Selling You War
The science of ‘manufacturing consent’ at home and at the front.
@lolimmune says: “I was a soldier from 08–16 us army. I promise you, it’s not just IDF (Israeli Defence Force). I got to work with many countries forces throughout my time. And a lot of sick and twisted people from all over the world join for the absolute worst reasons. And the US is definitely not an exception. I joined really young 20. I thought I was protecting people. I learned very quickly, the military doesn’t protect. It invades, It takes, It kills, And it blames it on the victim. Once my contract was complete I left only to realize how bad our government treats soldiers after they’ve left. As soon as a veteran isn’t military control, they abandon you. They don’t care about disabilities, mental health, or anything. The US has a system that technically helps veterans, but it’s all so bogged down in red tape that people often die before getting medical help. That’s in the us, the richest country in the world, with the most military funding in the world. And we treat our veterans like shit.” (Youtube comment on video about war (crime) influencers)
Why is this article needed?
This is an article of all the tricks the military get, to get you fighting a war. You fight not for you, not for your country, you fight for the interest of the few who actually benefit from war. A few edits have been made, as the tragic invasion of Ukraine by Russia, or the Israeli invasion of Gaza add new knowledge (for me) on the topic. Also recent calls to arm NATO even more are worrying. Russia can’t even conquer Uktraine, yet we all need to prepare if the Russians are coming. The bigger danger is that it is us who invade, or madmen start throwing bombs that never should have been made in the first place.
Whenever someone supports and war or wants to join one, let them read this. Check which of the following arguments hit home, let alone if you should ask more questions about your motives.
How different are we anyway? “You’re from a different tribe/nation, and our leaders feel your leaders hurt/insulted/threatened our country (they lie when claiming we did that to you first, because before that…), so I must hate you guys… because our leaders may need an army, against you guys.”
The overwhelming majority of people want peace. They all pray that a war won’t happen. They take actions for it. There’s at this moment lots of warm outreach going on between civilians of India and Pakistan while their governments rather keep tensions high. There were more people involved in peace actions in Israel and Palestine than soldiers. But one terrorist attack by dozens can annul the work to obtain peace by millions and create an excuse were an organised army (supported by the USA) starts a genocide. Conflict and war do happen. Over 5000 years of organised armed conflicts between states turned getting people to fight, even when they desire peace, into a science in itself. And many of our trusted leaders use this, for their own interests, convincing you it is in yours too.
I want to make a start with investigating their tricks. I think, there should be more books about this, rather than about heroics.
“I learned that war makes murderers, mass murderers, out of otherwise decent people. And it applies to all wars, and all nationalities. And I’ve seen it in all the wars.. These are not wild animals out for blood. These are patriots who are trying to do their duty. To protect either their religion, or their nationality or their economic security.” 98 year-old Ben Ferencz, the last surviving prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials. War makes decent men murderers. Why? How?
A Long List of Tricks.
Here’s a list of tricks political leaders and armies use to make you willing to die for an idea (read other peoples interests, become a mass murderer or 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 makes no sense to you. Or watch a Total War video game clip and wonder how it’s suddenly okay to use soldiers as ‘meat shields’. Because for leaders the world is a chess board, not a place full of people with personal dreams. Thus they lie for their persona gains, and then people die and fight for them, often realising too late, or worse not at all, they’ve been duped into something. There’s many stories on youtube from veterans who look back in shame, bewilderment or sense of betrayal.
Point is, common men rarely ever really benefit of the outcome of wars, with liberation from nasty occupations as an exception. Yet most wars is people fighting the other side, with soldiers on the borders seeking to take a few hills or a contested region. 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 the mess they left behind in Iraq. Around a million civilians died in Iraq and the ‘victory’ spawned new conflicts in the wider region, like the ISIS and Syria war. 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, yet mostly nobody wins but a very very few players. But hey, you’ve got to support your own military. Sadly even supporting your own troops as the ‘real man doing the dirty work to keep you free’ means you’ve been had. It’s not that we may admire these people for taking such risks, but that admiration is a cult in itself. And the military complex benefitting from these conflicts, loves you to eat that idea as the propaganda food that it is. Because while you gobble the personal heroics, you forget to question the real reasons for the incursions into far away places, or neighbouring villages for that matter.
As far as I know, there’s never been an extensive study (the army studies this deeply, but for very different reasons) made of this trickery. How the interests of a tiny few get many others to die for them. I hope it helps starting 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’.
