Humans
are driven by many forces like love, sex, Maslow’s needs hierarchy, and
others. One of those forces is
recognition - the
action or process of recognizing or being recognized;
identification
of a thing or person from previous encounters or knowledge; acknowledgment of
something's existence, validity, or legality; appreciation or acclaim for an
achievement, service, or ability.
There is even a professional association for “global, strategic
workforce recognition” - http://www.recognition.org.
“Recognition
from others is thus essential to the development of a sense of self. To be
denied recognition—or to be ‘misrecognized’—is to suffer both a distortion of
one’s relation to one’s self and an injury to one’s identity.” – Nancy Fraser
in the article “Rethinking Recognition” in the New Left Review, May-June, 2000
Thus
recognition is a powerful motivating force that can be used to move people in a
specific direction. One of those
directions is to give recognition to the importance of the military model of
conflict resolution by violence.
By celebrating the military model and giving recognition to those who
are or were in the military, we are instilling the concept that conflict
resolution by violence is good, is the “American Way”, and we should be proud
of the fact that we use death and destruction as our model.
Throughout the
year we are continually reminded of the military model via TV ads and movies,
veterans and other wearing military clothes, POW-MIA flags, the military
carrying flags at sporting events and parades, military plane fly-overs, and
more. There are military
recognition sites like: http://www.armyrecognition.com. We even have National Military Appreciation Month
http://www.military.com/military-appreciation-month “Congress
designated May as National Military Appreciation Month in 1999 to ensure the
nation was given the opportunity to publically demonstrate their appreciation
for the sacrifices and successes made by our service members - past and
present. Each year the president makes a proclamation, reminding Americans of
the important role the U.S. Armed Forces have played in the history and
development of our country.”
I wonder why there
is so much emphasis on the military model of conflict resolution by
violence. The answer appears to be
that we, the people of the U.S., are an essential cog in the wheel of global hegemonic
control. We are being used as
pawns in the barbaric ideology of conquest. Two time Medal of Honor recipient, Marine Major General
Smedley Butler had it right when he said he was, “a thug for big
business”.
Recognition . . .
a powerful force.
