Time Capsule: Human Shields (Part 2.5)
Nov. 15th, 2011 11:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowlightOk, kids, consider the following scene (which really happened, except that I was at the other end of the room watching, which only muddles the issue, so forget it): A blonde woman is sitting alone in an empty employee breakroom, reading a newspaper. Her boss walks in, and jovially says, "Spending time with all your friends?" The blonde takes his jibe as merely a greeting, and begins talking to him about an article in the paper, ...about a 'nice guy' that everyone thought was friendly and charming, until they discovered he'd been hiding the corpse of his dead girlfriend in a freezer in a rental storage unit for 19 years. The blonde woman looks at her boss and says, "How could a person do something like that?" Her boss had no answer, but I do. Just as a man can be charming while he insults you, there is a difference between sociability and compassion; and old Fred the Neech had it backwards: compassion is not the morality of the herd. The morality of the herd, sad to say, is that something is wrong _ if and only if _ it is disapproved of by those around you... and if, ever so carefully you avoid getting caught, then there's nothing to disapprove of. Maybe, deep inside, the tension builds, but the fear of being caught is too great to confess. So you find some other way to justify your crimes (real or imagined, according to the rules of your herd; homosexual thoughts can haunt a lamb as harshly as murder) and let it scab over.
The ultimate virtue of the herd, after all, is to preserve the herd. Therefore we respect soldiers, because they leap into danger to ensure safety for the rest of us, a notion that both society and compassion can agree upon. I was told by an army chaplain last month that the typical soldier has a particular disposition: they seek to fill a heroic role (to be John Wayne, Captain America, Frank Castle), to be the brave, resourceful, stoic good guy fighting back the tide of evil. They tend to be perfectionists, demanding of themselves and others, not because they put a stick up your ass in boot camp, but because an eye for details and a suspicion about changes will keep you alive in a warzone. They tend towards black & white morality, which is why they’re willing to do a job like that. Again, if your team is wearing white and the other team is wearing black and the game you’re playing is kill or be killed, then black & white morality is going to keep you alive. (It gets messier, of course, when your team is wearing one color and the other team might or might not be anyone else in the whole country you’re in, even that little kid over there. and then they bring you home and take off your uniform and throw you a party where you have to convince your body not to fight your houseguests.) The chaplain gave this whole seminar. I’ve got pages of notes. For the first time, I felt like I really understood what soldiers are.
Of course, black & white morality is great for fighting wars (and starting them) but not so great at brokering peace or preventing wars in the first place. I’ve seen two photos so far, rebuttals to the ‘We Are the 99%’ photos, in which soldiers hold up letters declaring that they’re happy to work hard and don’t blame Wall Street for anything, and dismiss as lazy whiners those who do. As an idealist myself, that frustrates me. I know those soldiers don’t speak for all soldiers, although some people may see the uniform and assume that they do. I know that some soldiers are more Duke Nukem than Steve Rogers. I know that black & white morality and an action-oriented personality may cause them to speak first and consider the facts of the matter at some later date, such as December of 2075.
Nonetheless, I want to shout, “Don’t you understand? We’re on Your Side. You’re the ones who aren’t! You’re fighting us to sustain your own oppression!” ...but why should they listen to me? I’m not wearing a uniform. Changing society’s direction means leading the sheep astray, and their job is to protect the herd. Protect Society. even from the black sheep with their thinky ideas. even from time and change. even from the truth.
When the British Petroleum oil spill was spreading across the Gulf of Mexico last year*, there was a letter to the editor of the local newspaper. Its writer wished to remind all those calling for harsh sanctions and steep fines against bp to remember that who they would really be hurting would be the many elderly citizens of the United Kingdom who rely upon pensions from bp. Right-wing politicians sometimes point out, ‘corporations are made of people’. People don’t want to lose their job... and somehow, when the company budget gets tight, it’s usually the promises they made to their employees and retirees than get broken, the jobs of the little guys that get cut. Hurt us and we’ll have to downsize. The 1% know all about shifting the damage somewhere else, the blame somewhere else, the hidden costs and unfortunate side-effects somewhere else. Hurt us and we won’t really be hurt at all. We have people to hurt for us.
So, black & white morality might tell us that it’s 99 of us for every 1 of them, but we know it’s far messier than that. They have people to fight us on their behalf. Either because they believe the propoganda, or because they want to, or just because they want to keep their jobs. We’ve created a system where everyone needs money. Then they created a system so they have all the money.
The ultimate virtue of the herd, after all, is to preserve the herd. Therefore we respect soldiers, because they leap into danger to ensure safety for the rest of us, a notion that both society and compassion can agree upon. I was told by an army chaplain last month that the typical soldier has a particular disposition: they seek to fill a heroic role (to be John Wayne, Captain America, Frank Castle), to be the brave, resourceful, stoic good guy fighting back the tide of evil. They tend to be perfectionists, demanding of themselves and others, not because they put a stick up your ass in boot camp, but because an eye for details and a suspicion about changes will keep you alive in a warzone. They tend towards black & white morality, which is why they’re willing to do a job like that. Again, if your team is wearing white and the other team is wearing black and the game you’re playing is kill or be killed, then black & white morality is going to keep you alive. (It gets messier, of course, when your team is wearing one color and the other team might or might not be anyone else in the whole country you’re in, even that little kid over there. and then they bring you home and take off your uniform and throw you a party where you have to convince your body not to fight your houseguests.) The chaplain gave this whole seminar. I’ve got pages of notes. For the first time, I felt like I really understood what soldiers are.
Of course, black & white morality is great for fighting wars (and starting them) but not so great at brokering peace or preventing wars in the first place. I’ve seen two photos so far, rebuttals to the ‘We Are the 99%’ photos, in which soldiers hold up letters declaring that they’re happy to work hard and don’t blame Wall Street for anything, and dismiss as lazy whiners those who do. As an idealist myself, that frustrates me. I know those soldiers don’t speak for all soldiers, although some people may see the uniform and assume that they do. I know that some soldiers are more Duke Nukem than Steve Rogers. I know that black & white morality and an action-oriented personality may cause them to speak first and consider the facts of the matter at some later date, such as December of 2075.
Nonetheless, I want to shout, “Don’t you understand? We’re on Your Side. You’re the ones who aren’t! You’re fighting us to sustain your own oppression!” ...but why should they listen to me? I’m not wearing a uniform. Changing society’s direction means leading the sheep astray, and their job is to protect the herd. Protect Society. even from the black sheep with their thinky ideas. even from time and change. even from the truth.
When the British Petroleum oil spill was spreading across the Gulf of Mexico last year*, there was a letter to the editor of the local newspaper. Its writer wished to remind all those calling for harsh sanctions and steep fines against bp to remember that who they would really be hurting would be the many elderly citizens of the United Kingdom who rely upon pensions from bp. Right-wing politicians sometimes point out, ‘corporations are made of people’. People don’t want to lose their job... and somehow, when the company budget gets tight, it’s usually the promises they made to their employees and retirees than get broken, the jobs of the little guys that get cut. Hurt us and we’ll have to downsize. The 1% know all about shifting the damage somewhere else, the blame somewhere else, the hidden costs and unfortunate side-effects somewhere else. Hurt us and we won’t really be hurt at all. We have people to hurt for us.
So, black & white morality might tell us that it’s 99 of us for every 1 of them, but we know it’s far messier than that. They have people to fight us on their behalf. Either because they believe the propoganda, or because they want to, or just because they want to keep their jobs. We’ve created a system where everyone needs money. Then they created a system so they have all the money.