(edit 2019: consider this news report on how deeply and conscious the arms industry manipulates media and media figures like Ellen.)
Beware, most of these are conscious propaganda tricks, others psychology aimed at soldiers and many show the stupidity of believing maniacal convictions. Here goes..
I. TRICKS TO CONVINCE THE PEOPLE
US vs Them thinking
“We’re the good guys, they’re bad, so are actions our natural and necessary.” “North Korea bad! (They’ve got rockets)” “ISIS bad! (They’re near ‘our’ oil resources)” “Congo (Who cares? Those war lords are not threatening our interests)” Military interventions might be needed, but too often only acted upon where the intervention brings in treasure, like oil. Also consider that millions of North Korean people are suffering from their own regime. That fact should not be forgotten by the time we shoot up all their hungry soldiers, pressured into defending a crazy dictator. By then our story is of course, ‘we’ve come to liberate them’. That’s always a good story. That millions of Americans wave their flag as fanatic as the North Koreans must not be thought about. Them waving their flag shows how indoctrinated they really are. Americans waving their own flag is ‘freedom’ and kneeling during the anthem very unpatriotic. Or as Bush put it: “If you’re not with us, you must be against us.” That leaves no way out.
They Are Dangerous, We Must Protect Ourselves.
The farther away, the stranger we should feel about this. North Korea, and Iran are farther from the USA than all Latin American and European countries. Most of which are ignored (or bought). So why fear certain countries you might easier just ignore and there’d be no trouble at all? Might it be, they become trouble, only when they feel threatened by the USA? Might it be there are interests at play you are not being told about? But no, your main stream media will focus on the possibility they will attack first. Haha, as if being much smaller than the USA, with a fraction of the military budget, attacking first makes sense. Yet you must fear such countries, so that when the USA strikes first, you feel relieved, rather than mad about another senseless invasion. What do you think the Iranians hope for? I bet they love not to be bombed, ‘liberated’ and become another Iraq or Syria! And why do they threaten to bite? Because they feel cornered. But you better not consider that. Because your own country must be right, right?
Putin: “The Ukrainians are led by Nazis!” That the USA armed right wing militias within that country, because, ‘Russia is bad’ hasn’t helped at all.
The next reasons are variations to that song:
We’re here to liberate you.
“Yes, we’re here to save these poor people from those evil bastards, from that backward idea, from that dangerous philosophy, that evil dictator, etc.”
This led to (secret) US interventions in Latin America against that damned scary idea called ‘Socialismmmm’, read unions, strikes and loss of profits for US corporations. This recently led to aiding Ukraines war in the East against separatist movements. As did the Russians aid their side. And now Putin has the problem, that his army was so fiercely received, he must work overtime to keep at the least his own people believing he’s the ‘liberator’.
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 defence.” Actually the capture above this item might better be: aggressive logic. And yes, sometimes you really need to use it, because the other side indeed really (we’ll come to that in the next item) attacked you first, because of their tricking their people into the aggression.
Putin: “The influence of Nato into our sphere of influence is too eager and dangerous for our country!” He actually has a point here. The USA and EU sneakily did expand their sphere of influence fast and focussed Eastward as the Iron Wall fell. Poland, Hungary, Baltic States, and many more are now decidedly more deeply connected to the EU and sometimes NATO. Also the US funding of rightwing militias and aiding the protests that chased of a former pro-Russian president of Ukraine haven’t helped goodwill of Russia.
Sadly where the two expansionist powers, Russia and USA start pushing, it rarely ends well for the locals. They already fought several wars through third parties. Countries like Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Cuba, Venezuela, Chile, the Balkan and others still bear the scars. And nowadays China, India love to be players in this game as well. And normal civilians suffer, while nationalist leaders receive money, power to led their own country men die fighting another man’s fight. History repeating! And Netanyahu of Israel seems to promote a cleansing of Gaza for Israeli settlers. Wtf?
Lying your own soldiers into it.
Many Russian conscripts entering Ukraine either thought it would just be an exercise, or they would be welcomed, (see the lie above) because a third of the Ukrainians speaks Russian (after years of enforced education). And then, when the shooting started they were into it with no way out. See video.
It’s actually already our land.
We’ve come to liberate, take it back, bring it over to the right side.
Putin: “Historically Ukraine was always part of Russia.” He forgot to mention the Great Famine, and millions of Ukrainians killed by Stalin. And that after the land was conquered by Russia, Russian language and culture was enforced. Like most former Soviet occupied countries, a huge majority never wants to go back.
Like Tibet was once Chinese, thus China felt it had a right to bring it back into their territory. Like the French and Germans kept exchanging the Elsas-Lotharingen, eh, Alsace-Lorraine, and many more places from around the world. Rarely, if ever, the people themselves were asked. Oh no, sometimes they’re asked, like after a well paid populist pushes for a new reality, with him in the lead. There’s a lot of evidence even Brexit was a campaigned and marketed coup. The peaceful split of Slovakia from Czechoslovakia is a beautiful, and sadly rare, example of how it should be done.
False Flags
Especially for parties that hope to gain from conflicts dirty tricks, read good stories and excuses to go to war, make all the difference. Aside from all other propaganda this is the rabbit that can be magicked from the hat: the false flag. Our side always has to have a good reason to self defend, declare war or even a ‘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. Here’s a link to an article called: “For Those Who Don’t ‘Believe’ In ‘Conspiracies’ Here Are 58 Admitted False Flag Attacks”. Here is a nice video on some famous manipulations. All other pushes to war below this one, just help to have you never question the ‘evil’, of them and the ‘good’ of us. Thus, heated by pre-set emotions, way too few people will question incidents that could be a false flag. Compare this to the current anger in the USA over some Russian meddling in the elections. While the main media is outraged over it, there’s little to no action towards the way worse and effective meddling by Republicans in many states to protect themselves against a ‘blue wave’.
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 other side and gets a metaphorical target printed on their chest. Because waving ‘their’ flag, other than at Olympic games or world championships, may be ‘proof’ you’re with the ‘enemy’. Soon enough ordinary civilians start pressuring each other towards that ‘sameness’.
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. Victory brings mostly new or more conflict. Africans say not for nothing: “They gave us their bible and they took 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 in a war, when the real slogan was: “Let’s liberate ourselves from those old 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 those funny looking strangers, because our army loves to test its new weaponry.” “Let’s invade for access to their oil reserves under false pretences.” Etc.
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) military 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. Who is ‘our’ anyway? When Bush talked about ‘our interests’ did he mean all Americans, or just his oil and army industry buddies? Consider that your ‘our’ users may not have the best intentions in mind for you and the common people.
Note, my own grandfather died in a Nazi concentration camp. So I was raised very anti-German. That same grandfather was a colonial officer in Indonesia before the war. Nobody asked or wondered what crimes he may have committed there. We are human fighting evil, we are human when victimised by an enemy. We too often deny our own sides crimes, let alone want to know it. Know this: whomever is shot, somewhere relatives will cry.
False Pride
If Kim Jong-un insults all Americans, does that mean a good reason to let young men die over it? Is that a good reason to bomb his people over it? Is that a good reason to spend billions of tax payers money on weapons? The arms industries think so! Man, those new tax fundings must be proven necessary and a new war will boost their income for another decade. They have lobbies who push for it. But should you, as citizen, care for such a war? Should you think insults matter as reason for a military fight? That’s giving way too much power away to one foreign dictator. It means investing way too much into a balloon, inflated by war mongering news media, who want you angry enough to support a stupid war. Your pride should be worth much more than that. Your inner calm too strong for such an idiotic seduction, which makes others misuse your inflated anger. We same the same play on your emotions in the Corona debates. You’re pushed into fear, anxiety by all sides thinking that need to be done, for their side to win the debate. Mmm. Where’s dialogue?
Group Think
“Hey all others act this way too, so why criticise 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. I find that often, even the slightest leftish idea, gets reactions from Americans using exactly the same sentence: “Communism never worked!”
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.
Quite a few Ukrainians oppressed by Stalin chose to support Hitler, as did Croatians. Thus there is a (small?) neo-nazi crowd in Ukraine, and Croatia too. But they’re nazi’s because it’s against the communists and for historic reasons. Stupid. And the Russians want to hunt nazi’s because of their own suffering in WWII. Thus we fight against sides living out outdated history pains, with no real understanding of the ideologies, but proudly waving flags anyway.
Language & Framing
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, is because of what they did/might do to us.”), Pre-emptive Strike (Why wait with attacking, if you can argue your attack is self defence?) etc. Snowflakes (“You people who want peace are weak whiny pussies who aren’t brave enough to stand up and be a man.”) Especially snowflakes is a modern thing and very laughable. While those ‘snowflakes’ often have friends in other cultures, build bridges and challenge believes, those ‘real men’ using the snowflake word hide, while shouting aggressively, in all white subcultures. But then, hey, when you point one finger, three point at you. And the newest framing is ‘crisis initiation’, meaning instigating war with Iran (or Ukraine?). Just so you know, if it happens, it started in the USA.
