For people who grew up watching war, it's time to live out the fantasy.-- News Producer
Was it Pat Cadigan's Synners that had the passage that described hundreds of television channels as one form of pornography or another? Some channels had disaster porn, with hurricanes, train wrecks, and car crashes. Others had food porn, with recipes, slow, lingering shots of bundt cake, and the ubiquitous miracle knife.
I once saw a TV documentary that asked, "Why are American children so fascinated with guns?" Of course, they had slow, lingering shots of smooth, glossy black revolvers on softly-lit silk display stands. Ooh, sexy. Aah, forbidden. Why indeed?
To describe war -- and participating in war -- as a "fantasy" alternately frightens and angers me.
unfair
jmm on 2003-04-09T20:44:42
Any technological advantage seems unfair, whether it is having stone edges that are better than the opponent's wooden edges, or anything that has happened since.However, there is a difference between war and a sporting event - keeping things fair is important when there is an audience to be enticed, but not when winning the conflict is the final end.
Re:unfair
bart on 2003-04-09T21:41:23
You're taking sides. Why are guerrilla tactics tought of as so unfair? Why does only one side — the other side — have to obey the rules?levels of warfare
gizmo_mathboy on 2003-04-09T22:31:12
I contend that terrorism is a form of warfare, just a very diffuse form.
"Normal" warfare has a large army. Lots of rules to follow when you have thousands if not millions of people to order about.
Guerrilla warfare is much more diffuse. Less people and less rules.
Terrorism is even more diffuse than guerrilla, it can be just one person waging their personal war against pies.
Just because we don't like the tactics used doesn't mean we can consider it illegal.
Of course, I'm just raving lunie.Re:levels of warfare
koschei on 2003-04-09T23:53:02
Well, we can consider it illegal.
It's also generally considered a breach of the peace anyway.
The thing is, if it's illegal, how are you going to stop them? =)Re:unfair
pudge on 2003-04-10T11:43:15
There is nothing against the rules about waging war by remote control.Re:unfair
inkdroid on 2003-05-02T19:35:58
That's because there are none.Re:unfair
jmm on 2003-04-10T13:12:35
Actually, I'd say that making war in any form is inherently unfair.War means that the concept of fairness has broken down, or at least the participants have concepts of fairness that are so divergent that no mutually fair course can be agreed upon. So, the participants resort to using force to have their own idea of fairness prevail.
One side may have the bigger better funded army and the other side may have the smaller dirty-trickier army. That has nothing to do with whether one's view of "fair" is right enough that it should override the other's view of "fair".
"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" --- Salvor Hardin
