BBKristopher.com

I just posted this over on Baen's Bar. It's a bit jumbled and rambling, but you get that. Anyway, it's a reply to a Chief Petty Officer who's more than a little upset about the treatment the military is receiving in the press.

I don't really know what to say Robin, except to hang in there.

I know the price the troops are paying. It fills me with awe that someone would do the job. It makes me wish I'd been able to wear the uniform.

I don't like the current administration's policies. But it absolutely sickens me to see the military attacked. You guys don't get a choice. You just get orders. You follow those orders. You stand between us and harm because you swore an oath, because you ere ordered to and because it's your duty. I don't expect our soldiers to be saints, but I think, by and large, the best of us are in uniform, or have been at some point in their lives. I don't know of any better expression of love of country and love of your fellow man than to put that uniform on.

I don't think the people who don't understand responsibility. I also don't think they really understand quite how civilization works.

I think civilization is, by it's nature, averse to violence and force. War is the ultimate expression of Barbarism. It is the opposite of civilization, so civilization rightly abhorse it.

The problem is, no civilization can survive without the ability to, at times, engage in a bit of barbarism. The ability to employ force, violence and the power of the sword in its own defense is key to the survival of civilization.

But what makes a civilization great is how it employees them. A civilization can keep a group of barely tame barbarians, i.e. warriors, to do its fighting, or it can take force, violence and power, hammer them into a mold of civilization and produce soldiers.

I think, what we're seeing in the media is the conflict that exists between the desire for civilization, and the necessity of the incorporation of an element of bararism into the core of that civilization.

It's a tough problem. Kind of like (pardon the analogy) sheep dogs. The sheep may know the dog is there to protect them. They may see the dog protecting them every day. But deep down, the sheep never for a moment forget that the dog and the wolf are just different forms of the same animal, and the only difference is the benevolence of the dog.

So, on one side, you've got the portion of our society that isn't part of the military, that knows the military is there to protect it, but has never quite managed to forget that deep down, there's a pack of wolves in the middle of the flock. They may be glad for the protection it offers, but they never sleep well at night.

On the other side, you've got the wolves, and the portion of our society that have accepted the wolves. The ones that only sleep at night because we know our wolves are the biggest, meanest wolves around, and who know that we don't have to fear them.

The analogy isn't perfect, and I'm running on to little sleep, but I think it will work.

Now, what's going on with our media and political situation is basically, you have a hand full of sheep who are pointing at a few wolves who've gone bad and screaming "There are Wolves!!! Oh My God!! There are wolves! They're going to eat us!"

Yeah, it's going to get some of the dumber sheep worked up, but the majority know better. They're just shaking their head and saying "Of course there are wolves you twit. But how about you pay attention to the three million plus wolves who haven't committed a crime since this started instead of the hand full that the wolves are already in the process of punishing?"

Just don't ask me to explain how John Kerry fits into this. A sheep in wolf's clothing maybe?