Monday, April 25, 2005
Over and Over Again
In her book Blood Rites, Barbara Ehrenreich observes there are "two possible ways for warrior groups to resolve the problem of their dependence on large numbers of other men. One is represented by stratified societies in which a warrior elite is supported by a nonwarrior class (or classes) and, in return, undertakes to protect this subpopulation from the incursions of other warrior groups--an arrangement often described, roughly speaking, as civilization. "Alternatively," she adds, "the warrior group might not bother to maintain or protect its own laboring class and sources of materials; it might live off the land, fulfilling its needs through constant raids and conquests, that is, armed robbery."
Ehrenreich goes on to point out that, "The difference between the civilized and the barbarian approach to warfare was clearly not as great as practitioners of the former like to think. Although the warrior within a settled society might not extort every meal at sword or spear point, his dominance over the mass of toiling underlings who grew his food and forged his weapons was maintained, ultimately, by force."
This brutal logic, so clearly understood by America's rulers, explains the contempt and disdain they presently reserve for diplomacy, law, cooperation and dissent. If history is any lesson, these values will have to be purchased over and over again--by their blood and ours.
Ehrenreich goes on to point out that, "The difference between the civilized and the barbarian approach to warfare was clearly not as great as practitioners of the former like to think. Although the warrior within a settled society might not extort every meal at sword or spear point, his dominance over the mass of toiling underlings who grew his food and forged his weapons was maintained, ultimately, by force."
This brutal logic, so clearly understood by America's rulers, explains the contempt and disdain they presently reserve for diplomacy, law, cooperation and dissent. If history is any lesson, these values will have to be purchased over and over again--by their blood and ours.
