Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Guest Post: War is Hell, and Sinning is Delightful Part 2

Note to the Reader:  Sorry that it took so long to get this guest post out.  And yes, I'm copping out of my Wednesday post by posting a late guest post.  Yeah, I know.  My parents' expectations of my life are probably the standard to which you should hold your expectations of my posting schedule.  That bar is limbo low.  In regard to this Nony piece, I really wish I just sat down and edited it with the first part.  The two are much stronger together than apart.  I'm personally looking forward to the next installation because this one was a ripe cunt to edit.  I may be too close to it to appreciate it singularly, and frankly, I'm/we're still waiting for the story to move along.




Have you ever heard of Hedonic Adaptation?       
War is Hell, and the sinning is delightful. (part 2)
               Put simply, it is the reason why the amount of Nutella you put on your drumstick gets larger with each passing day, until you get tired of it. We all experience this little bitch in one facet of our life or another. The reason we exist and push onward as ethical, sexual, political, intellectual etc... creatures is because of a need for new and exciting additions to our personal experiences.
               The experiences of war (especially of those who have indulged in the savaged privileges granted to them by unnatural positions of authority in foreign lands) have irreversible effects on a man's appetites in ways you would be fascinated to hear an NPR report about.  As with the previously mentioned lack of recruitment standards, a whole lot of Bill & Ted's with preexisting fascinating appetites were given clean slates after a retreat to an environment in which they were pretty much allowed to get away with rape and murder.
               You may not be aware of it. You may deny it. Doesn't change the fact that the world is a hard and tragic place that does produce people with certain quirks and kinks in their minds. For an assortment of "logical and ethical" reasons they are perfectly normal at least in their own eyes. Then they are just sent home and out of respect granted the don't ask, don't tell policy in regard to their experiences.  Their extracurricular proclivities simply never entered public view.
               Sighting down my scope, I realized that I don't know what to do about any of these issues.  I can't do anything about the numerous teachers, preachers, politicians, and god knows who or what else that get away with such despicable deeds.  Many just slip through the cracks of bureaucracy only to commit savage acts yet again.
               I honestly believe you can never know the mind of another man. Thus I can't pronounce with absolutely certainty that I was correct, but the look Bill and Ted had through my scope left me without a shred of doubt that they aimed to misbehave that day.   
               In their minds eye they are perfectly normal for a conglomeration of logical and ethical self redeeming delusions.  But when I look into the mirror eyes of  men like Bill and Ted, I see a creature who knows how much more intense and satisfying it is to take without permission. To gnaw at a thighbone with claws and teeth covered in mud and blood.            
               As I watch Bill and Ted start to descend towards the sun bathing girl, I remembered something some talking head Wall Street prick said in an interview.  He was going on about his belief in the "Falling Tree Methodology." What's that, you ask? If a tree falls in the woods, and no one is there to notice, then it's legal. That was his legal, ethical moral guiding tool. The CNN bloke or whoever was interviewing him just nodded and agreed, as if this is the new norm. 
               When you are deployed, everyone knows everyone if not directly, then by association via rumors and stories. Based on what everyone knew about Bill and Ted, I knew they subscribed to that man's sort of methodology. When we returned home, I couldn't let it go.  After a while I began shadowing Bill and Ted from time to time. Eventually, I found myself watching them through the scope of a barrowed rifle as they stalked to rape a girl in the middle of the woods.  Perhaps, come to think of it, they might have just been trying to kidnap her. But then, definitely rape her, I would bet.
               Do details like that matter to you?  


1 comment:

  1. Hi Mia/Nony -- really interesting post(s) though I'm not sure I fully understand. So I'll just post some questions and comments:

    1. Are Bill & Ted real? Am I missing an explosive NPR expose? Or fiction?
    2. Disagree with the point that the notion of sin has lost all meaning in the modern world. The notion of right and wrong -- which is different than sin -- have been incalculably cheapened. But the notion of "sin" is very much alive and lies at the root of a great deal of modern proselytizing (i.e., "sinful" to have unmarried intercourse, "sinful" to worship a different God, "sinful" to have female priests, blah, blah). Seems to me that much of modern morality is founded upon guilt for "sins" as opposed to a broader ethical model of right and wrong.
    3. Not familiar with Hedonic Adaptation, will have to look it up. I do think Colin Campbell's theory of Imaginative Hedonism is a good read. Relevant in understanding our modern materialistic society and our alienation from it . . . seems somewhat similar to Hedonic Adaptation.
    4. So the Hedonic Adaptation theory leads to our story of Bill & Ted (fiction?).
    5. From speaking with people in the military (I'm in the DC area, so there are plenty of them), yes, the military takes gung-ho 18 yos who think they're entering a cool, shoot 'em up, super immersive game of Modern Warfare, BUT . . . the military is very cognizant of this challenge and the focus of training is to get these hyperactive teens with machine guns settled down, i.e., the focus of training is short circuit any tendencies toward Hedonic Adaptation.

    Anyway, enjoy reading the blog -- look forward to some more posts.

    -- ETK

    ReplyDelete