US vs SG Soldiers

At a recent bilateral exercise between USA and our SAF, the commanding officers were having a friendly argument over which side had the bravest soldiers.

The USA CO summoned one soldier over. "You will be sent to our Ranger's jungle survival course. 21 days in the jungle, no supplies. You will only be given a knife and nothing else. The jungle is filled with hungry leopards, venomous snakes, and spiders larger than your hand. Will you do it?"

"SIR YES SIR!!! HURRAH 'MURICA!! LETS GO IMMA GO GET EM!!". Given his strong display of bravado, surely he's one of the bravest soldier representing USA.

Not to be upstaged, the Commander of the SAF called over the nearest NSF. The commander told him exactly the same request word-for-word.

"SEOW AH!? You go hong gan lah want limpeh do dunno what shit. You talk so big you ownself go and do ok? WGT ORD LOH!" With that said, the young soldier gave the Commander a rude gesture and promptly walked away.

And so the argument over which side had the bravest soldiers was settled without any further dispute.

 

(via What is the most Singaporean joke you know? I'll start. : askSingapore)

Why Muslims can't rise to Senior Positions in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF)

From 2011:



"Before dinner officially begins, a punch ceremony is held to concoct a mixture that embodies the SAF"

"This punch ceremony that we have is to mix a few drinks into a concoction, to show the flavor of our SAF. And the service chiefs led by Chief of the Defence Force and the SAF Sergeant Major will do the honors."

"Water, an important part of life, signifies purity and neutrality. Bombay Sapphire gin, the color of the sky and named after a gemstone represents the Air Force, the jewel of the SAF, always ready, capable and above all.

Blue Curacao, the colour of the sea, represents the Navy and conveys importance, confidence, efficiency, authority, stability, and unity.

Campari, a vibrant red, represents the army and symbolizes dynamism, speed and confidence which are the backbone of the army.

Johnnie Walker gold label. A deep golden hue is a mark of power and refinement, and represents excellence in leadership, grandeur, as well as richness in every aspect.

When mixed together, they form a concoction that represents and brings together the many aspects of the SAF."

"Cheers!"


Ingredients:

Perrier Sparkling Mineral Water
Bombay Sapphire Gin (Air Force)
Blue Curacao (Navy)
Campari (Army)
Johnny Walker Gold Label (Leadership)

I find it funny they call this an SAF tradition when this is the inaugural dining in.


Reddit:

"Uhh the ones pouring are your CEOs of ST kinetics, CPF board, Perm Sect of education and minister for education... Interesting..."

Why are there no Muslims in some sectors of the Singapore Army and Navy?

Why are there no Muslims in some sectors of the Singapore Army and Navy? - Quora

J Cheng: "During the communal riots, the partiality of the army was in question. There are reports of soldiers siding with the Malays. The situation was so dire that bodies of victims were painted black to prevent identification of their race. There are also stories of how soldier forced doctors to treat Malays instead of Chinese at gun point! In response, the British, confined these units to barracks and brought in the 5th Gurka Rifles from Hong Kong to patrol the streets. This restored order in Singapore and Malaya."


Terence Helikaon Nunis: "Singapore’s SAF does not discriminate against the Muslims. We have a lot of Muslims in sensitive positions. I am, myself, a Muslim convert, and I have never felt that I lacked opportunities because of my religion. The issue was Malays, for historical reasons. The real reason why there were no Malays in much of the SAF is not found in our history books. It is no longer classified, but it is a forgotten episode, just like much of the events during the period of our Separation from Malaysia and the Konfrontasi. For those interested, there are people around who lived during that period, and were there when it happened, although all of them are very old. Or, they could look through the archives, and wade through old reports.

When Singapore separated from Malaysia, the divorce was painful. In the election prior, when the PAP campaigned in Malaysia for a “Malaysian Malaysia”, instead of a “Malay Malaysia”, UMNO were outraged and played the race and religion card.

The main instigator was Syed Jaafar Albar, the so-called “Lion of UMNO”. He was a radical Malay supremacist, despite the fact that he was clearly Yemeni Arab, and not Malay. He was vehemently against Singapore’s separation from Malaysia, and resigned as secretary-general of UMNO in protest. He went as far as to advocate that Malaysia militarily occupy Singapore.

At the time of Separation, almost half of the troops based here were from Malaysia. When the British gave control of the various units to Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, they neglected to consider that the units were recruited from all over the Malay Peninsula. We had Singapore-born Malays and Malaysian-born Malays in the armed forces and the police.

The 4th Malaysian Infantry Brigade consisted of two infantry regiments of about 1,000 soldiers each. Just over half of them were Malaysian, and they had divided loyalties. They were commanded by Brigadier-General Syed Mohamed Alsagoff, a relative of Syed Albar, and another Yemeni Arab. To say that he did not get along with Lee Kuan Yew is to put it mildly. He claimed it was a joke when he told Lee Kuan Yew that he could have had the PAP leaders arrested and shot. Lee Kuan Yew and his family moved out of the Istana and borrowed the Gurkha Regiment to guard them.

The Malaysian troops, all ethnic Malays, mutinied. Just over half of them supported Malaysia. One of the Singapore officers was killed. It was Col. Alkaff, BG Alsagoff’s cousin, who negotiated a withdrawal of the Malaysian troops. The 4th Malaysian Infantry Brigade withdrew from Singapore by November of 1967. The murderers of the Singapore officer were arrested. Two were hanged, and the others were only released from detention a decade or so ago.

As a consequence, Lee Kuan Yew used the Land Acquisition Act to dismantle the Alsagoff family landholdings in Singapore. Conscription was instituted, but no Malays were conscripted at first. The reconstituted Commandos, once dominated by Malays, now had none. The Singaporean Malay officers and NCOs, even though they did not mutiny, were either never promoted or were let go. This included the entire ethnic Malay cohort of officer cadets. And of course, Singapore invited a few countries to come and train our soldiers. Only Israel accepted. They stood by us when we had nothing, and we do not forget our friends.

Over the decades, that has slowly been eased. One of the reasons is because we have forged our own destiny as a nation, and there is no longer any real reason for us to doubt Singaporean Malays. This generation should no longer pay for the sins of a generation that has almost died out. Even the Malay community is ignorant of this. Another reason is that due to the low fertility, we need every Singaporean, every citizen counts. We cannot disregard qualified people simply on the lottery of birth. Now, even madrasah students have to serve National Service, which should be seen as a sign that they are trusted to serve their country.

Will we have Malay commandos? We already do. Malay fighter pilots? We have one, and I still remember that there was a huge discussion behind the scenes about whether we could trust him. Common sense prevailed. One of the reasons we do not have more Malay pilots is simply because they fail the selection test - particularly the mathematics test. We have Malays in many sensitive positions, from SIGINT to MINDEF itself. As long as you are qualified and determined enough, the SAF will take you, regardless of race or religion.

We do not have Muslims on naval vessels, but that is due to logistics, not religious discrimination. RSN’s policy is to not have vegetarians, Hindus who do not eat beef, or people who have any sort of food allergies. Our naval assets are meant to be ready for extended deployment. We do not have the luxury of stopping in the middle of a war to look for halal food. In any case, I personally do not condone this exceptionalism and religiosity."


