When Your Argument Is Lost
Is terrorism really a threat?
In World War II, the Empire of Japan got to a point where it saw it was going to lose. This wasn't easy to take, as Japan had not lost to an outside aggressor for centuries. A defining national moment was when Japan fought off the Mongols led by Kublai Khan in the late 13th century. There, with the help of a typhoon called by the Japanese "divine winds," or kamikaze, the Japanese set into its national character the concept that no outsider could best them. Well, the United States, a nation who had only been around for a couple of centuries, and had very little warrior culture to speak of, were slowly bleeding the fight out of Japan in a island-hopping campaign centering on the Main Islands themselves. The Japanese leadership became desperate.
Beginning in 1944, Japan began suiting up young men into flight jackets, teaching them rudimentary flying skills, and putting them in airplanes with a one-way ticket to death and hopefully glory. These men became the new kamikaze, and it was hoped that by smashing themselves into American warships, they could slow America down enough to regroup and take the offensive again, or perhaps make peace on their terms. We all know how it worked out.
So why did Japan do this? Why didn't they sue for peace, and offer decent terms to the US in 1944, when they should have known better? Why kill young men for nothing? Some like to make the reason out as something unique to the Japanese national character, like the bushido warrior culture or the example above. I think of it more in terms of them not acting correctly when they knew their argument was lost.
When you get to a point in an argument where you see that the main points you are trying to make have lost their validity, there are two roads. The first, and least taken, is to say to your adversary that they have made a good point, and you concede. The second, and most used, is to get angry, and escalate the fight. This is a common impulse amongst humans, which has its roots in our evolution, which is why it is chosen more often. We fear losing more than we honor truth. (This is the root of the saying, "Might makes Right.")
Yet it is the cultures that honor truth the most that have performed the best on a global scale. I have made the point about cultures, and why some have failed or lagged, while others have become more successful and dominant, but this point is important. What manifestations of honoring truth can we see in successful cultures? The best one is the acceptance of science, both as a process, and as a body of knowledge. Cultures that honor science as a process are more self-analytical; those that honor it as a body of knowledge are less superstitious. Those that do both come closest to seeing themselves for what they are, and seeing the tasks to be faced to make the world better.
The kamikaze was a last-ditch effort of a culture trying to save itself after it knew in its heart that its argument had been lost.
So, lets go back to terrorism. On September 11, 2001, a group of young men, who had been given rudimentary flying skills, took control of some airplanes and flew them into American skyscrapers and the Pentagon. Many hailed it as a great victory for Islamic Fundementalism against the onslaught of Western culture. Was it really?
In World War II, the Empire of Japan got to a point where it saw it was going to lose. This wasn't easy to take, as Japan had not lost to an outside aggressor for centuries. A defining national moment was when Japan fought off the Mongols led by Kublai Khan in the late 13th century. There, with the help of a typhoon called by the Japanese "divine winds," or kamikaze, the Japanese set into its national character the concept that no outsider could best them. Well, the United States, a nation who had only been around for a couple of centuries, and had very little warrior culture to speak of, were slowly bleeding the fight out of Japan in a island-hopping campaign centering on the Main Islands themselves. The Japanese leadership became desperate.
Beginning in 1944, Japan began suiting up young men into flight jackets, teaching them rudimentary flying skills, and putting them in airplanes with a one-way ticket to death and hopefully glory. These men became the new kamikaze, and it was hoped that by smashing themselves into American warships, they could slow America down enough to regroup and take the offensive again, or perhaps make peace on their terms. We all know how it worked out.
So why did Japan do this? Why didn't they sue for peace, and offer decent terms to the US in 1944, when they should have known better? Why kill young men for nothing? Some like to make the reason out as something unique to the Japanese national character, like the bushido warrior culture or the example above. I think of it more in terms of them not acting correctly when they knew their argument was lost.
When you get to a point in an argument where you see that the main points you are trying to make have lost their validity, there are two roads. The first, and least taken, is to say to your adversary that they have made a good point, and you concede. The second, and most used, is to get angry, and escalate the fight. This is a common impulse amongst humans, which has its roots in our evolution, which is why it is chosen more often. We fear losing more than we honor truth. (This is the root of the saying, "Might makes Right.")
Yet it is the cultures that honor truth the most that have performed the best on a global scale. I have made the point about cultures, and why some have failed or lagged, while others have become more successful and dominant, but this point is important. What manifestations of honoring truth can we see in successful cultures? The best one is the acceptance of science, both as a process, and as a body of knowledge. Cultures that honor science as a process are more self-analytical; those that honor it as a body of knowledge are less superstitious. Those that do both come closest to seeing themselves for what they are, and seeing the tasks to be faced to make the world better.
The kamikaze was a last-ditch effort of a culture trying to save itself after it knew in its heart that its argument had been lost.
So, lets go back to terrorism. On September 11, 2001, a group of young men, who had been given rudimentary flying skills, took control of some airplanes and flew them into American skyscrapers and the Pentagon. Many hailed it as a great victory for Islamic Fundementalism against the onslaught of Western culture. Was it really?
posted by gemillam at
2:50 AM
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