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<DIV><FONT size=2>I'm not sure if there is a connection and just what you mean
by "manhood" in this context. What you were told in kindergarten seems a
cultural thing. I was not told the same. I did not have the same
experience as you. Also, the kind of nationalism you're pointing to has
only been around for a few hundred years and really only started to catch on
around the world during the 19th and 20th centuries. Humans warred long
before that -- and given the events of chimp wars, it's likely proto-humans
warred too -- so this link between nationalism, manhood, and war seems tenuous
to me.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Or, to be charitable, I don't see much coming from it.
(I see you making a link between them, but I'm not convinced yet.:) I
don't think you'll be able to make much social change by pointing out that
manhood itself is somehow the cause of social evils. People have been
doing that for a long time and I'm not sure it's made things
better.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Then again, maybe one could link the intensity of warfare to
rise of nationalism and of the increase in ideological wars. By the latter
is meant wars that are not self-limiting and purely territorial. Medieval
wars, e.g., for the most part were territorial disputes and thereby
self-limiting. Once the victor got the land he was after, the war pretty
much ended and the goal was rarely total destruction of the enemy.
Ideological wars, on the other hand, tend to become total wars and really only
end with the annihilation of one party. E.g., you don't defeat fascism,
communism, capitalism, Christianity, Islam, etc. until all their believers are
converted or wiped out (or, at least, a significant number of them are wiped out
to neutralize them as a movement).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Would manhood fit into this? Perhaps. It could be
harnessed -- as can any facet of culture -- to bolster the war-making
effort. Heck, during WW1 and WW2, motherhood was used to whip people into
a war frenzy. Is motherhood to blame for war?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>And a better way to lessen wars would be to slash government
military budgets (down to zero if possible), lower the size of the government
military (again, down to zero), abandon many foreign commitments, and foster, as
much as possible, free trade through unilaterally opening markets.
Privatizing military forces would probably be best too. If each person had
to pay the direct cost of all the military she or he wanted, I think most people
would opt for purely defensive forces and there would be a marked drop in
foreign adventures -- save for those few who felt some kind crusading
spirit. Those few would be very few indeed and their leaving on such
adventures would likely be no great loss and even a welcome respite from their
bleeding heart asinine harangues.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Regards,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Dan</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://uweb1.superlink.net/~neptune/">http://uweb1.superlink.net/~neptune/</A></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=albrooks2006@yahoo.com href="mailto:albrooks2006@yahoo.com">Alan
Brooks</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org
href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">ExI chat list</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, December 15, 2005 1:05
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [extropy-chat] my country, right
or wrong</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT><FONT size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Perhaps you are right here, however don't you see the crucial
link between war and manhood? I suspect as long as men will be men,
then war will be war. I can clearly remember being told in kindergarten about
forty five years ago of how "a real man will lay down his life and
serve his Country"-- right or wrong; the situation hasn't changed all
that much since then. We're inching forward like snails and it's time to admit
it.</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT><BR>>> Also, Alan's view seems to smack of an
everywhere similar,<BR>>> constant socio-cultural evolution. In fact,
the opposite seems<BR>>> true: different patterns and rates of change
all over the<BR>>> place. Regards, Dan<BR></DIV><BR>nattering nabob of
positivism since 1976</BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>