Titanism and Modern War

["Bertil Häggman" <bertil.haggman@helsingborg.se>]

>Apropos of the war on Serbia, I would like to propose a concept that
>strikes me as consistent with EJ's writings on Titanism and
>desinvolture.  It is the concept of two wrongs.  For the last two
>decades, perhaps longer, I have found that debate in the USA proceeds on
>the basis of two sides missing or distorting the essence of the issue. 
>Slogans, political positions, life-styles attach to both sides, assume
>fixed oppositions (like left & right, Democratic & Republican) and
>meaningful contextual interpretation without strict adherence to one
>side or the other goes begging, or perhaps gets buried in publications I
>do not see.  So with the abortion issue, so with Monica, so with Serbia.


Great writing, Gary. But this type of debate
does not only apply to the United States. It is a
world wide phenomenon. 

>In my view, the high-tech bombing of Serbia marks (or consolidates) a
>new stage in history as significant as the bombing of Hiroshima. 
>America is demonstrating to the world that all countries are defenseless
>against it.  You may have anti-aircraft arsenals supplied by Russia, the
>erstwhile enemy of the USA with the highest level of development, and
>you will be helpless:  it's like shooting fish in a barrel.  The US
>military can barely contain its glee: it is justifying its past budgets,
>won against liberal critics, to liberals and conservatives alike; it is
>testing its weapons, developed for an SF war against a superpower that
>now has dropped to the level of an African country; it is informing the
>world that US technology is king, can scramble all your information and
>shoot rockets down your chimney and up your tailpipe.  This military
>might is not political in the sense of parties; it is raw power, world
>dominance available to the American government, whichever party is in.


Let us enjoy the fact that it was the West
winning the Cold War, not the Soviet Union,
but to be honest, the guys in the Kremlin could
not possible have won. Their power rested on bayonets,
and it is impossible to sit on bayonets for a long time.
Plus stealing technology from the West did not save them.


>Milosevich, of course, is a monster.  That makes the war a holy one. 
>But whether American strategy brings about a desirable solution or
>exacerbates the problem or leaves an area of the world in rubble and
>misery for decades to come does not matter to the Titans.  Since the
>home population watches the war on TV, the picture can be switched next
>week to another front, and the rubble can be left behind for those in
>distant places on the ground.  Last week Osama ben Laden threatened the
>peace and security of the world; the USA bombed two countries, killed
>people in an attempt to stop this terrible threat.  Now Osama is
>forgotten and Milosevich takes his place.  Saddam is held in reserve as
>a reliable bogeyman.  Khadaffi has gotten the message and cooperated
>with the Lockerbie inquiry.  The TV attention-span is short and
>manipulable.  The main thing is not to bring the entertainment too close
>to reality with pictures of US body bags; unmanned aircraft is the
>perfect solution.


Yes, it is Milosevic that is the problem. His power hunger
makes the people pay, so do all dictators.
One of the problems is of course the hedonism
of the West and the fact that American and West European
soldiers are not allowed to die in battle. Thats
why UAVs are increasingly important and un-
manned fighters in the future, as you write.


>For the individual:  two wrongs.  The distant despots and the homegrown
>Titans.  Public discussion must be simplified, entertainment must go on,
>the choice for you is to study history and culture, renounce yourself to
>the situation, walk in the woods.  Desinvolture.
>
>So EJ has a lot to teach us.  I think what we can project for the near
>future is an increased SF development--the continuing entrance into our
>lives of devices and procedures once thought to belong to
>science-fiction:  a universal ID & credit card with DNA or retinal scan
>properties and with a data bank of all your personal info; monitoring
>and surveillance by every sensory means run by the Titans or their
>bureaucrats; pacification of the public by universal round-the-clock
>entertainment (we already have it, but it will advance); genetic
>engineering, drug culture and so on.  But I don't think it will be quite
>like Orwell's Big Brother.  More like Zaparoni & Co, who must answer to
>stockholders and who run only part of the show.  The government will
>have the military and the databanks, the Zaparoni-Spielbergs will have
>the entertainment industries, the bureaucracies will have the services
>and penalties, the fat cats will get fatter and fatter.  The individual
>will shrink into a well-serviced and well-entertained ant who should
>beware stepping out of line.

Maybe you are too pessimistic here. The electronic
world is offering an unlimited freedom. 

A Kosova released from the hands of Milosevic
will however scare the Chinese. The images of the
"gun boats" off the coast conjures up memories
from the bad European imperial past. And if Kosova can
be taken away, so, the regime in Beijing believes,
could Tibet and Sinkiang (East Turkestan).

But I am straying. (Sorry, John). Have a good Sunday out there in
California. And as Ken Bacon says: I'll take questions till the
cows go home.

Bertil