Part 39 (1/2)
Others were external, expressed in the nature of the relation between the military and society: symbolic status, participation in power, expectations of recognition
Evolution of the e involved in defining andthe interactions characteristic of ressively oal-win the war-and less coordinated with civilian language, in which the discourse ofto the conflict occurred
Correspondingly, relations with the outside world-future members of the military, social and political institutions, cultural establishments, the church-took place in what appeared to be a different language
Changes in the structure of the practical experience of hurowing scale, had an influence both inside and outside theup the world constituted the of the military assumed the expectations and characteristics of literacy What would ee as military academies were probably established at this ti the nature of relations with subordinates just predated the y: the use of steaainst the Russians in 1905); the introduction of radio, telephone, and automotive transportation (all tested in Word War 1); and even the articulation of the concept of total war (by Erich Lindendorf) All these correspond to a pragmatic frameithin which literacy was necessary, and literacy's characteristic reflected upon new practical experiences The total war is of the same nature as the expectation of universal literacy: one literacy replaces all others There is to the military institution of the civilization of literacy an expectation of perulations, in hierarchies, and centralized structure, siion, education, science, art, and literature
There is also an expectation of centralism, and thus hierarchy and discipline These characteristics explain why almost all armies adopt similar literacy-based structures Guerrilla wars, in their earlythe American Revolution) and in their current forms in South America, for example, are illiterate in that they are not based on the conventions of literacy They unfold in a decentralizednucleii This is why erous today
Patterns of e recurrences associated with these patterns express attitudes and values pertinent to the praght of its literate experience, had a highly structured, al out war One of thethe Aht according to the rules that literate West Europe had established over the centuries Under circu to the end of the need for a generalized, all-enco literacy, these attitudes and values, expressed in language and in patterns of military activity, are exhausted, except where they are carried over to other forms of praxis, especially to politics and sports
As is the case with oal in itself, i rules on social and political circu World Wars I and II, the uise of various political and ideological justifications Military, orthe same characteristics of centralized rule asup where other overnment proved ineffective This happens today in many parts of the world that are still dedicated to economic and political models of the past, such as in South America, the Middle East, and Africa, for example
Froht under the sign of literacy was probably World War II The very fact that the last world war came to its final end after the atomic bomb was deployed is indicative of the fact that once one aspect of hue of scale, others are affected as well While the millions of victims (the majority of ere raised in the expectations of the civilization of literacy) ht make us reluctant to mention literacy, in fact, war's systematic cruelty and extermination power are the result of literacy characteristics i of the war oals In the history of World War II, the chapter about language is probably as enlightening as the chapters devoted to the neeapons it brought about: the precursors of modern rocket systems, in addition to the atoe-scale war understood that without the integrating force of literacy, exercised in and around the conflict, the enemy could not succeed Many books ritten about the escalation of hostility through the language of political and ideological discourse Many prejudices associated with this ere expressed in exquisitely literate works, supported by foruments On the other hand, some writers pointed out the weaknesses of literacy Roland Barthes, for example, studied its fascist nature Others mentioned the inadequacy of a mediuhts instead of revealing the thee of politics extended truly into the language of the conflict Thanks to radio and newspapers, as well as the rhetoric of rallies, it was able to address entire nations The industrial establishment, upon which the war machine was built, still ematic framework of literacy It was based on the industrialMillions of people had to be istically supported on many fronts The war involved eleplanned for a Blitzkrieg, threw all their limited resources into the preparation and execution of the war Europe was co from World War I The people were pro the well deserved recoainst this background, literacy was mobilized in all the areas where it could ious and national indoctrination, in the racist discourse of justifications and in articulating war goals
Ideological purposes and oals, expressed in literate discourse, addressed equally those on the front lines and their families Literacy actively supported self- discipline and restraint, the acceptance of centralis of extended production cycles of intense labor and relatively stable, although not necessarily fair, working relations
All these characteristics, as well as a self-induced sense of superiority, were reflected in the war Advanced levels of labor division and improved fore scale experience of factory labor marked the e ared entire societies It coies of exhaustion (blockades, crop destruction, interruption of any vital activities) and annihilation Millions of people were exterminated The structure of the ar was reflective of industrial systee quantities of raw material in order to mass-manufacture products of unifore use essential in work and market transactions oal, to the prosecution of the war From this perspective, it should becouage Efforts were also y embodied in it, as much ahead of tie to devise surprise or counter-strategies This is why language became a main field of operation Enee, but asecrecy) and did not spare ence, or hu forces encoded their plans The brightest ies of deceit were developed and applied, because knowing the language of the ene the ene with the obvious, I should state here clearly that the language of war is not the sae and is conceived and communicated in it Both are structurally equivalent and ee means to knohat the enemy wants to do and how and when In short, it matics of the enemy as defined under the circumstances of war, as these extended the circue projects our time and space experience, and since wars are related to our universe of existence, understanding the language of the enerated in the co hills to establish a good offensive position, crossing rivers in a defensivetroops behind enemy lines in a surprise oal pursued without the shared conventions ie Some people still believe that theof the ciphers of the Enig the function of language, in such an effort of millions of people, the center of the war effort Polish cryptoanalysts and the British operation, in which Alan Turing (the father of , reconstructing, and translating es that, re-enciphered in Allied codes (the ULTRA material), decisively aided the war effort
