Tricks the army uses to make you fight
There should me more books about this, than about heroics.
Here’s a list of tricks armies use to make you willing to die for an idea (read other peoples interests) and even run towards a rain of bullets, because ‘it needs to be done’. Just watch some foreign (historic and patriotic) war movies about conflicts you don’t care about at all, and wonder why people would be willing to die for what you don’t believe in. Or watch a Total War video game clip and wonder how it’s suddenly okay to use soldiers as ‘meat shields’. Point is, common men rarely ever really benefitted of the outcome of wars. The Iraq war was won (kind of), but didn’t make any American safer, richer (well okay, the 1% gained massive profits, and tax payers are still paying them for it too), happier (more stress from soldiers bringing their PTSD home to friends and family). And that’s not even mentioning to around a million dead in Iraq and the mess the country became, spawning new conflicts in the wider region. And still no one said sorry. And the ‘victory’ in Afghanistan has more relations than you’d like to know with the Opioid addiction spree in the USA. Etc. Modern wars create a mess, nobody wins, but a very very few players. But hey, you’ve got to support your own military. Sadly supporting them means more like you gobble up the mental dog food the military complex, that benefits from conflicts across the globe, feeds you.
Since, as far as I know, there’s never an extensive study (the army studies this deeply, but for very different reasons) been made of this trickery. I hope to start helping to expose the scams and pressures used to make you willing to die for your army/country/ideal. I just wanted to give it a ‘shot’.
Beware, most of these are conscious propaganda tricks, others psychology aimed at soldiers and others the stupidity of some maniacal convictions. And behind it is mostly the interests of a tiny few, that are willing to let others die for their interests. Here goes..
US vs Them thinking
We’re the good guys, they’re bad, so are actions are natural and necessary. North Korea bad! That millions of their own people are suffering their own regime, should be forgotten by the time we attack, unless of course the story is, ‘we’ve come to liberate them’. That’s a good story too.
Sameness & Colors
“Look at that flag, ain’t you proud to be part of that ideal? And ain’t it easy to see, all those wearing this uniform are good and anyone wearing that other stuff must be wrong.” Flags, uniforms, symbols, race, religion, politic isms, nationality, language all can be use the decisive reference point to create a chasm between us and them. And feeling us, with our symbols feels soo good. And then, logically, everyone who speaks, looks different and is proud of it, must be on the guilty side and gets a metaphorical target printed on their chest.
Ideas & Beliefs
God, freedom, our dear nation, our people, our tribe, the free world. All things people seem willing to die for. The reality is we die for other peoples money, the interests of elites, the illusion that problems will be solved by winning, that violence does liberate and victory will bring peace. Africans say not for nothing: “They give us their bible and they take our resources.” Native Americans may have said the same. And only now it’s slightly different. Now we hear: “They bring us their democracy, and they take our resources.” I wonder how many would be willing to die for: “Let’s liberate ourselves from those oppressors, to switch them for these new oppressors.” “Let’s kill those terrorists, knowing that attacking them creates many more of them.” “Let’s attack them, because our army loves to test it’s new weaponry.” “Let’s invade for access to their oil reserves under false pretenses.” Etc.
Heroics & Glory
Oh, all those movies that the army heavily invests in, and steering the script a little bit. Oh, they make making the difference with the gun seem so worthwhile and possible. And you get to safe the country from.. whatever. And it feels so good, beautiful babes love you, normal people adore you and you make parents proud. Few movies show how you legs may go somewhere else than the rest of your body, or war crimes committed by.. possibly you too.
Our men are human.
Isn’t it adorable? Can you imagine something happening to those kids, or that father coming to harm. Those images help sell the war. These are normal people it says. Next to a photo of a bearded guy with a gun, it’s clear who is the barbarian, no? Or consider the gallery of portraits of young people who where killed in Manchester. Innocent victims. Sadly a portrait gallery of all the (many, many more) drone victims, especially children won’t be shown in the West. Just imagine all the same feelings between fathers, wives and children happening on the other side, and them having the same pain, when something happens to either of them. But then, ‘our’ side would rather have you not consider such nuances. ‘Our’ because these ‘our’ might not have the best intentions in mind for you and the common people.
