Watching the National Geographic story of Blackbeard the Pirate reminded me that man’s inhumanity to man changes slowly, if at all.
From the Old Testament story of God-ordered mass murder and rape in Numbers 31, to pillage and rape throughout history (including the Crusades), mass unnecessary cruelty to others has been the norm, particularly in war.
Some in our society cannot differentiate between rape rooms or beheadings, and severe interrogations. They believe there is a moral equivalency between a beheading and waterboarding.
In the Blackbeard story as told by Blackbeards’ ship Captain after he was granted immunity, one disarmed and defeated man is stabbed to death as he lay prone on a deck and Blackbeards own wife (the daughter of a North Carolina merchant, married when Blackbeard went “straight” for a brief period) is given to the crew for their pleasure when she lightly insults him ashore. She is never heard from again.
There is a bit of Walter Mitty in each of us and we imagine ourselves able to complete passes like Colt McCoy, or pilot a jet like Chuck Yeager, or drive a Ferrari like Lewis Hamilton. Reality is far, far different from our imagination as I discovered when I was once on the grid with the then world racing champion Stirling Moss. (I would have had a “driving lesson” if I had ever been close enough to see him!)
Sitting in Starbucks is not sufficient training for the blood lust and terror of battle, and this nation has been fortunately spared the widespread terror of battle on our shores for more than a century, but even at that there was a visceral reaction immediately after 9/11 that has palpably waned. (War is often worse for civilians who are not armed, armored or trained and are casual targets for both sides)
The highest fear factor most people face is their first driving test, but that is not nearly so high as a pilots test, and that is nothing compared to landing a plane, which is again nothing compared to racing a car or landing on a carrier at night, neither of which cannot even compare to close-in combat in any form.
Even though we have sanitized war to bombing from 14,000 feet, or launching intercontinental missiles, much of war still belongs to cold steel and hot lead.
It is highly personal, the province of screams and slow death, and not susceptible to the Geneva, or Washington, and certainly not to Starbucks or Blogs by those who have no more terror on their mind above a rapidly cooling cappuccino.
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