tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077210.post114331060867421054..comments2024-03-28T08:37:58.136+01:00Comments on Limited, Inc.: more on anti-recruitment -- leaflet workRoger Gathmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11257400843748041639noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077210.post-59274676423783538482007-04-08T22:10:00.000+02:002007-04-08T22:10:00.000+02:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077210.post-1143395690061273472006-03-26T19:54:00.000+02:002006-03-26T19:54:00.000+02:00Anonymous, thanks for that link. There are some in...Anonymous, thanks for that link. There are some interesting reactions there, having to do with: why make another anti-recruitment appeal?; shouldn't we let the Republicans fuck up completely, so we can crow about it later and say it wasn't our fault; and this is a naive appeal that doesn't comprehend why people sign up for the military. The third one is something I am interested in. As Nate says, there is a class component to signing up. Looking about for the demographics of recruitment, you find that recruiters are increasingly going to the country to get high school kids, that there has been a considerable drop in the level of urban kids, and also drops in the levels of blacks and Pacific Northwesterners, and a slight rise in the number of hispanics. <BR/>The commentor at the DailyKos who said this read like a 2004 election piece is, I think, mistaking the mention of Bush and Cheney's record for one of blame - I am, instead, using them as templates to imitate. This is very tricky, because the field has been so littered here with rhetorical devises that one automatically assumes that the mention of a "chickenhawk" precedes yet another demand that said chickenhawk hie himself to Iraq. Instead, I am urging that the powerless imitate the powerful. <BR/><BR/>I keep thinking that my ideal audience consists of high schoolers in Las Cruces, New Mexico or Hibbings, Minnesota -- places in which the military represents a real opportunity for economic and social advancement. <BR/><BR/>But the countryside also contains a reservoir of individualism and suspicion of the state -- for good reason. I believe the fairness issue -- is it fair that they ask you to go? -- can mesh with the social disruption issue -- are you prepared to spend all of your money on rearranging your life as you are deployed three or four times -- are you prepared for the grief of your parents, wife, kids -- which can mesh, ultimately, with the appeal to patriotism -- a cowardly congress that refuses to declare war for a concrete cause allows a president to use soldiers like mercenaries for as long as he choses. You can make a difference simply by refusing to go NOW. That kind of thing. <BR/>This will neither be anti-military, per se, nor even anti-Bush, per se -- it will be aimed squarely at not going to Iraq. <BR/>Anyway, thanks for the link to the Kos. I found those remarks helpful.Roger Gathmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11257400843748041639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077210.post-1143390786437412222006-03-26T18:33:00.000+02:002006-03-26T18:33:00.000+02:00There is a link to this on dKos. You can find more...There is a link to this on dKos. You can find more comments at: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/26/92751/5225Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077210.post-1143361739124461512006-03-26T10:28:00.000+02:002006-03-26T10:28:00.000+02:00Roger,Thanks for this. I need to read it again whe...Roger,<BR/>Thanks for this. I need to read it again when I'm more awake. Your opening four lines or so really hit home. I'd love to talk with you about this further eventually, I think a viable and long term anti-militarist politics is a pressing issue. I think the refusal of war would best start (paralleling your comments on Tronti) by trying to understand the specifics of the processes of production and finance of war, including the securing of adequate raw materials for the death machines (ie, young people to be sacrificed). In the meantime, you might be interested in some material at No War But The Class War:<BR/>http://www.geocities.com/nowar_buttheclasswar/<BR/><BR/>Best wishes,<BR/>NateNatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08918436253681803057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077210.post-1143322178613368932006-03-25T22:29:00.000+01:002006-03-25T22:29:00.000+01:00Paul, talk about a backhanded compliment! and to i...Paul, talk about a backhanded compliment! and to imagine, I saved you from committing a dastardly deed out of sympathy for Victor Hugo's characters.<BR/><BR/>Actually, to do this pamphlet right, I will have to push buttons that normally don't concern me too much. Ones that would infuriate you. But these are times that try men's vanity -- including the intellectual vanity of trying to be sophisticated and complex, when you just need a crowbar.Roger Gathmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11257400843748041639noreply@blogger.com