Daniel Tan: "If it’s any comfort to you, though, the army places similar scrutiny on anyone with foreign relatives, has lived overseas for a long time or is otherwise “suspicious”. Such people are generally not allowed into sensitive divisions like Intelligence or Armour."


Weili Chiu: "During my national service, When I served as assistant manpower officer at headquarters singapore combat Engineers in 1996, I discovered that SAF has a manpower code for Muslims. It is ‘02’. ‘02’ personnel then were not allowed in the combat Engineers as it was deemed a sensitive unit. At that time, an Indian conscript declared himself a Muslim half way during a combat Engineers course. He had to be removed from the course as a result, due to his ‘02’ code. That was 1996, I am not sure if the situation is the same now."

On SAF's Safety Culture making things less safe

On Aloysius Pang:

"After every serious incident, a safety time out is always called; it was called after Gavin Chan's death, it was called after Dave Lee's death, it was called after Liu Kai's death. After some time, the safety time out will end, then what happens?

The safety time out is called also to review safety protocols. But it's not that safety protocols aren't there or not robust—the problem is that they are TOO robust, to the point that they are so onerous that people don't take them seriously. This is basic human factors and is a problem that Singapore in general has—in trying to cover backside so much, people get tired of all the hassle and find short-cuts.

The safety time out will work for a while because the onerous safety protocols will be re-emphasised and ensured. Even more protocols will be imposed. Then over time, people will forget, find short-cuts, and then something will happen again. It's a vicious circle."


Related (and previously linked):

How Technology Led a Hospital To Give a Patient 38 Times His Dosage

""The warnings in cockpits now are prioritized so you don’t get alarm fatigue,” he told me. “We work very hard to avoid false positives because false positives are one of the worst things you could do to any warning system. It just makes people tune them out.” He encouraged me to visit Boeing’s headquarters to see how its cockpit engineers manage the feat of alerting pilots at the right time, in the right way, while avoiding alert fatigue...

Like many of aviation’s safety solutions, the parsimonious approach to alerts came from insights born of tragedies. “The original ‘gear down’ warning was linked to the throttle,” recalled Myers, meaning that it went off, falsely, every time the pilot slowed the plane. “So the pilots’ learned response was throttle back, disconnect the alert.” Predictably, this led to accidents when pilots ignored this alert even when there truly was a problem. Another example: in the early days of the Boeing 727, some alerts were so frequent and wrong that pilots yanked the circuit breakers to quash them."

On Patrick Tan's vs Ben Davis's Deferments

"To be fair, it is not just the PAP elites who get such disruptions. When I was an 18yo in OCS, my Company mate was a 28yo NSF who came back to serve after being disrupted for post-grad studies. He came back with a Ph.D in engineering; we all called him Dr ***. He charged up hills in FBO like the rest of us, and during social night he brought his wife when most of us brought girlfriends...

[ex-S1 here]. What I'm saying is that it's not true that only PAP elites get disrupted to do Ph.D; I have a farmer who also got disrupted to study up to Ph.D."

Observations - 17th May 2018

"What 'multiculturalism' boils down to is that you can praise any culture in the world except Western culture - and you cannot blame any culture in the world except Western culture." Thomas Sowell

***

On the study which supposedly showed that homophobes are gay: "we learned in science class that watching a loved one run over by a car can cause an erection due to the extreme excitement and anxiety. This is clearly not a form of sexual excitement-with maybe a few warped exceptions."

Since courts in the developed world subscribe to the view that sexual assault is about power, not sex (that the accused is not sexually aroused by the alleged victim is not considered a defence), if a gay man is accused by a woman of sexual assault his sexuality would presumably not be a defence.

"Girls like the men in GQ, unfortunately the men in GQ also like the men in GQ...."


"*** once told me to shove it when i called gay people homosexual
its derogatory she said
i should be claling them gays and lesbians
and when i told her this is the most neutral term to call them, scientfically speaking she said fuck your science"


"percuma = free in Malay, useless in Indonesian"

"I've found a new way to explain what lppl is. Lppl = touche" (LPPL is typically said by other people though)

Bjorn means bear. Maybe Scandinavian male names are more funky than Anglo ones

How many people can read the Arabic signs at hawker stalls in Singapore? What if someone puts up one that says "warning: not halal"?


Military personnel are probably less respected in countries with mass conscription. Familiarity breeds contempt.

How does SAF mobilisation work if you live in Johor?


In Nazi concentration camps, escape put other prisoners at risk as they would be punished for the escapees' "crimes".

Other prisoners would also have to work harder to take up the slack created by the escapees' escape.

Prisoners (not just prisoners of war but also undesirables) were also told that their efforts were necessary for the country's war effort and survival.

The parallels with National Slavery are uncanny.


Amused that you can use VBE to make an Excel sheet not just Hidden but VeryHidden

After eating Indian food for almost every meal for 9 days, I started to smell like curry. So now I have personal evidence for the "why Indians smell different" theory

If you're slow to reply to others, should you expect others to be quick to reply to you?

"Someone should write a book about things Malcolm Gladwell has gotten wrong."

"I have witnessed quite a few work incidents where colleagues slice chilli padi then go take a piss. Didn't end well for them."

The best things about an activity tracker are being able to monitor your sleep and being notified when someone calls you

Why do Americans use ounces but not drachms or grains but instead grams? Can't we at least get consistency?

The "low importance" email flag is so rarely used that when I see an "unimportant" email I actually pay more attention to it

Observations - 7th May 2018

"If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today." - Thomas Sowell

***

If the courts in Singapore knew that the right legal ruling would cause racial riots, how would they rule? National Propaganda always talks about the Maria Hertogh riots, but they never say what should've been done. Probably because there would've been no good outcome

If so many laws in Singapore have an exemption for the government doesn't that mean that the government is above the law? Rule of law means that the government is constrained by the law, after all

One big problem with the National Myth of NS is that it's played like a trump card that no one can ever argue with. Given the breathless rhetoric, it's almost like serving NS is as good as dying for your country. And when it conflicts with other narratives (like importing foreigners to augment/replace the shrinking population)...


Why are libertarians so in love with markets and property rights, excluding other forms of human interaction and organisation?

If, as leftists tell us, free trade agreements are anti democratic aren't international law and international organisations anti-democratic? Down with the UN!


What happens if someone with a guide dog wants to enter a space occupied by someone with a dog allergy?

Meritocracy and social immobility are only contradictory if one assumes merit is randomly distributed in the population

"The thread could be about chocolate chip cookies and you'd find a way to bring Trump into the discussion. 😁"

"Most US police departments only require a high school diploma. Pretty scary."
Why is elitism okay in certain situations?

[On Crazy Rich Asians] "In any case, it’s a fiction? Surely, it perpetuates certain stereotypes but hey i dont watch harry potter and believe there are some magical beings flying the skies of UK."

"a Hollywood reproduction of a Hollywood storyline... with Asian faces... Hollywood studios and a Hollywood distribution company. Plus Kevin Kwan and Jon Chu are only slightly more Asian than I am (and I have no Asian heritage AFAIK)! As they say in the movie ... Asian on the outside, White on the inside."
The bar for "diversity" gets ever higher

Quite sure that those who demand that the media must portray "reality" would protest and complain about racism if the majority of drug addicts in Singapore media were Malay

"Adolf Hitler was a failed liberal arts student who blamed everything on ethnicities he deemed privileged."

