A major problem facing America today is that both our individual minds
and the communities we form have been
infiltrated by a military-industrial mindset. Since this influence takes hold
in the early years of life, I recently wrote the first of what will be a series
of articles proposing that the peace community promote a holistic approach to
the problem of raising children, in our schools and in society.
The magnitude of the challenge confronting those who oppose America's military mindset can be inferred from observations made by the scholar Martin G. Clemis, who notes a striking collaboration between the American academy and the US military in developing effective counterinsurgency methods. Clemis points out, for instance, that "the new US Army/Marine Corps counterinsurgency manual reflects a unity of effort between the military and academic worlds rarely seen at the doctrinal or operational level. [This is b]ecause counterinsurgency operations are predicated upon an intimate understanding of human behavior as well as the social, economic, and political forces that can aggravate and encourage insurgents to take up arms against the standing authority." [1]
Making a more general point, Clemis adds that "the American military has called upon scholars to lend their expertise towards developing nonmilitary or "nonkinetic' prescriptions for battling "internal' war over the years. Since the early 1960s many within the academic community have answered that call. Such participation, however, has sparked a bitter debate among members of both academe and the military." [2]
My own first writing on this subject, which focused on Whistle Blowers, indirectly raised the point of America's need for heroes who will stand up to the infiltration of our society by war hysteria and the values of those who advocate endless war. In this second article, I want to share my own thoughts and thought experiments of three decades ago to 1) show how we have come to the level of bad thinking that dominates our society's acceptance of a militarized state, and to (2) motivate readers to think about and bring to the attention of others heroes for peace they have come to know or to read about in their own lives.
Some of My Own Whistle-Blower Heroes
In my short article about whistle blowers, entitled "The Relationship between an SS Whistle Blower in Nazi Germany and What We Need To Be Witnessing MORE of," the principal hero was Kurt Gerstein, a Nazi death camp officer. You can read the piece at http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005840.
In addition to Kurt Gerstein, I referred in this article to six more recent figures that can be cited in educating Americans about heroes in our own country who have sought to marginalize the military cast of our national mindset that has been dominant for many decades. These recent heroes are:
(1) "Chelsea" Bradley Manning, US Army Whistle Blower
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chase-madar/why-bradley-manning-is-a-_b_821378.html
(2) Edward Snowden, NSA Contractor Whistle Blower
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/americas-spies-want-edward-snowden-dead
(3) Kirk Wiebe, NSA Whistle Blower
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/17/opinion/wiebe-snowden-amnesty/
(4) Ed Loomis, NSA Whistle Blower
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