4 ms·
Of course it's more nuanced than that, but imagine you are a Marine on the beach. Do you care about the nuance, or do you care about seeing the ships leave with
by csours 7y ago
Of course it's more nuanced than that, but imagine you are a Marine on the beach. Do you care about the nuance, or do you care about seeing the ships leave with your supplies.
When I read history, I try to imagine it with at least 3 points of view - the individual soldier, the commander, and the whole conflict.
It is possible to take someone's lived experience seriously while still realizing that they don't have all the answers and they have biases.
We are largely the stories we tell ourselves. One of the stories that Marines tell is that they hold fast where others retreat. Semper Fidelis. I can hold a nuanced view and still understand their viewpoint.
(I am not a Marine, but I did just read Lewis (Chesty) B Puller's biography)
- arkades 7y agoThe marine on the beach isn’t the one designing our armed forces. So I don’t particularly see why an un-nuanced perception on the part of ground troops is particularly relevant to the question of “why are our armed services designed in this manner?”
- akiselev 7y agoThose Marines on the beach didn't just all die there. Many survived and worked up the Marine Corps ranks to become generals, left to join defense contractors, and became politicians, all of whom had influence over how the armed forces are structured. Assuming past experiences effect a person's point of view and future actions, and that society's institutions aren't created, nor operate, in a vacuum: how is their experience irrelevant?
- danso 7y agoThe Marine air unit existed decades before the establishment of the Air Force, as did the Army's. There's obviously overlap, but they all have different focuses and specialties too.
- goatinaboat 7y agoI don’t particularly see why an un-nuanced perception on the part of ground troops is particularly relevant This is peak HN right here. Obvious the highly nuanced perceptions of startup techbros is the only thing that’s “relevant”.
- jimktrains2 7y ago> It is possible to take someone's lived experience seriously while still realizing that they don't have all the answers and they have biases. That's excellent advice for almost any encounter in day to day life, including tech support. Something that the people I work with love is that if they say there is a problem, I believe there is a problem. It might not be specifically what they said, or what they said might be impossible, but if you can picture their point of view, their knowledge, and try to imagine a situation that would look like what they described you can often dive directly to the problem.