Group Think
“Hey all others act this way too, so why criticize our ideas? See they all comply, so why all these questions? That’s not normal! Do like the rest.” You must be a coward, traitor, idiot to question our side of the war. “Can’t you see what a terrible threat they pose?” If already those voting for Bernie, against Hillary were seen as traitors, what mindset does that speak about? What real freedom of thought is possible? Or the terrible logic of ‘Better dead than red.’ makes red not an option.
Threat & Punishment
Only with hesitance do a small number of movies (like “Un long dimanche de fiançailles” or “Dear Elza”) show how soldiers are forced to fight. “Go forward, or we’ll kill you!” Fear among soldiers for their own side however is widespread and way too common. But no propaganda will tell you that. Executions, thread of execution, severe punishments for desertion, being called a coward for the rest of your life, many things can make you prefer the risk of death over the certainty of a broken life.
Obedience is honour! Murdering others is Glory!
Yes, that’s right. You better be very proud of serving your country and do as you’re told. Feeling like a slave for corporate interests so spoils the military honour experience. And killing a lot of enemy soldiers isn’t murder, it’s bravery and glory. Just keep that in mind, and you can be a hero.
False Flags
Our side always has to have a good reason to self defend, or preemptive strike. It’s because what ‘they’ did to us. Or at the least, what we make it seem like. From the Gulf of Tonkin incident to the ‘proof’ of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, we can always make it look like ‘they’ attacked first. Some claim even 9/11 was one. Who knows? I just know, one terrible attack, or worse just one witness like in the Kuwait invasion, should therefor never be reason enough, or trusted enough to attack.
Poverty
All the other excuses to join or fight for your side can help cover the most common real reason, especially with professional armies: the salary. It’s a job open to all backgrounds. Don’t look too closely how they treat veterans though, that might make you think twice. No, you better claim: “Ungrateful buggers, where’s their ‘honor’?”
Spoils of War
This fight will makes us, eh you richer. You’ll get a few of their women (if not during plunder than at the least as whores in a army brothel in occupied territory) and we, the elite, get access to their natural resources. That of course isn’t spoken about, nor in the news. But the year rapports of the big oil companies should betray how many oil fields in the Middle East they have contracts for, or even belong to them.
Comradery
“I am here for my friends, with whom I bonded deeply. If they’re in danger, or need to be revenged, I’ll be there for them. Can’t let them down can I?” Exactly what the generals want you to feel. As if stopping an unjust war isn’t also a valid way to save their lives, and perhaps the better one.
Isolation
When you have an army that can easily beat the enemy, you become the aggressor. Better lock your own soldiers up in isolated forts, that are attacked from the outside. Suddenly they’re the defenders being harassed by terrorists. And the situation conveniently creates a “It’s either us or them” situation, making soldiers much more inclined to fight and kill the enemy. Generals love putting soldiers, especially newbies in such tense situations. After losing some comrades in arms killing the enemy makes total sense and becomes the ‘right’ thing to do.
Fear
“They come to rape our wives and daughters. They come to change everything we stand for. They will kill us all, if we don’t fight back.” Lack of knowledge about the real behavior of the other side has led to an immense amount of terrible crimes. Often these crimes in themselves invoking the behavior that you tried to fight. I don’t condone the raping of all those German women in Berlin in 1945, but the anger among the Russians, and their suffering had been immense. Also the current war of terrorism has increased(!!) acts of terrorism with over 4500%! Talking about a ‘winning strategy’. That this fact is out, shows, since the approach to stop terrorism hasn’t changed, that the ones pulling the strings have no real interest in stopping terrorism. :( No, other interests are at play, and they ain’t yours. Otherwise, if war on terrorism increases terrorism, then why is no one really looking for a different approach, except for some silly snowflake hippies who can’t stand blood. Yes, fear makes all those opposed to the war look like traitors and people endangering our safety for obstructing our war efforts.