"there was a discussion thread on the Holocaust
and some black person said fuck Jews, black people are dying
long story short, someone came out and said "Jews never asked for anything special cos they went thru the Holocaust. They just carried on. BLack people are often asking for handouts because of something that happened hundreds of years ago to their ANCESTOR"

"a liberal acquaintance was challenging me to prove that liberals were less tolerant of dissenting views than conservatives, i posted him the studies which showed liberals were 3 times more likely to unfriend.
he unfriended me."


"What Trump has done since election:
- Made nothing but positive statements;
- Said gay marriage is established law
- Won't repeal Obamacare but may improve it
- Refuses to accept presidential salary;
-Told his supporters that are causing issue to stop;

What Hilary's supporters have done since his election:
- Rioted;
- Attempted to change politics via mob rule;
- Disowned their children"


‘’Women make up more than half of the world’s population and potential. It is neither just nor practical for their voices to go unheard… Women need a seat at the table. And when that isn’t available, then you know what? They need to create their own table.’’
"Said Meghan markle...... Marrying into royalty.... Rather than making her own table"

"What boys [will be] boys really means: "guys rough house and are kind of gross"
What feminist say boys [will be] boys means: "Men believe rape is ok especially if they were wearing something revealing""

Will Singapore really collapse if we allow Alternative Service for NS?

One of the many distasteful aspects of National Slavery is the lack of choice of alternative service (AS) - those who are unwilling and/or unable to serve militarily cannot opt out of this (and do something else).

Defenders of the NS Status Quo (many of whom believe that the Country will collapse if any changes at all are made to the current system) claim that if there were a choice of alternative service, everyone would choose it, we would be left with an insufficient number of warm bodies to be cannon fodder and Singapore would be invaded the day after.

It is thus instructive to look at countries with alternative service, and how this has affected their ability to get sufficient military manpower.

Alternative Service in Europe

From European Union without Compulsory Military Service: Consequences for Alternative Service. A comparative study on the policies in EU-member states we can see what alternative service rates are.

For countries with appropriate figures for comparison (Conscientious Objectors (COs) vs serving military conscripts):

From 1993 to 1995 (when conscription was winding down) Belgium had 19,676 doing military service but 737 doing alternative service (AS). That's an alternative service rate of only 3.7%.

In Denmark there are 8,000 conscripts a year and from 1995-1999 figures only a tenth applied for AS.

In Finland only 6% of conscripts become COs.

In France, when they still had conscription less than 3% applied as COs each year.

In the Netherlands at its highest only 8% applied for AS.

In Portugal, for the last year figures were available (1996) less than 10% applied to be CO.

Note that in these Western European countries they are not bombarded with jingoistic messages about the necessity of conscription, it is not part of some sacred national myth, and the politicians do not propagate a crisis mentality.

These statistics also date from the 90s - after the end of the Cold War and before 9/11, when there was no clear enemy in sight and people wanted to enjoy the peace dividend.

Most of these countries are also under the NATO umbrella and can count on the USA to help defend them - and yet very few potential conscripts choose AS.

Finally, note too that Europeans are cheese-eating surrender monkeys - and yet so few of them apply for exemption from military conscription.

So if anything, in Singapore the proportion applying for alternative service would be even lower, and wouldn't significantly affect National Security. This is also without taking into account the fact that many people currently siam (shirk/escape) NS obligations in one way or other, so we can conclude that if there were the option for AS many would take it without significantly affecting military manpower.

Some might claim that military service in Singapore is much worse than in these countries, so the AS rate in Singapore would be higher if there were such an option. Yet, in Russia - where conscription is much shittier than in Singapore, there are few who opt for AS. A cohort has 130,000 conscripts but only 800-2,600 conscientious objectors, so only 0.6-2% opt for AS.

It is not as if European countries can afford to have alternative service because they have no security threats: Finland and Estonia (who have a real threat in the form of Russia next door - a threat that has been very real in the past) also have alternative service (as noted above, Finland had a AS rate of only 6%, and in Estonia from 1995-2001 they only had 11 COs - in 1996, vs 2,652 who completed military service in 2015; a naive division suggests that the AS rate was only 0.4%). I note that Estonia has 1.3 million people and Finland 5.3 million, so their manpower pool is not more than Singapore's (and their land area is a lot bigger so in one frame of analysis, more men are required to defend them).

Greece also has alternative service, despite historical and ongoing tensions with Turkey (e.g. over Cyprus); in 1999 there were "more than 200" COs out of 98,321 - given an average service length of about a year this is about 0.2% (though there're many draft dodgers)

Taking a historical view, I note also that West Germany - on the border of the Iron Curtain and thus a prime candidate for invasion if the Cold War turned Hot - also had alternative service

Alternative Service in Other Countries

We can look, too, at alternative service statistics for a country which actually has real enemies and has actually been involved in real combat: Taiwan (South Korea doesn't have the option of alternative service).

In Taiwan, out of a total of 150,000 conscripts per year, there're 17,000 to 23,000 performing alternative service every year, which is 11-15%.

Another country that comes to mind which actually has real enemies and has actually been involved in real combat is Israel. I trust that not even the most fervent supporter of National Service in Singapore would claim that Singapore's security situation is more precarious than Israel's. Yet, the Israel Defence Forces are transitioning to allowing alternative service.

Thus, it is far more likely that the real reasons why there is no option for alternative service in Singapore arise from political, rather than strategic or military considerations.

It is notable that the prevalence and length of conscription has been declining in the world as countries recognise that it makes neither economic nor military sense (Joshua C. Hall, The Worldwide Decline in Conscription: A Victory for Economics?). Yet, there has only been a small change in Singapore, with the duration of conscription being reduced from 24-30 months to 24 months in 2004.

Transgendered people and National Service

Transgender woman facing military service as a man can stay in UK

"A transgender woman has been granted sanctuary in the UK to protect her from doing compulsory military service as a man in Singapore.

In the first case of its kind, two judges ruled that she should not be forcibly returned to her home country, where she would be forced to do two weeks of military service a year for the next eight years...

She completed military service as a man in Singapore between December 2001 and June 2004 and has said she felt uncomfortable when serving with men.

Women in Singapore, including transgender women who have undergone reassignment surgery, are not expected to participate in military service. The student has been living as a woman for the past 10 years but has decided against having the full gender reassignment procedure and would therefore face calls to serve."


There was a trans gendered person in my camp. The person was PES E and got to stay out.

They give gay guys PES C and they get to stay out too - for similar reasons.

This is to protect transgendered and gay men from the other soldiers, rather than vice versa.

Interesting question: would it be good to make gay men do full NS? Today gay men are not downgraded unless they declare that they are gay, so gay men actually have the best of both worlds.

"She completed military service as a man in Singapore between December 2001 and June 2004 and has said she felt uncomfortable when serving with men"

If I am uncomfortable when serving with Malays, or uncomfortable sharing a toilet with a transgendered person, what would people say?


A Doctor who has served in the SAF: There are several factors involved.

There is some evidence that in all-male fighting units, the presence of a homosexual has a negative effect on unit morale. This directly affects combat effectiveness.

Further, as noted, a lot of them suffer from social rejection which leads to a much higher risk of psychological issues. A risky proposition for people handling weaponry.

As Gabriel noted, there is also significant risk of teasing. Not only might this lead to psychological distress, it might also result in the dreaded Complaint Letter or even Parents' Complaint Letter


Addendum:

Previously, a lower court had ruled (regarding this person) that there was no evidence of systematic discrimination against LGBTs in Singapore.

The later judgment seemed to revolve around national service - not the environment for LGBTs in general in Singapore.

No UK asylum for cross-dressing Singaporean

"It was noted that since 2004, he had presented himself, behaved and socialised as a female in Britain. In 2009, the man, who considers himself a "transgendered lesbian", changed his name by a legal deed poll to a female one, which he used in his most recent 2012 Singapore passport...

He had argued that under Singapore law, he could not officially change his gender to female because he had not undergone a sex change and did not plan to.

And that could subject him to "inhumane and degrading treatment", as he would not be able to live openly as a woman because his identity documents would show he is male. He would also have to serve his reservist obligations, despite finding his national service (NS) between 2001 and 2004 very distressing.

The Singaporean produced a "legal opinion" by lawyer M. Ravi which painted Singapore as "a comparatively conservative country"...

Judge White, while agreeing that the appellant would be unable to live officially as a woman in Singapore, said there were laws here to protect the person from harassment.

He pointed out that no direct evidence of the Singaporean's friends being abused or assaulted because of gender bias, or of any systematic discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in general, was presented.

He also noted that there was a possible gradual change in attitudes in Singapore towards the LGBT community, which was "not entirely underground".

As for the man's claim that he would not be able to marry as a female to another woman, Judge White pointed out that "many, if not most, of the countries in the world do not give official recognition to same-sex unions".

Judge White accepted the Singaporean's problems with NS and that the two weeks of reservist training each year would also be "distressing and difficult".

On the other hand, the man had given evidence of how some of his own friends and acquaintances were able to "stick it out" during reservist training.

"It had not, in other words, been so harsh for them as to be unendurable," said Judge White.

He ruled that the man failed to show he was at risk of such a level of harm or prejudice that would entitle him to asylum in Britain."

Rich Man's Burden

"Army service was, as stated, a right reserved for citizens, but only to those who were owners of property and other possessions. This was for two reasons: first, the recruits had to purchase their own equipment, and not all citizens could afford that. The second was that a property owner risked the chance of losing his property in the event of a defeat, and so this was considered a good incentive for him to fight more fiercely than a person who had nothing to lose. The citizens with no capite censi (property) were recruited in times of emergency and equipped by the State. In the second century, the minimal property required for approval to serve in the Roman army was worth 400 Greek drachmas."

--- The Roman Wars in Spain: The Military Confrontation with Guerrilla Warfare / Daniel Varga

Revisiting Military Conscription (aka National Service) in Singapore

Revisiting Military Conscription (aka National Service) in Singapore | Military Studies at RSIS

"Lee Kuan Yew outlined in his memoirs the scenario in which he would, as Prime Minister, would have had to activate the SAF – and it had to do with a scenario in which Singapore’s water supplies, which were in the past heavily dependent on Malaysian sources, had been severed by unknown third parties. Clearly, in his scenario, it would not have been the Malaysian government that severed water supplies, but for a number of reasons too complicated to go into here, the Malaysian government would have been unable or unwilling to re-establish water supplies thereafter. At this point, Lee Kuan Yew admits, he would have no choice but to use the SAF as a leverage to compel the Malaysian government to honour the international agreement between the two states.

In other words, if the SAF needed to go to war to protect Singapore, the casus belli or cause of war would have been the severance of water supplies. In this scenario, the structure of the SAF begins to make sense – a land force component comprising 2PDF whose function is island defence, and 4 manoeuvre combined arms divisions, an air force comprising both air combat as well as heavy air lift capabilities, and a naval force component that included heavy sea lift. If you think through the strategic logic of Lee Kuan Yew’s scenario, therefore, I suspect you would come to the conclusion that the SAF would have had to practice a limited military offensive against Malaysia, impose a temporary military occupation of parts of Malaysian territory, and subsequently use that temporary occupation as a political leverage to compel Malaysia’s government to honour the water agreements.

Here’s the thing, therefore – the first of the two water agreements between Singapore and Malaysia lapsed a few years back, without any angst from the Singapore government. The simple point is that Singapore is moving increasingly towards a self-sufficient potable water policy, utilising desalination and recycling technologies. Water, in other words, is no longer the casus belli of the hypothetical war that the SAF might need to fight!...

The SAF reflects the Lee Kuan Yew scenario, which may no longer apply in 21st Century Singapore. In other words, the 4 manoeuvre combined arms divisions, the heavy air and sea lift capabilities, were necessary in Lee Kuan Yew’s scenario because the SAF would have had to invade and occupy a limited portion of Malaysian territory. But what cause of war today would require the SAF to still invade and impose a limited and temporary occupation of Malaysian territory?

Because the Lee Kuan Yew scenario involved the severance of then-absolutely essential water supplies, it was probably possible to portray an SAF invading and occupying limited portions of Malaysian territory as politically and strategically defensive in nature, even if the type of military operations would have been inherently offensive. Presumably, Singapore could have then justified to the United Nations that this hypothetical war was consonant with UN principles of just war – war as self-defence and last measure.

Maybe, jut maybe, the SAF can envisage other war scenarios today that still compel Singapore to adopt this limited operational offensive capability. Certainly one could use the strategic geography argument – that Singapore lacks strategic depth – to begin to justify such a limited operational offensive capability. But with an air force that is widely regarded as the most modern, most well-equipped and most well-trained in the Southeast Asian region, surely this air power, augmented by an increasingly professional and well-trained naval force component, could have imposed a cordon sanitaire of sorts around Singapore that would have prevented ay enemy forces from being able to bring deadly force to bear on any part of this densely populated and over-crowded island! In other words, surely an artificial and temporary strategic depth can be acquired without the need of ground forces to occupy another country’s territory?...

If my preceding analysis is correct, then maybe Singapore no longer needs National Service. If the wars the SAF is likely to fight in no longer require the temporary occupation of another country’s territory, then maybe the SAF no longer needs to maintain such a large land force component. Maybe the Singapore Army no longer needs 4 manoeuvre combined arms divisions. Maybe all the Singapore Army hereafter needs is sufficient soldiers (volunteers) to perform island defence against potential enemy invasion. As my friend and colleague, Professor Paul Mitchell of the Canadian Forces College has argued, the SAF will need to maintain a seriously professional and well-trained air force and navy, but guess what, it seems like the current air force and navy are already professional and well-trained!

There is another argument to support the abandonment of conscription. It is an argument that taps into the Revolutions in Military Affairs thesis that was so popular in the late 1990s through to the early 2000s. The RMA, as most scholars argued, was never going to be easy: it demanded very high technological competencies and technical skill-sets of soldiers, it was doctrinally sophisticated which therefore demanded soldiers who were very well-trained and well-educated (and this, by the way, was why these scholars concluded that conscript-based armed forces would not be able to do the RMA)."