II. TRICKS TO GET THE MEN FIGHTING
“As a Vietnam vet, against the war since 1962, drafted, I was willing to kill to protect myself and my fellows. Happy to add that it did not come to that. It is easy to turn people into killers and even murderers. This was early ‘65. Almost all soldiers are incredibly ignorant of war as political-economic racket.” Richard Hanley, Vietnam Veteran.
Camaraderie
I know an Israeli who is against the suppression of the Palestines. He’s against war. But when rockets were fired around Gaza, he wanted to go, because his friends would be going too. He wanted to be there for them. In the end he didn’t go, because his mother kept him from going. None of his friends went either.
This seems to be by far one of the most important ones. “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. Good soldiers would even be willing to die to save their friends. Heroic sacrifices, like jumping on a grenade to save the others are not rare. That’s what the next trick is about. And to (mis)use this camaraderie the commanders thus need make it urgent that you help your brothers in arms.
Social Pressure to Conform to the New ‘Normal’.
It’s very hard to really think for yourself or say no under pressure. If all others do it, how can you say no? When the commander orders it, how can you refuse, when everyone acts as if this is normal. Our brain then prefers to join, rather than assess the situation independently. But we hate feeling like we’re the sheep. We’re the ‘heroes’ aren’t we? Hence the next trick.
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 civilisation fights barbarism, whatever it’s face? Consider also ‘we the saviours, saving a victimised people from a tyrant’. Often with war and bombs…often leading to a victory in Iraq* read making a bigger mess of things.
There’s also the Calimero Effect, read minority complex, like Russia uses now: “Everybody is always mean to us, and don’t give us a fair deal. Now we have the right to act for ourselves.”
*)A ‘victory in Iraq’ means winning the war, but leaving a much bigger mess.
Dehumanisation
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 they were more similar than they’d ever wish to admit. Remember Dresden, anyone?
Lying Your Own Soldiers Into It.
Many Russian conscripts entering Ukraine either thought it would just be an exercise, and then suddenly they were deep in Ukraine. Or they were told they would be welcomed, because a third of the Ukrainians speaks Russian (after years of enforced education). They were told the Ukrainians would be happy to be liberated from a bad regime. And then, when the shooting started they were into it with no way out. See video. And see next trick. It’s them or Us! (read Smart Isolation)
Why did Putin send his troops deep into Ukraine in high speed? Also because then they have no choice to make the best of it.
When you have an army that can easily beat the enemy, you become the aggressor. Better, like in Afghanistan, lock your own soldiers up in isolated forts, that are attacked from the outside. Suddenly they’re the defenders being harassed by terrorists. This 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. Perhaps the trick of putting people in a surrounded fort has been used since ‘the West was won’. Perhaps this trick is also used to ‘invite’ attacks, thus supplying the ‘people at home’ with reasons why vigilance and further war is needed. Who dares to wonder if the presence in Afghanistan or Africa might be, also, not rightful occupation? After all, ‘our men’ are shot up if we don’t shoot as many of ‘them’ as possible.
Threat & Punishment
If a Russian soldier refuses orders in peacetime it can mean 15 to 25 years of prison. Good deal. And the latest news seems to indicate that refusing orders in Ukraine could mean you’ll be shot. They now also have a second line behind the front line with orders to shoot men who retreat or flee from the front. Wow, such conviction with the Russian army. They have a long ugly history of forcing their own to fight and die. And who dares to wonder, if we have to shoot our own who don’t want this war, what and are we actually fighting for?
On the news we see many Ukrainian men take up arms against the invader. Even so, we also hear their adult men are stopped at the borders and forced into joining the army. I think only after the war, we’ll hear with how much pressure that was done.
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, threats 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.
Prevent Being Picked Upon.
The same happens in a smaller, but no less effective way within platoons. Within every platoon, one or two soldiers are always picked upon. And as herd or prey animals, all other soldiers fear to become like those two, or, worse, take their place. Nobody wants to be ‘pussies’ like them. Nobody wants to clean toilets with a toothbrush. Nobody wants to get ordered to go on suicide missions. Thus the sergeants terrorise a pathetic few, 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.