Language.
Framing, spin doctoring, new words all can help make a war seem reasonable. War efforts (“Please, feel with us who work so hard to make it happen, don’t think about the effects of our work.”) Collateral Damage (“Don’t think about innocent victims, see it as side effect of the medicine we’re applying.”) Justice (“Whatever we do to them, because of what they did/might do to us.”), etc.
Superiority
While most soldiers wouldn’t like to feel they’re the ‘wrong side’, like they’re the Star Wars Empire soldiers, sometimes that can be a great feeling too. Especially when you feel deeply superior like Nazi’s or hateful as Pol Pot’s child soldiers towards anything reeking of intellectualism. Isn’t it good sense that civilization fights barbarism, whatever it’s face?
Dehumanization
Primal propaganda trick that goes brilliantly with the previous one. “ The enemy are not men. They are aliens, animals, scum, terrorists, a disease, parasites, vermin to be trampled.” This is soo common. Thing is, those that act on such belief often become what they claim the other side is: murdering maniacs with no human care for other humans. The Nazi’s, ‘the master race’ ended up being just a bunch of plundering barbarians on a self justified killing spree. And those that fought them, sometimes were more the same then they’d ever wish to admit. Remember Dresden, anyone?
Let their deaths not be in vain.
As soon as some of ‘our’ soldiers have died, stopping the war becomes soo much harder. “We can’t allow them to have died in vain.” “Now we must press on, for the goals that they died for. To not send more men to die, eh, gain glory, would now be a waste of those men who died.” During WWI the thousands of deaths to make those other thousands not in vain, became a mass murder cycle of crazy beliefs. It’s like investors who lost billions and still won’t give up a losing stock, because they invested too much in it already, but then with real lives of other people.
Revenge.
Every war has laid the foundations for the next one. “It’s pay back time.” What better way to keep the cycle of violence going than to commit revenge for a previous war, when a new opportunity, eh, motive for war against our arch enemies, arrives? The Balkans are famous for it. Old resentments love to fester.
Prevent to be picked upon.
Within the army there’s in every platoon one or two soldiers who are always picked upon. And as herd or prey animals, all other soldiers fear to become like those two, or, worse, take their place. Thus the sergeants terrorize them, so you’ll keep playing along, until deep in the trenches you wonder how you ever became such a big fool that you’d end there, being shot at.
It’s our right.
“Hey, we’re an independent nation/tribe/people. We have the right to defend ourselves. Our leaders made laws that gave us the right to this kind of armed self defense.”
Isn’t this cool?
You get to play with guns. You get to hear you are real men, not pussies. You are not one of those weaklings that need protection, no you’re giving it. And that feels so much better, than being a spineless civilian on an office chair.
If you have more tricks, let me know in the comments. :)
All is Love
But this is the thing. You are born out of love. You are an expression of love. So are all other human beings.
Armies and war create more pain and more separation. It is with deeper and better relationships that we really can bring peace and end conflicts. The Marshall plan after WWII broke the German violence cycle. The IRA didn’t stop terrorism because of a victory on one side. It stopped because some women were fed up with the conflict and addressed deeper longings and the need to overcome trauma. The Argentinian dictatorship didn’t end because of a glorious revolution, but because of the persistence of some crazy mothers, who wondered where their children were. The Portugese dictatorship ended because their was a non violent revolution. In fact many non violent revolutions really made a difference, where violent ones just brought new regimes about. Many wars ended with people being sick of the violence, not because of a decisive victory.
If you want real peace, stop playing along with the war games. Stop believing the propaganda selling you some necessity for conflict. Think with a critical mind and wonder: whose interests are really served with this conflict? Just create better relationships across borders. Build a better world, where everyone has enough. Show your best self, and no one will consider attacking you. Be open and kind and no border will close for you.
Just wonder on with this video:
