person is much less interesting than the wider questions, and it's positively diabolical to spend more energy on demonizing people working within our (incentive) structures, than examining our potential propping up of those structures. Not that anyone is doing that, just generally speaking. All that said, bleh to the militarization of space, there is no excuse for allowing it. Occupy Cape Canaveral!
- phyller 9y ago
  I'm sure you have no ill intent, but Heather Wilson, the Secretary of the Air Force who made that statement, is female. It's interesting that it is so natural to assume that someone whose job it is to be "lethal" would be a male, but in this day and age, especially in the air force, that's not the case. Not really relevant, but I have some connections to the Air Force and people seem generally happy that she is the Secretary of the Air Force (the civilian leadership of the Air Force) because she was an Air Force officer, academy grad, seems smart, and she has political experience.
  - andrewflnr 9y ago
    Oh, woops. I sort of skimmed past the first names, but I should have known to check. It's interesting that you say "especially in the air force", because I had sort of gotten that impression, but wasn't sure if it was real.