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 too.
Limited Understanding.
Many movies carry this lesson: once an officer tells underlings that something is on ‘need to know’ basis, the underlings get screwed. In fact the whole army works within such a paradigm. No general will tell his men they invade for oil interests, that the politicians on whose decisions they fight, got bribed to start the war by billionaires, arms industries and industries in need of access to cheap natural resources. ‘War is a political-economic racket’, as Richard Hanley says. Yet soldiers only get to see the part where an enemy is behaving badly and kills some of their own, or kills women and children and hear what their job is, that ‘needs to be done’. Once soldiers experience the ‘wrongness’ of their own side and may start thinking twice, they’re in the field. Then it’s too late to go back. And all other items help to not ask questions.
Here watch the video above again. Watch Russian propaganda. And, yes, also watch Western propaganda. We have to help those poor victims. (We forget to tell we broke promises to Russia and seduced them to love us more and more with investments, gifts, support of protest against the pro-Russian president) So limited understanding makes millions wave Ukrainians flags, and fully support our arming of Ukrainian troops. I support this, but want us also to be way more weary of the manipulations of our own governments.
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. The Americans are sooo convinced they’re the ‘good’ guys, that not one of them can be brought to trail for war crimes in the Hague. It’s only others that commit such sins of course….not.
Now games as Arma III (free to play, created by the US Army) help the army getting young people to believe shooting at an enemy is normal. Mediation and de-escalation are ignored in movies, shown as weird or more aggressively as a bad and snowflaky option. This is what way too many movies make normal: You solve problems by beating the evil enemy. And now Twitch and other new media channels are consciously exploited too.
This great video essay on anti war movies, shows you how the heroism myth carries ideologies that make you fight for the interests of a powerful few.
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 towards disgruntled veterans: “Ungrateful buggers, where’s their ‘honor’?” or ignore them. Because how can one ever compare young shiny masculine boys with bearded homeless guys that smell of booze? Because the second group might be the future of the first?
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 an 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. Yet as a soldier you get guided into museums, palaces, stores of the enemy and should have some moments for yourself there. Like contemplate how to get a vulnerable ancient art piece home.
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 on Terrorism’ has increased(!!) acts of terrorism with over 4500%! Talk 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.
Shame
In this next video we see also the power of shame. When caught, when your flee or desert you have ton feel shame for not defending your country. This is shown in this video. Side note. It exposes Russian shame, but mind you it is also Ukrainian propaganda, telling the Russians, “See how you are tricked into this war?” and telling their own side, “See how delusional their soldiers are and how evil their generals?”
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. The term for that is Sunk Cost Fallacy.
I fear Russia will start to use this one soon, as their death toll starts rising. They expected an easy win. It seems rather than withdraw, more men must die, because of the others that died. It’s like investing in a losing stock, in the hope our added effort will lead to positive results. That’s our primitive biology for you.
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. This is the highest honour!” Doesn’t this feel so much better than being a spineless civilian on an office chair? This is exactly why many of the very wrong sort of people are drawn to sign up. Dominating others with power just feels so good.
Here’s a historian explaining this more in depth on youtube.
This video adds several more, from a biological perspective. Being a war hero gives status and the thrill of adventure speaks to young men, and more.
Conclusion: All is Love
You can understand that any potent mix of several of these tricks might help send young men to war. It fact almost all of them are used on many different levels at the same time, by any nation or tribe at war. Anything to make the people believe in the war, the soldiers willing to risk death and murder, and make the leaders, who send those soldiers to get shot at, look heroic for their stance….
…. But this is the thing. You are born out of love. You are an expression of love. So are all other human beings. All of them, all around the globe.
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 Portuguese dictatorship ended because there was a non violent revolution. Apartheid didn’t end with a victory, but through a resolution. 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.
Did you research Gandhi and non violence resistance, or Marten Luther Kings use of that tool? Are these given their due attention in school? Lack of insight in those tools can even make modern protests turn into little more than aggressive shout-outs. Way more people need de-escalating and creative approaches to solve conflict. Here’s a spot to start thinking on that.
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:
If you have more tricks, let me know in the comments. :) If you wonder why we’re so stupid to believe all these tricks and, worse, actively help spread them, then read on about the Homo Ludicrous.
Or check this other articles I wrote on the matter (with a friend link added)
How to get closer to peace and prevent wars?
A short teaching story on how we all easily fall into the same psychology.