This assumes, of course, that the overwhelming reason for National Slavery is military/strategic.

If political reasons are significant (or possibly even primary), then it is another story.


Comments:

Ho Shu Huang: "1. Like war, NS is ultimately a political construct. So, its continuation or end hinges as much as the other elements of politics outside the military realm. In other words, even if it doesn’t really make military sense, it may still continue for other reasons. Or, it may still continue simply because of political inertia. The conscription debate in Western Europe began in the early 1970s which from the start highlighted the practical illogic of maintaining a mass army of conscripts. Yet it was only in the mid-1990s that conscription began to finally end on the continent. Germany only did away with it in 2011, even though some had identified it as being at the forefront of the debates in the early 1970s. The point here is political will to change is vital to end any institution that is as deeply entrenched in society as conscription is. There wasn’t any in W. Europe till the 90s so it continued there. That said, the moment there is sufficient will, conscription can end quite quickly. Taiwan’s a good example, though not a perfect one. Until NS rises to the top tier of the country’s political agenda, I don’t see a dismantling of the institution any time soon.

2. Military service has historically been a key form of political participation and expression. Sure, this is an observation made of a different era, but conscription still has political value to its participants. Those who are obligated to serve the state have enhanced political agency and legitimacy, if only because they’ve “paid their dues.” In Singapore, we see various political claims made simply because NS was served. The most noticeable one is NS is a marker of “Singaporean-ness” in the whole Singapore-foreigner debate. NS in this sense grants Singaporeans more political power and has been used to legitimise opposition to certain government policies. I’m unsure if Singaporeans would want to surrender this at this point in time."

Bernard FW Loo: In fact, I personally see your second observation as the only plausible justification for the retention of conscription.

Observations - 27th May 2015

"I may be fake but my money ain't"

"Changed my name on GrabTaxi [from John] to Daniela. Getting a taxi is now much easier. :)"

"The question we must ask is why every time Muslims are in trouble they don't go to a Muslim majority countries for help? They despise western value but always choose to go west, why?"

"Every single country I have lived in (Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, and Singapore) that is predominately of East Asian ancestry people are generally pessimistic, unhappy, stressed, overworked, and there is a large population (usually women) seeking to get the hell out by any means necessary. This is generally not true in Western Europe or North America...maybe it is the society these cultures create, generally suck?? Of all of those the happiest people seemed to be Taiwanese....or maybe I should say the most relaxed. In general salaries are low compared to living costs, there is a very thin social safety net, and too much pressure on kids and men to get ahead, it creates a pressure cooker...and when the ultimate goal in life is the attainment of money...my belief is you will never be happy, because there is never enough.."

The flip side of young adults not being fully mature (e.g. the brain only fully developing at 25) is that they should not get all the rights of adults. Should the age of voting, consent, drinking, driving and legal responsibility in general be raised?

"The Richest people seldom say anything publicly.
They have too much to lose. If they offend the wrong people."

"It's a lot more fun giving your money away than it is making it and I just feel very sorry sometimes for the people who haven't yet discovered what will become the greatest joy in their life. And I might say that the thing that gave me greatest pleasure looking at the rich list yesterday was the remarkable Richard Ross having an asterisk against his name saying no longer on the rich list because he's given it all away" - Sir Thomas Hughes-Hallett, Chair of The Marshall Institute for Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship (BBC Best of Today podcast: Monday's Business with Simon Jack, 27th April 2015)


"I think the idea of "opposing for the sake of opposing" is far too often used by those who disagree with the opposing viewpoint but do not want to deal with the arguments made."

"The objective of online debate isn't to convince afterall, but to shatter the other side convincingly in a forum of neutral heavy observers"


"The whole idea of using "offence" as a criterion for arrests is stupid. People who know less about their beliefs (hence are unable to defend it intellectually when criticised) are the ones most likely to react viscerally, by being "offended". In other words, the criterion for "preserving" racial and religious harmony is that of how the least informed and / or least thoughtful segments of the society reacts to criticism."

Which is a more sacred sacred cow in Singapore? "Racial Harmony" or "Meritocracy"? What happens if they conflict?


"pinkdot, a.k.a. let's-embrace-the-stereotypes-and-exclude-people-who-don't-conform-to-themdot"

"intellectually dishonest LGBT activists and crazy allies are the reason why many gay people don't give a damn about activism and prefer to live their lives outside of the LGBT activist bubble"


"One thing the genteel young lady must always remember about men is that a hard cock has no conscience"

Am told American boob jobs look fake since natural looking ones are more complicated and open surgeons to malpractice suits (i.e. expensive)

"When she later realised that [I had pranked her], her first reaction was to hit me. Now, she did not use a lot of force to hit me as well, but I was struck at how instinctive it was for her. I wonder if it's a female SE Asian thing. It's certainly happened to me before in Singapore (and only by female Singaporeans), but never in England. And while many may think that it's harmless horseplay, it's still really an instinct to violence."

"He uses statistics as a Singaporean girl uses bras - for padding rather than for support"


Not sure why having served NS gives one infallibility on military matters or strategy

If National Service were so good in correcting young men, why do so many post-NS men still cause trouble?


It's good to "derail" "conversations". Because railroads can only go in two directions. And they might not be ones that everyone wants to go to.

If we use a definition of relative poverty, there's an easy way to end poverty - impoverish the rich

"she was whining that she couldn't find a job cos she's indian and female and fat
and someone said oh yeah it has nothing to do with the fact that you have a masters in history
or sociology or gender studies, one of those i can't remember"

"Social Justice Avengers: Earth's Most Self - Righteous Heroes: Age of Tumblr"

"Can we get a trigger warning when something is so fucking stupid that it'll give you PTSD?"



Saying you're feminist because of the wonderful things the First/Second Wave gave us: like saying you're Republican because they ended Slavery

RT @Nero Amazed at the people moaning about Game of Thrones. If there’s a fictional rape to be angry about surely it’s the one in Rolling Stone.

If feminism should be defined by its dictionary definition (i.e. that feminism is *simply* believing in sexual equality), so should harassment. So most feminist 'harassment', isn't

In Singapore, the Foreign Maid Levy and Grandparent Caregiver Relief give working women tax relief - but not men. Of course AWARE is silent on this.

Confusing Literary Truth with Real Truth: the Horrors of the First World War

Morality of Remembrance - Moral Maze, 06/11/2013

"I was interested in Michael Montperlego (sp?) saying, you know, go to the words of the people who were there. I've actually done quite a bit of this at the Imperial War Museum, going through people's diaries and so on. The Owen-Sassoon view of the war - powerful, amazingly powerful though their poetry - Owen's particularly was, was exceptional, actually. Because if you read most of the diaries, there's a much more upbeat, robust, patriotic - an entirely different mindset than what we impose on them..."