By the end of the war, the world was already a different place
But within the fraes in practical human self- constitution, a structural shi+ft to a different dynamics of life and work had started Various aspects related to the determinism that eventually resulted in the war started to be questioned through new practical experiences: the need to overcome national interests; the need to transcend boundaries, those boundaries of hate and destruction expressed in the war; the need to share and exchange resources
Visionaries also realized that the incremental increase in world population, despite the enormous number of deaths, would result in a new scale of huid systerees of liberty
The recent illiterate war in the Arabian Gulf, and the never-ending terrorist attacks all over the world, can be seen, in retrospect, as the progeny of the war that brought down the civilization of literacy The concept of Blitzkrieg and the dropping of the A-boasaki were a foretaste of the quick, efficient, illiterate war
The Nintendo war (a clich revisited)
Military all over the world disposes of the highest technology
Even countries that can afford to e armies-because of population density, relatively low salaries, and the ability to draft the entire population-seek the latest weapons that scientific discovery and technological progress can offer The weaponsthe numerous implications of this state of affairs, none is enius serves the cause of death and destruction In some countries, food reserves barely cover needs beyond a season or two; but the ement
Today the y ever created It is also beco an institution of a rather low level of literacy, publicly deplored and politically questioned This assertion applies less (but it still applies) to the command level, andthe topic of language proficiency, Darell Bott provides an interesting portrait of a person who joins the uist
After training in the Defense Language Institute, the individual loses 25 percent of his language skills and fails to e proficiency standards Every effort isit Darell Bott's description does not refer to an accidental, individual failure, but to the implicit dynamics of military practical experiences in the civilization of illiteracy A linguist, of all professionals, does not choose to lose literate language proficiency This proficiency is just not necessary for attaining the efficiency called for in thethis structural condition, arned for the illiterate warrior- and to the skills of reading and writing These skills dispense ideology, religion, history, geography, psychology, and sex education in concentrated doses The situation is paradoxical: what defines the practical experience of the , distributed responsibilities-conflicts with the traditional expectations of clear lines of command, hierarchy, authority, and discipline Thefromatics are welcohtening
Yes, a literate soldier can be better indoctrinated, subjected to the inherent arguments of literacy, of rules and authorities to be obeyed But the nature of the prag-of instructions, co on targets her than that afforded by literacy-based training, one needs the mented as the world itself, since clear- cut distinctions between good and bad no longer function effectively Centralized military experiences based on structures of authority and hierarchy are counterproductive in actual conflicts of coood exa this war, instructions were transmitted froh commanders not adept at the type of war Vietnam represented Even the President of the USA was effectively involved, h decisions that proved detriot the lesson of its own prag, as it did in Vietnam, the literate wars of Europe in a context of confrontation characteristic of the civilization of illiteracy
Memoirs, published too late (Robert MacNaovernment and the military kept from the public essential information that, in retrospect, rendered the loss of soar cycles of training, literacy included, belong to the previous prag warrior is over The experience of war changes as quickly as neeapons are invented The new scale of hulobal levels of efficiency impossible to attain if productive forces are withdrawn from productive experiences Once upon a tiuished itself as a separate body in the social texture The civilization of illiteracy reintegrated the nh efficiency From the complete suit of armor worn in medieval Europe (before firearms rendered it ineffective) to the plain-clothes one by, but, more important, new forms of self-constitution, and hence identification, becao in the battle at Deliuical weapons in the Gulf War are superficially related The saical riculture and in food preparation goes into cheical weapons of mass destruction
This is not a discourse in favor of efficient ar natural disasters, nor is it a discourse in favor of destructive wars, no matter who justifies them If it sounds like one, it is because the literate description of the structural background against which, whether we like it or not, the practical experience of the military takes place, bears the stamp of literate praxis In the civilization of illiteracy, the e that there is little that can, or should, be done to restore literacy as its coordinating mechanis optimal ies Neither is it, as so war The literate hu proved to be a war beast equal, if not superior, to the illiterate as subjected to impression and conscription, or who enlisted as a mercenary
Current s fro affects public support for s
These spoil the fun and games that expensive missiles provide, the reason for which the Gulf War was nickna the Netizens, despite their reluctance to ehly efficient, sophisticated digitally programmed systems do not relate to space and tie in respect to the implicit coordination expected in war The kinds of interaction that military praxis requiresthe humented beyond human perception and control; space expands beyond what a person can conceive and control Major components of a war machine are placed in outer space and synchronized by extreic Defense Initiative (dubbed Star Wars) was the most advertised exa troops in the desert, are a matter of routine The expressive power required for increasing e of irrationality, collides with the require coic plans Coordination of sophisticated infore frequently not precise enough, or fast enough, to accommodate very dynamic processes At speeds beyond that of sound at which battles are fought with airplanes, rockets, satellites, and et would be late in pressing a trigger, not tofor the command to fire