Townsend does a lovely job starting the ball rolling by noting the
French commitment to the notion of 'total warfare' with it's "levee en
masse" and the great vitriolic rheotric about the need not merely to
take this or that province and/or fortress in the same old way as had
always been done. Best summed up by One Imperial Majesty as, "That
blunder will cost me a province." But rather the full tilt boogie
approach of Rampaging THROUGH the enemy with complete and total
destruction of all who oppose the revolution. Charming position that
would come back to haunt the French as the Prussians Abandoned their
traditional class based model of the military and actually allowed
mere competence at Slaughtering to become a viable criterion for
Military Service. {granted this is from other readings on the period,
and not specifically in townsend's piece... }
{ for those who may have missed that lovely epic film, 'the charge of
the light brigade' - quite the bon mote of the sixites, we have the
distinguished British Leader noting that it really is not a good sign
when people become too good at killing.... Not that this was in any
way to be misconstrued, as it was in the sixites, as some sort of
almost like an anti-war sentiment on the part of Red Kommunist
Dominated Hollywood, or any of that... merely making sure that we
expand this piece to the obligatory Artistic Sixties Allusion. }
Granted, the consequence of this new 'total warfare' model of DoingWar
would make for a limitation of the types and numbers of both major and
minor wars throughout the 19th century, and with the rise of the
Nuclear Option, would do almost the same for the 20th Century. Were it
not for the minor caveot that the 20th century would have to face the
small social unpleasantry of having exported it's "French Revolution"
model of WhyWarfare to other nations, some of which had not yet
established themselves as RealNations in the good old European Way, by
having achieved their National Identity by way of Armed Struggle.
So far, all fine and dandy, eh what?
Were it not for the small technical backlash in all of this, namely
that if a Nation State is to be defined by it's ability to Mobilize
for TheBigOne and embark, full tilt boogie, into the Clash of Arms to
define its self in the Struggle of Will To Meaning! Doesn't this leave
that ugly palour over the USA and its unpleasant detachment from the
whole process???? The various ProWarWheenies who still know how to
WIN the war in vietnam appear to have, in many regards, jumped in bed
with the GreatKabalOfWhoReallyWonTheWarInVietnamTypes who know that
their standing in the crowd CONUS was what stopped the war in Asia by
their Great Act of Will! I put it this way, somewhat unpleasantly,
given that I am rather concerned if there has Not been a new paradigm
shift in the notion of "Modern Warfare" and its relationship to
National Self Identity! And I put forward that thesis with some sense
of due trepidation, since it really would be rather Dangerous to note
that the bulk of the current Warfare Event Sequences are being waged
upon the now 'antiquated and repudiated' models of
EuroKentrikKulturalMyopia that the Nation State is to be defined by
the Armed Struggle as the Birthing Of A Nation by Sheer Will! To take
such a position once again puts the EvilFirstWorldWankers in the
Unpleasant Position of Defining the nature and roles of social
convention to be imposed upon the rest of the world, just as their
EvilVictorianImperialistForeBearers had embarked upon Kultural
Imperialism, rather than this more inspid
NeoPostKolonialistKulturalImperialism!
Or should we evaluate the Failure of Will embodied in the AntiWar
Movement, as is the popular pattering of the NewNeoCons, who sat on
their faces while Fools Rushed in to Serve On the BullwarkOfFreedom,
that this clearly forebodes the Decline and Fall of the West into the
Morrasses of Moral Turpitude, as the unwashed masses from the Former
Colonies rush over the ramparts and plunder Imperial Amerikkka????
Oh dear, oh dear???
What Ever is a JackBootedRightWingDeathSquadingAllAmericanWarMongerBabyKiller
suppose to do with such a Grand Moral Dilema????
And folks speculate about the relationship of the ending of the Draft
and the waning fate of the Anti-War Movement during the sixties, as we
look at the fact that American Troops may still be in Haiti after the
UN Force Pulls Out.... just as they are still in Bosnia, and may be
there after the UN pulls out. And the bombings continue in Isreal and
Irealand, and ... Yet we do not have the Great Moritorium Gathering to
Levitate the Pentagon to bring our Boys Home from the Far Flung
corners of American Kultural Imperialism! Especially given that we are
not threatening this year's crop of Potential Rhode's Scholars with
actually having to Hump The Line to defend the Ideological Will To
Being!
And then again, that ClassConsciousNess which notes that the kids who
can get the Grant Money to get to college are not the one's betting
double or nothing on the Post G.I.Bill Generation's Offering of a
college fund fill up.
Hum.... I really wonder how far the paradigms have shifted, if they
really have shifted at all.
ciao
drieux
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E-mail: drieux@wetware.com
WebPage: http://www.wetware.com/drieux
Date: 09/12/97
Time: 22:38:45
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