"Over the years, it does begin in the 1930s, when people can see there's going to be a Second World War, which makes the First World War appear more futile than it did before. But then very much in the 60s, with What Lovely War and so on... there has been, you know, a revision of the way that war is seen. That is to say it is seen differently from the way it was seen by most people at the time. And therefore I entirely agree with Hugh Straughn (sp?) that the next 5 years is an opportunity to get some balance into the way that we look at the war"

"I think it is true as well that a lot of children - I love Wilfred Owen, and I know, English teacher I've done the First World War poetry lessons like everyone else and had them crying in the aisles as they say. And it's beautiful. And poignant, and you feel it does make young people understand something about the things that we can do to each other. But, I've also got to say that there wasn't many mutinies in the British Army, I have to admit. I do feel uncomfortable. But it's almost like the only version. And although I am an anti-Imperialist, I would've opposed the war. I don't want us to have a kind of soft soaped, one-dimensional view of it"

"And I suppose we ought to remember that the most popular war poet until about 1930 was Rupert Brooke"

***


If I should die, think only this of me;
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

--- The Soldier / Rupert Brooke (1914)

"Gender Equality" in Singapore

"Singapore's most hypocritical girl":



Indian girl: It helps you become a better person. And especially for, I'm not being sexist, but for guys, especially, it's a good way to train themselves, make them more responsible. And then, you know, when they become heads of, of their own family.

Reporter: But when asked if they would volunteer to spend 2 years in the army, only 9.3% of the women polled or about 1 in 10 said they would.

Indian girl: I don't think I want to spend two years doing something that's not going to be, I mean, useful for me in the future. It's two whole years. I am, it's going to push back my studies.

Reporter: So you would volunteer to serve as well?

Chinese Girl 2: Err, not really. I'm not very fit

Reporter: Should females serve National Service?

Indian girl: Why would you want women to serve National? Especially in Singapore, I mean. The likeli... I mean, the chances of us having even, going to war, is kinda low, so I don't see a point of it.

Chinese Girl 1: I think yes. But it should be optional, it's not compulsory like for the guys.

Chinese Girl 2: Gender Equality

Chinese Girl 1: Ya


Amusing YouTube comments:

"try giving birth asshole" (This was in response to someone pointing out that the physical standards are lower for women than men, so logically the women can't be working as hard as the men. Later, this person predictably said that "The misogyny displayed is here is frightening.")

"giving birth has pains worst than ns so technically u girls so be able to handle it"

"Eh, wake up your idea la. Nobody ask you to give birth. There are foreigners for that."

"i'd love AWARE's response to this trololololol"

"(hint: don't worry, this is youtube, so you won't be held to what you say here)"

"SG girls all have princess syndrome........
....but most of them CMI"

"If one wants to proclaim 'Gender equality', she should start with the end of her own hypocrisy."

"All in all honestly speaking I don't mind serving NS (as a girl), but I want the emarts to start selling menstrual cups. Because FIELD CAMP and BLEEDING VAGINA doesn't go well together."


Someone on this (versus Purple Light): These women can't be trusted. 18yo boys singing an albeit inappropriate song must be taken damn seriously. But an 18yo girl saying she supports NS for men cos it has good life lessons but says it's useless to her is just saying a stupid thing and we should leave her alone.

I was just cheesed at how hypocritical these women are.
Once gender is brought in, their sex clouds everything.

Me: basically women can do no wrong

Someone: Exactly
If they do anything clearly wrong, it's a momentary lapse.
But anything men do is a product of the patriarchy.

Me: anything women do wrong is also a product of patriarchy
i.e. men

Someone: I used to be a feminist. I stopped being one because of the feminists.


Study this video is based on:

S’poreans want PRs, women to be part of national defence | TODAYonline

"About 23 per cent of the respondents felt that women should serve two years of full-time NS. In comparison, about 70 per cent said women should serve “in a professional role” or as a volunteer to “help out in NS events”.

Among the women respondents, about 22 per cent agreed with the statement that women should serve full-time NS, but only 9.3 per cent said they will do so themselves...

Out of five Singaporean women TODAY spoke to, four said that they will volunteer for NS - with conditions attached.

Merchandiser Betty Ho, 35, said she would volunteer at NS events on an ad-hoc basis when her children, now one and three years old, enter secondary school.

Polytechnic student Lee Xiaoyu, 19, said she would not mind serving two to three years of NS in a desk-bound role after she graduates.

Public relations executive Valerie Wang, 23, said she will volunteer if her salary can be matched and her deployment takes into account her skills and abilities. In a national crisis, however, she will volunteer to serve without conditions, she said.

Among other findings, the survey also saw respondents ranking “instilling discipline and values among the young” first when they were asked to rank several statements on what does NS mean to them. “For national defence” was edged out in second place.

Associate Professor Straughan said that she was taken aback by this finding. She pointed out that conscription carries a hefty sacrifice for men and incurs a huge expenditure for the nation. “It’s a very expensive endeavour. If we’re losing sight of the purpose and intent (of NS), maybe we need a reminder,” she said."

Regimentation

Officer: Soldier, do you have change for a dollar?
Soldier: Sure, buddy.
Officer: That's no way to address an officer!
Now let's try it again!
Officer: Soldier. Do you have change for a dollar?
Soldier: No, SIR!

Conscription in Switzerland: Study Trip vs Reality

CSNS will review lessons learnt from Swiss conscription system: Dr Ng
19 Oct 2013

Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen said the Committee to Strengthen National Service (CSNS) will review the lessons learnt from its study of the conscription system in Switzerland.

Dr Ng, who chairs the committee, made the comments at the end of the CSNS's study trip to Switzerland and Finland from October 16 to 18.

He noted that the Swiss Army Forces has an efficient conscript training system which takes into consideration conscripts' abilities, motivation and aptitude during the assignment of military vocations.

He said the CSNS will consider ways to optimise the contributions of Singapore’s servicemen.

Dr Ng added that Swiss women can also volunteer for conscription.

A statement from the Singapore's Ministry of Defence said the CSNS delegation also learnt how the Swiss Armed Forces has strengthened employers' support for conscription.

This is done through various engagement activities which allow the employers to better appreciate how military training develops the individual and brings value to their companies.

The delegation visited Payerne Air Base and was briefed on how conscripts support the operations of the air base.

It also learnt how Swiss reservists maintain their military skills and technical competencies.

***

Armée suisse: Les soldats voient peu d'intérêt à leur service militaire - Suisse - lematin.ch (Swiss Army: Soldiers have little interest in their military service - translation below)
15.02.2013

Armée suisse — Les soldats pensent que le service militaire a peu de sens. Selon une récente enquête, seuls 40% d'entre eux ont réellement le sentiment de contribuer à la sécurité de la Suisse.

Selon une enquête menée auprès des membres de l'armée, seuls 40% d'entre eux ont réellement le sentiment de contribuer à la sécurité de la Suisse.

Environ la même proportion de sondés pense pouvoir profiter du service militaire dans la vie civile. L'enquête relayée vendredi par la Neue Zürcher Zeitung et dont l'ATS a pu se procurer les résultats, a été menée l'an dernier auprès de 11'000 soldats et cadres de l'armée.

De nombreux employeurs ne voient également pas l'intérêt de l'armée. Seuls 40% des sondés estiment que leur employeur a de la compréhension pour leur service militaire. Moins de 30% recommanderaient à leurs connaissances une formation dans l'armée.

Les soldats évaluent toutefois positivement l'esprit de camaraderie qui règne à l'armée, ainsi que la compétence de leurs instructeurs. Deux tiers sont satisfaits du matériel mis à disposition. A contrario, à peine plus de la moitié trouvent leur service stimulant et clair.

