tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post3193659516953133808..comments2024-03-22T11:55:50.335+13:00Comments on Not PC: "It is no longer enough to say 'That’s awful' and then move on; we need a serious reckoning with this war, with the rise of seventh-century barbarism, and with the collapse of any semblance of moral restraint among the new terrorists." #QotDPeter Cresswellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699845031503699181noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-27034545207447608922019-05-07T15:18:38.838+12:002019-05-07T15:18:38.838+12:00I agree the focus shouldn't be exclusively on ...I agree the focus shouldn't be exclusively on military action. But I don't think the author, nor myself mean that when we call it a 'war'. We're talking about the mindset that needs to be adopted. We need to treat the issue with appropriate seriousness - and adopt the mindset that it is a war, where either we defeat them, or they destroy us. Military action is a necessary ingredient at times, but it's a cultural war more than anything else. If the right 'war' mindset is adopted, the need for military engagement to counter the threat actually decreases rather than increases - as should the anxiety it creates our individual lives.MarkThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06199883270652041621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-20305619128695138722019-05-06T10:35:40.593+12:002019-05-06T10:35:40.593+12:00I think you touch on the main one - by treating it...I think you touch on the main one - by treating it as a war, most expenditure and focus is on military action. (Which is itself legitimate; I don't mean to say that we _shouldn't_ be bombing enemy training camps. We should, and with great vigor.)<br /><br />But unlike a war, it's an ideological fight. We can't withdraw (the fight is on our turf too), we can't win a war of attrition (with whom?), we can't win a war for territory (the killing is happening on our own), we can't win by destroying infrastructure, either industrial or military.<br /><br />It's also literally never-ending. Do we really want to be on a war footing, forever? I don't think that's a healthy response, culturally or economically.<br /><br />Actually, thinking on it some more ... quite often the enemy here is comprised of citizens and naturalized people. Perhaps it would make sense to think of it, oddly, as a _civil_ war?Duncan Baynehttps://duncan.bayne.id.au/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-47339670531620280652019-05-03T13:09:57.500+12:002019-05-03T13:09:57.500+12:00I would say it is a war. Not a war as we've t...I would say it is a war. Not a war as we've traditionally known it with individual nations, easily definable opponents, and limited to the military action; but a war nonetheless. It a geo-political threat to our safety and security, originating from a particular ideology (so in that respects it's not "mindless"). It's a threat that will remain until it's confronted and defeated. It's a war that requires both cultural, political, and at times military forces to win.<br /><br />Why do you claim it's not a war, and what "cognitive disservice" do you believe is being done in calling it one? I would suggest the opposite - that in not calling it and regarding it as a war, we limit our ability to defeat it.MarkThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06199883270652041621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-2153961357504184492019-05-01T20:06:35.512+12:002019-05-01T20:06:35.512+12:00It's not a war, though, is it? If there's...It's not a war, though, is it? If there's no military or political goal, it's literally mindless violence. <br /><br />Perhaps its opponents - both within the Islamic world, and the West - are being done a cognitive disservice by maintaining a warfighting mentality.Duncan Baynehttps://duncan.bayne.id.au/noreply@blogger.com