Soldiers on Facebook and the worship of Death
Facebook, of course, has its plusses and minuses. One of the much talked about plusses is the ability it gives its users to reconnect with people from their pasts. As is well known to FB users, this can also be a minus when the reconnection proves awkward.
Today I received a “friend request” from a high school friend. I went to a small Catholic high school in West Virginia and because we had a small class, we were pretty tight. Before approving his request I clicked to his (limited) profile and noted that since high school he had joined the Marines. His profile picture showed himself and a military friend showing off their (gigantic) guns. Thinking to myself, “Let’s see how this goes,” I approved the request.
As I usually do, I clicked back to his profile to see the rest of it, and saw that he had posted, approvingly, the following video. (Warning: Although it depicts cartoonish violence, the content is undeniably racist. The backing track also includes extreme language.)
Facebook, MySpace, blogs, etc.—for better or worse—provide a glimpse into how real people think. There are a growing number of stories which relay the extremities of these glimpses, many of them involving the online behavior of soldiers.
What soldiers think is funny and what they are willing to share online with their “friends” is quite revealing. These are not soldiers-as-abstractions. This is what my Marine “friend” David thinks is funny. This is how David thinks. To my recollection, he did not think this way in high school. He was a just a burnt hippie who skipped school a lot.
To clarify, then, this is how David now thinks. Something in the meantime made him think this way. Is it unreasonable to presume that military training had something to do with it? As I argue in a paper currently under review for publication, military discipleship is a cycle of dehumanizing conversion that seems condemned to end always in death. Death becomes the very center of the person shaped by today’s u.s. military. It shapes his praxis, training him to kill without thought and without remorse. It shapes his ultimate concern, leading him (and u.s. society at large) to believe that his own willingness to die is what gives us freedom, what gives us “the good life,” what makes “our” country “great.” And it even shapes his sense of humor.
We tend to call the center of a person’s life—whatever that may be—the “god” that that person worships. We are beginning to see, in large and in small ways, that soldiering for the u.s. empire leads quite literally to the worship of Death.
I couldn’t bring myself to watch the video, but I know of what you speak.
Many Native American cultures had a process by which “warriors” were not integrated directly back into society after war, but were purified, ritually and spiritually, before they were re-integrated. They knew that the warriors had ceased to be “human” in the fullest sense of the world. They had to find their “personhood” once more.
Oh yeah, I’ve found FB to be very “enlightening” about people, as well. Eeeeps.
Peace.
*fullest sense of the word.
that was pretty disturbing stuff. i think you’re right, it’s precisely in the “jokes” and “hyperboles” that unconscious fantasies are manifest. in this case, i think the outward celebration of this perversity makes one wonder what else lies latent that they would consider ‘indecent’ to share. maybe it’s best that we don’t know…
Facebook has done something positive for me actually. I find myself living in this bubble of liberalism in NYC. My immediate family is super liberal. And most of my friends & coworkers are too. Through some facebook interaction I’ve had a chance to see how pervasive racism, sexism and plain old ignorance really is among people my age (early 30s). I went to the same school as Michael and I’ve seen more hate-filled things by our schoolmates than I ever remember encountering in person. It’s scary but I don’t think what they are willing to post is even the tip of what is in their hearts.
Sorry – the “positive” thing I mentioned is that it has given me a window into a world I’d rather pretend isn’t out there. At least I know what I’m up against.
As perhaps another example of anecdotal evidence, one of my acquaintances from high school (graduate five years ago) routinely updates his status to say that he is “slaying bodies.” He has been a Marine for a few years. From the “mini feed,” I’ve noticed that several other friends who are in the military or family/friends of someone in the military are very active in the groups that aim themselves at stopping/censoring the anti-military groups on facebook. Once I wandered over to one of the discussion boards for these groups, and it was incredible. The internet is both a blessing and curse in that it gives everyone a way to voice themselves.
Re: your paper, I found the structure of the argument to be pretty convincing (of course having not read it). I also think it might be interesting to chronicle the pervasive logic from the “inside,” so to speak.
I have had similar experiences with friends who have made aliyah in Israel. They now post stuff glorifying killing Palestinians or posting very racist stuff that I have trouble relating to something anybody would actually feel comfortable to admitting in a social situation. It is as if Facebook “okays” the exposure of the darkest, seamier side of a lot of people. On the other hand, I am sure that many of my old friends from high school say the same about me, as in, “when did she become such a commie?” or however they may see me from their own standpoint.
An interesting post. I remember my temporary time as a psychology major and reading the book “On Killing” written by a former general who helped develop the current training regiments in the military. He notes that naturally we have a strong aversion to violence and killing. Some interesting statistics come up about untrained soldiers actually deliberately missing their targets to avoid killing. The book goes on to point out the strategies that allow one to overcome these aversions. Essentially it involves dehumanizing the enemy and distancing oneself as far as possible from the actual kill. Dropping bombs is apparently much easier than hand to hand combat.
All in all the book made me rather sick because there was no debriefing process. There is no retraining that goes on.
Your putting the term ‘marine’ and ‘military’ on the same level. You shouldn’t do that. Going further within the term ‘marine’ you have quite a continuum of types of people. This example you’ve shown is most likely an example of a marine ‘grunt.’ Everyone within the military knows that marine grunts are crazy people. You shouldn’t bring the entire military down to that level in your mind though. Dehumanizing the enemy has been a strategy in every war we have ever fought. Red coats, rebs, nazis, chinks, and now hadji. People don’t like killing people, but if your killing a hadji its different in their head. I’ll agree with your point if your speaking specifically of marine grunts, but I do think in order to have a successful military, you do need some crazy people on your side.
wow, i don’t know if i really censor myself or what, but that video was extremely disturbing. How can such hatred even exist? I have nothing intelligent to add to the conversation, i am just in utter disbelief.