Recognition

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.