war games

Hmmm. It seems there’s serious a hearts-and-minds battle going on between the peaceniks and the hawks in the culture beyond the blogosphere—you know: out there in America, where no one gives a shit what we blather on about and they just go ahead and live their lives.

On the side of the peaceniks you’ve got the Central Committe for Conscientious Objectors, which proselytizes against JROTC (the organization that was just banned from San Francisco by its school board) because it’s

too controversial, too likely to promote violence, too expensive, too controlled by Washington, too discriminatory, and too much at odds with the goal of creating critically-thinking students in gun-free schools.

And because

Instead of an alternative to violence, JROTC brings guns into the schools.

And because

Military training glorifies war. Ninety percent of all JROTC programs train students to fire rifles or pistols. All of them drill with guns and teach military history, customs, traditions, and beliefs. In JROTC, too many kids learn, from example, that violence is acceptable.

And in this corner, for the hawks, you’ve got the U.S. military, which is using video games, which it gives away free, as a recruiting tool. Kingdaddy explains:

I’ve just given you an encapsulation of the controversies around America’s Army, including its unsubtle recruitment pitch. Now, we have Future Force Company, a free game in the same vein, distributed by the defense contractor SAIC:

Future Combat Systems (FCS) will transform the U.S. Army’s Current Force to a more lethal, agile Future Force to achieve battlespace dominance. The F2C2 video game demonstrates the FCS wireless network-centric operating system that seamlessly links advanced communications and networking systems with soldiers, platforms, weapons, and sensors.

In other words, Future Force Company is a simulation of the hardware that the US military may purchase and deploy by 2015, the “future” that Future Force Company attempts to simulate. While I can live with a recruitment pitch for a public organization, the US Army, I can’t quite stomach a commercial for the equipment private contractors hope the Army will purchase.

I agree with him on both counts. As for whether it’s the peaceniks or the hawks who will win—really, it’s no contest.*** It won’t happen overnight, but the hawks will certainly win. After all, we are a nation at war.
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*** I say this with a heavy heart, because I have a son. Not only did he not play with guns and tanks and helmets and soldiers; we delayed even teaching him the words for those hateful things. (I told you I’m hippie-dippy.) He’s a young man now, with no interest in guns and tanks and helmets. And he is troubled and heartsick for the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, young men like him who made a different choice for themselves. And he is disturbed by my hawishness—. As am I.

But if we do not defend ourselves and what we hold dear, who will do it?