Le chef de l'armée en tire les conséquences

«Ces chiffres sont mauvais et ne suffisent pas. Nous devons mieux expliquer aux soldats pourquoi la Suisse a une armée et à quoi elle sert», a réagi le porte-parole de l'armée Christoph Brunner, interrogé par l'ats.

Le chef de l'armée André Blattmann a décidé que ce rôle sera dévolu aux éléments les plus expérimentés. Environ une vingtaine de brigadiers et de divisionnaires visiteront les troupes en 2013 et feront un discours devant chaque unité.

Par ailleurs, selon Christoph Brunner, 150'000 membres actifs de l'armée seront interrogés au cours de l'année. L'enquête sera menée comme celle de l'année dernière. Les réponses pourront être données par SMS, l'armée s'engageant à traiter les données de manière anonyme.


Translation:
Swiss Army: Soldiers have little interest in their military service

Swiss Army - Soldiers think that their military service is pointless. According to a recent survey, only 40% of them felt that they were really contributing to Swiss national security.

According to a survey conducted among members of the armed forces, only 40% of them really felt that they were contributing to Swiss national security.

About the same proportion of those polled thought they could benefit from their military service in civilian life. The survey reported Friday by Neue Zürcher Zeitung and for which ATS managed to get the results, was conducted last year among 11,000 soldiers and commanders of the military.

Many employers do not have interest in the armed forces either. Only 40% of the polled thought that their employer understood their military service. less than 30% would recommend military training to those they knew.

Nonetheless, the soldiers positively evaluated the spirit of camaraderie which reigned in the armed forces, as well as the competence of their instructors. Two thirds were satisfied with the equipment available. On the other hand, hardly more than a half found their service stimulating and clear.

The Head of the Armed Forces will draw the necessary conclusions

"The numbers are bad and inadequate. We must better explain to soldiers why Switzerland has armed forces and what they are for", commented the armed forces spokesman Christoph Brunner interviewed by ATS.

The Head of the Armed Forces André Blattmann has decided that the role will be delegated to more experimental parties. About 20 brigadiers and generals will visit the troops in 2013 and give a talk to each unit.

Also, according to Christoph Brunner, 150,000 active members of the armed forces will be interviewed over the year. The interview will be conducted like last year's. The responses will be able to be given by SMS, and the armed forces commits to keeping responses confidential.

What is it like to go through National Service in Singapore?

"I know a lot about cars. I can look at a car's headlights and tell you exactly which way it's coming." - Mitch Hedberg

***

Gabriel Seah's answer to Singapore: What is it like to go through National Service in Singapore? - Quora
(29 votes, top answer as of the time I scheduled this post)

"Terrible.

Stupidity, Sadism and Senselessness best sum up the SAF (Singapore Armed Forces), as its real core values (not the 7 that are promulgated).

National Service was an incredibly brutalising experience. Force and the threat of force were omnipresent. "Non-compliance will be severely dealt with" was a stock phrase popping up everywhere, for even the most minor of infractions.

The most petty ways were found to torment us - one superior forced us to indent (order) breakfast even though most of us would rather sleep a little bit longer instead of having to wake up early to go to the cookhouse (naturally, if breakfast was indented and you didn't eat it, it was a chargeable offence).

The SAF (or at least the Army) is filled with incompetent, cruel regulars, who take out their frustrations (and satisfy their sadistic urges) on Full-time National Servicemen (NSFs), even as NSFs do the bulk of the work which the regulars are unable and/or unwilling to do.

In particular, one individual stands out for his behavior. He literally treated us like dogs. On one occasion all of us were sitting on the floor of the training shed. He came in and barked orders at us:

"UP!" (all of us scrambled to our feet)
"DOWN!" (all of us sat down pronto)
"UP!" (all of us scrambled to our feet)
"DOWN!" (all of us sat down pronto)
"KNOCK IT DOWN!" (all of us went to pushup position - presumably we weren't obedient enough dogs and didn't stand up and sit down quickly enough)

(Well, almost like dogs - once on a Standard Obstacle Course (SOC) training run, he threw a dummy rifle at one of the stray dogs in camp, and on other occasions he kicked them. He didn't that to anyone of us. I think.)


The most minor infraction potentially attracted harsh recriminations. I saw people being punished or even charged for trivial offences. As Georges Clemenceau noted, "Military justice is to justice as military music is to music".

The whole system of the SAF promotes a contempt for authority and law; one rule of  jurisprudence is that laws should be sensible, justified and realistic - having laws that are openly and repeatedly flouted is bad for the rule of law. The SAF has a bevy of senseless rules, and there is tacit encouragement in getting around them (The Zeroth SAF Core Value, we were told repeatedly, was to "do anything you want but don't get caught").

For a whole year, I was targeted by my whole unit from the CO (Commanding Officer) down, because he got the idea of forcing the fat people to lose weight. While that might be a justifiable aim (within the framework of military logic), I was subject to scrutiny, snide remarks, shouts and pressure.

Perhaps the most tragic aspect of the whole experience was that with the propaganda machine going at full steam, many people actually buy into the lies it peddles:
That there is "glory" and "honour" in a peacetime army
That testosterone-fueld acts of bravado have profound meaning
That there is no alternative to National Service as it currently stands.
That everything we were subjected to was necessary for National Defence.
In short, Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (it is sweet and proper to die for one's country).

One important thing to note is that there is no option of alternative service in Singapore, so it is hard to avoid the draft, even if one has qualities that are not a good mix with conscription (e.g. if one is a pacifist and is going to be viscerally revolted by the experience)."

Turning People into Monsters

"Some weasel took the cork out of my lunch." - W. C. Fields

***

An interview with James Dawes about his book "Evil Men" (based on firsthand interviews with convicted war criminals from the Second Sino-Japanese War), on Church Stance & The Essence Of Evil - Everyday Ethics:

James Dawes: Nation states have a really expert system of turning people into killers and sometimes pushing them over that line into war criminals.

And looking at the experiences of these men, I was able to see that there is a pattern, really, for what was done to these men. It's a pattern that is employed in many militaries and other violent organisations, and it's hard to resist. There are essentially 4 basic steps to turning a young man into a monster.

The first is, you have to separate this person from their normal moral reference points. Separate them from their families, their schools, their institutions. Isolate them so you can control how they think. And then, when you control how they think, teach them to think in binaries. See the world as us vs them, good vs evil, safe vs unsafe. These simple binaries then seem to call for simple solutions and violence is often the first of those solutions.

The third thing that you want to do is break them down physically, spiritually: through training, through mild verbal abuse. Teach them that they don't have control over their lives through a sort of harsh and arbitrary system of rewards and punishments,
because if you can make somebody helpless, then they become entirely dependent on the system for guidance. If you're helpless, the best way to get a feeling of control again is to dominate and hurt another person.

And then the last thing is that it was slow. Nobody started off as a torturer. Nobody started off as somebody who raped and pillaged. Everybody started slow. They started with mild physical abuse. The first time they were taught bayoneting, they would stab corpses, and that was nauseating for them. They had difficulty with that. But then after doing that four or five times it became easy. So they were able to graduate to practising bayoneting by stabbing villagers tied to trees. And that was shocking to them. But eventually that became easy. And each step was hard until it opened up a doorway to a new thing. And by the end, they had become, in their words, demons. People they couldn't recognise. And the point was it happened very slowly.

