Thoughts on the military and military activities of a diverse nature. Free-ranging and eclectic.

Sunday, March 28, 2004

This is coolbert: Now, in a number of my previous posts I have talked about such items as the Zulu pharmacology, amok, dawa, physical privation and the fear factor, innate aggressive tendencies of man, and such. Those subjects have all been leading up to this post.

Now, it seems that man possesses, as does our ape relatives, an innate aggressive tendency. And yet certain factors in our world work against those tendencies, mainly physical danger, the fear factor, and physical privation, along with various societal taboos against killing and such. Man seems to have conflict as a normal state of his being, and yet he is repelled from this normal state by environmental factors and his own fear. You are being pushed in one direction, and pulled away in another at the same time.

It has been observed by a number of authorities that in the militaries of the world, a common factor is the consumption of substances that "help" to overcome the inhibitions limiting the impulse to fight at "war" [the term war here includes a wide range of conflicts, such as large-scale warfare, or even street gang fighting].

In the militaries of the western world, alcohol is the substance of choice, for a variety of historical and cultural factors. Military people have always had the reputation for being heavy drinkers. Getting loaded, especially on weekends, or when "going to town" seems to be a favorite practice. In the militaries of non-western societies, where alcohol use is either forbidden or only used sparingly, opiates are the substance of choice. The famous British military historian John Keegan has commented that the pirates of the South China Sea used to dope themselves liberally with marijuana prior to attacking "European" vessels. This same sort of behavior was noted in the use of the same substance by American GI's in Vietnam. What is happening here is a loosening of inhibitions that allows many persons to do things they would not do if they were in a sober state of mind. These substances provide a temporary release from the privation and fear that inhibits the soldier. Debilitates that soldier so they become less effective, but this is secondary to the soldier who is less than able to handle their situation from a mental and physical standpoint.

Street gang members being interviewed are uniform that when describing "drive-by" shootings, it is a normal practice, almost always done, for the shooters to get high prior to "action". The same mentality exists among women participating in XXX rated movie shoots. These "actresses" are well known for getting "high as kites" prior to the movie being filmed. These people are doing something they know they should not be doing, are hesitant to do, and yet want to do. Getting high is a way of handling this.

Of course, with such practices as amok and dawa, we are dealing with mind control over body. All inhibitions have been done away by mind control. But this is not a common occurrence, although it shows how these inhibitions are understood by the practitioner and overcome.

coolbert.