The third world, experts, what to believe, and war.

Reading and listening to experts, pundits, columnists, academics, bloggers, government officials, lawyers, and politicians, I feel like the person listening to the five wise blind men describing an elephant that recently arrived in their village of all blind people.

Most of us have not lived in the third world. Most of us think that having running water and forced air heat is a right, not a privilege. And most of us have a classical western history of the world. Few of us have been well exposed to how the eastern half of humanity lives and thinks about things. Most of us have not been in the military and educated by that method, especially the USMC that has specialized in the third world.

One classical quote I often use is: “For lack of knowing what to do, we do what we know”. This classical quote is western and from the last two hundred years. As leaders get more senior, the impacts of this quote become more serious.

And then there is H.G. Wells’ book “Outline of History” first written in the late 1920’s. His stated objective is to record the “other “ history of the world, though as I read it, it is mostly about Europe, central Asia, the sub-continent, and the Chinese part of the world. South America, Antarctica, and Australia are almost nonexistent in this book as Wells reconstructs the history of Europe, Asia and to a lesser extent, Africa. Yet this is a good book to start with when pursuing eastern history, values, and religions.

And to be trendy, there are always the references to Sun Tzu, who I have read (first time in 1966) and still don’t buy much of his military line. Musashi and “The Book of Five Rings” is a better read, to me.

Back to the Marines. Learning what is important to the other side, how they think, and how they organize and operate is a big deal. When one Marine’s published thoughts about an enemy capability and an enemy intent can be a career stopper it gets my attention. I expect this also applies to the CIA, etc.

One story from the Marines in the 1930‘s comes to mind. Evans Carlson, both a son of New York and a Congregationalist minister, was sent by our USMC to travel with Mao and his march army, and we, the USA, got the best information and intelligence we could hope for. Much of what Mao did had some effective outcomes from his point of view, and the resulting reports and leadership styles from Carlson often bit him in the rear end, later. At least the phrase “gung ho”, “working together“, came out of all this, be it a Evans Carlson translation of the meaning.

Sometimes leaders make mistakes. Sometimes, with hindsight, other courses of action or selection of other leaders might have made things better in accomplishing our mission. I suspect reports of poor performance, poor planning, or poor understanding of the third world on our part, still exist for those such as Carlson or even more normal western civilian and military leaders. In the case of war, the enemy always fights us and compounds our mistakes. But no enemy is ten feet tall, and we can do the same to them.

Recently, on a blog, I saw a Marine be criticized for his report of his opinion. No sweat I think in my old way of life. The process is healthy and that is what is important. I also did not fall off the turnip truck yesterday, so I readily admit my naivety in promoting the benefits of honest discussion in any decision making process.

Of course if I have a mission to accomplish, then I will be ruthless and selfish in my pursuit of information, and intelligence (processed information). But like the person listening to the five wise blind men describe the elephant, it is always a difficult process and fraught with errors. This is especially difficult when I am western trained and I am dealing with those from eastern up-bringing. And, by the way, there is no monolithic eastern way of thinking. As in politics, most things are local.

There are no experts in war at the beginning of any war, especially when there exist elements of east vs. west. Much of the previous discussion suggests why. At the end of the war, there will be experts on that war. Hence the expression that humans are usually preparing to fight the last war has a basis in history. And “for lack of knowing what to do, we do what we know“. And war is not a “zero defects” art.

That we are in a world war with a radical minority of the Islam is obvious to me. Apparently, it is not as obvious to many fellow citizens, be that in the war’s existence or possible deleterious effects on my country, the United States of America. This radical minority of Islam is not our moral equivalent, either.

The war I refer to is a world war, not the present middle east war, currently in a cease fire for now.

I do believe we have something unique here in the USA, it is special, is always in need of improving, can and is being improved from the inside (to include prosecution of the war), and is worth preserving. The emigration trend line from the third world to the USA (in the millions) says the same thing, albeit in another way.

Am I missing something, better informed, or skewed by my western up-bringing?