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new, exciting forms of killing

rjbs on 2006-05-06T01:35:55

I'm watching a documentary about the creation of new weapons systems. It's always interesting to see the technology, but I'm always made somewhat uncomfortable by the fact that the machinery is designed to take human life. Many of the military personnel they talk to use euphemisms which, I imagine, are drilled into them to depersonalize battlefield killing. (I'm really just guessing at that.) They say, for example, that they will "deactivate an enemy installation" (by raining shrapnel into a foxhole).

This doesn't bother me much, because I get the impression that, despite the language they use, they know exactly what they are saying, and they take it very seriously. The weapons designers, on the other hand, come off a little creepier. "It's really exciting, you know? It's a great feeling to see the test and to know that you have definitely created an extremely lethal environment inside that building."

Yikes!

Military memes

brian_d_foy on 2006-05-06T04:03:33

All that fancy language (although I've never heard "deactivate") is just like the jargon in any group. People give fancy names to really simple things to make themselves sound better. Along with that, the stupidest words become popular because some senior sergeant or officer likes it. It starts showing up everywhere. Memes aren't just for the internet. :)

Not only that, soldiers are much more media savvy nowadays, so the stuff they say to reporters is a lot different than what they say to each other. The industrial people are much more hip to the marketing bullshit.

Re:Military memes

rjbs on 2006-05-06T12:32:11

You had to go and call them memes, didn't you? Now I have this horrible image in my head of someone in a smoking crater in the desert, calling back to their commander to let them know that yes, all their base are belong to us.

If anything, it is a sign of misdirection

albatross on 2006-05-06T13:27:18

New weapons suck. I don't know how else to put it. I mean, who really benefits from this uh... "progress"?

In my world, we call it "regression".

F your new guns.

(but keep writing books PLEASE)

Re:If anything, it is a sign of misdirection

albatross on 2006-05-06T13:34:52

Oh no, I can't delete my comment! I totally knee jerked and didn't finish reading! Hah. Definitely not one of the spoils of being scatterbrained! :/