tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2156536327610779049.post5982614683384012957..comments2024-02-23T11:23:45.971-05:00Comments on Lost Motorcyclist: The Subliminal Message of "Rules of Engagement" (2000)Lost Motorcyclisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873504561959138792noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2156536327610779049.post-59932172168543130902011-02-21T11:36:18.123-05:002011-02-21T11:36:18.123-05:00Brainwashing is generally defined as, 'Systema...<i>Brainwashing</i> is generally defined as, '<i>Systematic manipulative methods used to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator.</i>'<br /><br />Among other objectives, military basic training operates to instill in the soldier an unquestioning and immediate obedience to orders. In fact, 'modern' military training continues to rely on <a href="http://www.marines.com/main/index/making_marines/recruit_training/training_matrix/close_order_drill" rel="nofollow">close order drill</a>, long after it has lost its original purpose of massed movements on open battlefields, as a mechanism for conditioning instant response to orders.<br /><br />And this is also why we see regimes instigating warfare in times of social unrest. Induction into the military, and the inevitable consequent 'brainwashing' serves to operate as a mechanism of control on society's young men. (The current size of the Chinese <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Liberation_Army" rel="nofollow">People's Liberation Army</a> is estimated at 2-3 millions.)Madeyehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02593933575568389288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2156536327610779049.post-31125104529299610422011-02-21T10:49:48.382-05:002011-02-21T10:49:48.382-05:00At the end of the basic training video in your lin...At the end of the basic training video in your link, somebody says "I guess we brainwash them a little bit." If that's so, this movie was written by someone who was brainwashed a little bit. Jim Webb, former assistant secretary of the Navy under Reagan, current US senator, (former if there is such a thing) US Marine. He wrote the story.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Webb" rel="nofollow"> Jim Webb </a>Lost Motorcyclisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08873504561959138792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2156536327610779049.post-621484094663174372011-02-21T09:38:56.088-05:002011-02-21T09:38:56.088-05:00You write, '... soldiers in combat develop vio...You write, '<i>... soldiers in combat develop violent tendencies</i>.'<br /><br />Not quite accurate. Combat is a violent thing, and most of us are 'programmed' from childhood against killing our fellow humans. The primary purpose of military 'basic training' is to break down those inhibitions, to enable soldiers to do just that: kill fellow humans.<br /><br />The second episode, '<i>Anybody's Son Will Do</i>,' of Gwynne Dyer's classic series, 'War,' explores the psychological aspects of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DShDaJXK5qo" rel="nofollow">basic training</a>.<br /><br />You also write, '<i>This type of all-out assault on the embassy of some other country does not usually happen.</i><br /><br />In fact, it is not all that uncommon. The 'extraterritoriality' of the American Embassy was certainly not respected by the 'Viet Cong' during the <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/viet-cong--attack-us-embassy" rel="nofollow">Tet Offensive</a>.<br /><br />You observe that, '<i>apparently, there is something called "Rules of Engagement"</i>.' There are <b>always</b> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_Engagement" rel="nofollow">rules of engagement</a>. (Even during the <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/torontog20summit/article/902236--toronto-journalist-witnessed-police-brutality-at-toronto-g20" rel="nofollow">2010 Toronto G20</a> summit, there were rules of engagement for the police.)<br /><br />However, once the dogs of war are unleashed, one might as well <i>cry havoc</i> (as we witnessed in Toronto in 2010).<br /><br />The reality is that there is <b>no</b> justice in warfare, and that truth is always <a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Ponsonby#Falsehood_in_Wartime_.281928.29" rel="nofollow">the first casualty</a> of war. <br /><br />Films such as <i>Rules of Engagement</i> amount to self-serving navel-gazing, and courts martial such as those of Lt. William Calley for his role in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre" rel="nofollow">My Lai Massacre</a> are merely sops tossed to the public - as subsequent disclosures from <i>any</i> period of combat invariably reveal.<br /><br />Being in combat does <b>not</b> make one a <i>'decent human being, with courage and morals</i>.' If one is very fortunate (or simply sociopathically insensitive) one may be able to survive the experience without lifelong <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001923" rel="nofollow">psychological damage</a>.Madeyehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02593933575568389288noreply@blogger.com