William Crawley: In a sense you're describing, at least in the first three stages, basic military training aren't you?

James Dawes: That's right. Well some militaries are better at doing this, but also training them basic respect for human dignity and controlling violence under wartime conditions, but some, their interest in promoting terror...

William Crawley: One of more frightening implication of your book is that they're just men.

James Dawes: Very ordinary men. In fact, one of them was an ethics professor before the war. He studied moral behavior and in fact he engaged in various kinds of altruism. And then he was subjected to the same training everyone else was. He found himself doing the same thing. He was not an ordinary man, he was a virtuous man. And I think this capacity is in all of us.

William Crawley: And most of those men sitting around the Wannsee conference agreeing the Final Solution were lawyers, weren't they?

Education and human culture, these are all things that really make no difference. I think sometimes people like to imagine that there's ways you can inoculate yourself against violence. But when your whole culture is working toward producing violence, it takes someone of great moral strength not to get caught up in it.

And I don't say that to justify them, to say of course everyone does this. I don't say that to diminish what we are as a species really. I say it only because I think that the quick movement to righteous judgment that we have when we see people coming back from wartime. I think we need to temper that, and we need to understand that 'there but for the Grace of God, go I'"

Observations - 7th August 2013

Wondering how many of those who mocked Donald Trump for being upset over Obama's 2012 victory would have condemned democracy if Romney won.

Wondering how many people support abortion rights yet are against pregnant women smoking.

If you can't beat them, hate them.


Amused half of Americans supposedly suffer from a mental disorder in their lives. If everyone's abnormal, no one's normal,

Since women don't have prostates do they not get pleasure from a good dump?


"Robin Hood is the culmination of a long line of English folk heroes - like Jack the Giant Killer or Jack of the Beanstalk - who defeat their enemies through wit and audacity. They like nothing more than to tweak the noses of their "betters", setting the low up high and bringing the high down low, by being smarter and less predictable. Sure, you can have Robin Hood a dour revolutionary who rides into battle to smash his enemies with armor and helm. You could also have James Bond a pudgy little guy who's uncomfortable around women. Either way, you'd be missing the point."

"The biggest impediment to understanding the past is that we know their future"

"We're playing ladies and gentlemen"
"is that a euphemism for a swingers party you're going to? If so you can count me out"

"Thais are horniest, Japanese are craziest, Koreans are kinkiest"

RT @dk Which joker go put a ZIP file inside a ZIP file? You think what? Inception ah?

"The academic version of Rule 34..is if it exists, there is a thesis on it"

RT @avalon: Standard response by boys about other boys who have opinions: Aiya he haven't go army yet

"with Russians, I've had to explain that something is a joke. With Germans, not only do I have to do that, but I also have to explain why it is a joke"

RT: @_ochre: who is this PR idiot who decided that it was whimsical to pour in glitter into their envelopes because guess who is covered in glitter now

RT @TooMessedUp: I just opened my closet to find my daughter dead...
Looks like some people just can't handle Narnia...

RT @CauseWereGuys: Don't ever throw away a half-drunken beer. There's sober kids in Africa.

RT: @danguterman: Couple upstairs fucking each other's brains out again. Really need to move out of my parent's basement.


"Being an ugly girl is like being a man… You’re going to have to work"

"Most women don't know what they like until they've tried it. And sadly, so many of us get to try so little before we're old and grey"

Friend: "As I approach 31 this year, I'm proud to share that I've had a grand total of four (4) people offer their seats to me on public transportation on the mistaken assumption that I'm with child. Singha has quit. As a replacement/ successor that's more in keeping with the times, we should having a national mascot that advocates consideration towards those of us who apparently have really, really stubborn belly fat issues. Please do NOT give up your seat to us until specifically asked, or there are VERY explicit and telling signs we're preggers eg hand constantly on tummy (universal code?) If u're preggers, please do the rest of us a favour and just CLAIM it. Big fat thank you in advance... *pregnant pauses for effect*"

RT @ImLeslieChow: "Bros before hoes" is something a bro without a hoe would say

"As an [imperial] agent [in SWTOR] I am surrounded by strong (albeit mostly psychotic) women"

Q: What do you call a guy who says 'don't worry, baby, I'll pull out
A: A father

RT @infinitus_ "Having daughters is better than having sons. All your money given to your son will be given to your son's girlfriend"

RT @GrowlyBear: In Victoria Secrets wearing only bra n panty is office attire. So what is casual Friday like? xD

Why Soldiers March

"Perhaps the quirkiest expression of the insurrectionary idea was the Turnbewegung, or gymnasts’ movement, founded by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn in 1811 in the Hasenheide park in what is now the Berlin suburb of Neukölln. The aim of the movement was to train young men for a coming war against the French. The objective was not to train paramilitaries, but to evolve specifically civilian forms of bodily prowess and patriotic commitment in preparation for a struggle in which the people as a whole would be pitted against the enemy. The gymnasts were not ‘soldiers’, a term that Jahn despised for its mercenary associations (‘Sold’ is the German word for wage), hut citizen-fighters whose participation in the struggle was entirely voluntary, because it was motivated by love for the fatherland. Gymnasts did not ‘march’, Iahn pointed out in The Art of German Gymnastics, the official catechism of the early movement, because marching killed the autonomous will and was intended to degrade the individual to the mere tool of a higher authority. Instead they ‘walked’, swinging their legs in a flowing, natural motion, as befitted free men. The art of the gymnast, Jahn wrote, ‘is an enduring site [eine bleibende Stätte] for the building of fresh sociable virtues [ .. . ] of a sense of decency and law and [of feeling for] cheerful obedience without prejudice to freedom of movement and high-spirited independence’.’

In order to facilitate this freedom of movement, Jahn developed a special costume, whose loose jacket and wide-legged trousers of grey unbleached linen were designed to accommodate and encourage the free forms of bodily movement so prized by the gymnasts. Here again, there was an antimilitary dimension: ‘The light and austere, unpretentious and thoroughly functional linen costume of the gymnast,’ Jahn wrote, ‘is unsuited to [. . .] braids, aiguillettes, armbands, dress swords and gauntlets on the leaders of processions etc. The earnest spirit of the fighter (Wehrmannsernst) is thereby transformed into idle play.” Coupled with this hostility to the hierarchical order of the traditional military was an implicit egalitarianism. Jahn’s followers were encouraged to address each other as ‘du’, and their distinctive costume helped to dissolve harriers of status by removing the outward signs of social difference.” The gymnasts were even known to sing songs proclaiming that all members were ‘equal in estate and rank’ (‘Au Rang und Stand sind alle gleich'). Jahn's outdoor displays, in wnicn young men swung, twirled and twisted on raised bars that were the prototypes of today’s gymnastic equipment, attracted huge crowds. Here was a clear demonstration of how patriotism could provide the key to a reconceptualizarion of political culture as rooted in voluntary allegiances rather than hierarchical structures of authority."

--- Iron Kingdom: The Rise And Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 / Christopher M. Clark