Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Too fond of it

Confederate General Robert E. Lee once observed:

It is well that war is so terrible -- lest we should grow too fond of it.

Unfortunately for both ourselves and everyone else in the world, we have somehow become too fond of this terrible activity. Perhaps it's because we can now fight at arm's length with aircraft, drones, and other long-range weapons; perhaps because our cities and families are seldom if ever attacked; perhaps because we call it something else, such as "kinetic action", instead of "war"; perhaps because we hide the carnage from ourselves.

Whatever the case, we are definitely too fond of it.

[Note: There are several versions of this Lee quote. I selected the one I found most pleasing.]

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