David Sirota: Why People Become Chickenhawks

[Hissyspit]

http://www.salon.com/news/david_sirota/2011/06/29/chickenhawk_origins

David Sirota
WEDNESDAY, JUN 29, 2011 13:01 ET

Why people become chickenhawks
A new study sheds light on why non-veterans like Cheney and Limbaugh are such avid militarists

BY DAVID SIROTA

Since at least the Iraq War if not earlier, chickenhawkery has been a hallmark of American politics. From the 101st Fighting Keyboarders to the professional Draft-Dodging Neoconservatives to the Self-Labeled "Liberal Hawks" who disproportionately populate Washington green rooms, our nation's scowling legion of chickenhawks has sculpted a new archetype -- that of the chest-thumping pundit/politician who aggressively demands others fight and die in wars, but who himself either refuses to enlist or fled the battlefield when his country called.

What makes chickenhawkery such a distinctly American phenomenon is our culture's coupling of aggressive militarism with a lack of anything even resembling shared sacrifice. Quite bizarrely, we celebrate those who rhetorically promote wars as "tough" and "strong" without requiring those very warmongers to walk their talk. Shielded from any personal risk of injury or death, the chickenhawk is thus permitted to wrap himself in an American flag and goose step his way through television studios as the alleged personification of patriotic bravery.

For years, chickenhawkery's roots in this culture of unshared sacrifice have been a matter of theory -- albeit a logical, well-grounded theory. But now, thanks to a comprehensive new study, we have concrete data underscoring the hypothesis. It suggests that many Americans' aggressively pro-war ideology may fundamentally rely on their being physically shielded/disconnected from the human cost of war.

To document this connection, Columbia's Robert Erikson and University of California at Berkeley's Laura Stoker went back to the Vietnam War -- the last time Americans faced wartime conscription. The researchers analyzed data from the Jennings-Niemi Political Socialization Study of college-bound high schoolers and subsequent interviews of those same high-schoolers from 1965 onward. In the process, they discovered that men holding low draft lottery numbers (and therefore more at risk of being drafted into combat) "became more anti-war, more liberal, and more Democratic in their voting compared to those whose high numbers protected them from the draft." Importantly, for these men "lottery number was a stronger influence on their political outlook than their late-childhood party identification." That influence transcended previous party affiliation and made a permanent impact on their politics into adulthood.

MORE

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Seen this with family

the more chickenhawks in the family will never, ever have even the distant risk of walking into the recruiters...

So yep, I have seen it anecdotally. Nice to see it confirmed, as it were.

And no I don't expect this to go well with some folks, but yes, we need a draft, a general draft, with no exceptions, save one... you are six months from finishing college, we will let you... but now you owe uncle sam four years as an officer.

Ok I can hear it, but what about the kid with Ashma? Modern day medical care is good enough where that kid can serve in the rear.

[TheKentuckian]

13. The more critical piece is a hard and progressive war tax.

I think some of the wealthy and more of the hawks would cool their heels if their profits were at stake, even more so than their blood.

Without a heavy war tax, a draft would go as usual. I can see both as providing downward and bottom up pressure that would leave us barely able to muster support for the most necessary of conflicts.

The war tax would have to hit capital gains, corporate incomes, or even accumulated wealth the hardest.

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. That goes without saying

but think of the draft in WW II... not Vietnam. By Nam it was heavily modified to shield the powerful. WW II... think who served in the front lines and they were very well connected, By nam, those who served and were well connected WANTED to..

Nam and the Civil War have a lot in common in how the draft worked... no, WW II and a war tax.

[TheKentuckian]

36. I dig ya but I say we have to push the tax first or at worst as a package.

A draft and no serious war tax that truly hits the wealthy and potential profiteers just leaves us as bad off or worse.

[Angry Dragon]

2. We need to bring back the draft

It would produce more democrats, it would eliminate some wars, and the rich could then back up their war cries with holding a gun

[Javaman]

23. have a look at my response #22. nt

[hfojvt]

3. well now I am starting to wonder

How many people who are calling for a draft, are, like myself, too darn old to be drafted?

[Kurmudgeon]

4. I was against the draft then, I'm still against it now.

[Lasher]

7. I was drafted in 1969 and I remain strongly opposed to conscription.

Particularly after you have been drafted yourself it doesn't seem like such a great idea. There are those on the pro-draft side today who want slaves to help their relatives who chose to join the military and choose to stay.

[nomorenomore08]

10. +100

Almost seems like another, if less egregious, form of chickenhawkery, doesn't it? Those who've never been (and perhaps, could never hypothetically be) drafted supporting a draft.

[Lasher]

11. Yes, that is an obvious aspect.

When people advocate the draft, it is something they are wishing on somebody else. Thank God young people don't have conscription hanging over their heads today.

I'm also glad the 26th Amendment was adopted in 1971, giving 18 year olds the right to vote. We were old enough to serve against our will back then, but not old enough to vote. That was fundamentally wrong.

And I'm glad our returning soldiers are not faced with the degree of contempt that we faced back then.

There's lots of bad things going on these days, but in some ways it's a whole lot better than it was not so long ago.

[nomorenomore08]

12. "When people advocate the draft, it is something they are wishing on somebody else."

Instantly quotable, and so true. Conscription does not truly right any wrongs, nor does it make war and the killing/death/maiming/psychological trauma that goes along with it any less "unfair" (deliberate understatement). Nor is an actual de jure draft any less unjust than the de facto "economic draft" which currently prevails in many or most parts of the country. Forced labor is forced labor, period, and considering the extraordinarily high human cost and horrific effects of modern armed conflict, I couldn't think of a worse form of compulsory service.

[pinboy3niner]

20. Well-said!

What is especially troubling about a military draft in wartime is that some will be conscripted and die or be maimed or suffer severe psychological trauma because they were compelled to serve.

Yes, a draft can help to mobilize an antiwar movement. But it's worth remembering that:

17,725 draftees were killed in Vietnam (30.4 percent of all combat deaths).

[Kurmudgeon]

31. The draft ended when I was a teen.

I have no problem with serving my country, but at the time I couldn't see where going to fight the Vietnamese was protecting the US.
Time and various accidents have ended any chance of me being drafted now, but I worry for my son and his friends.
If there was ever a national emergency that justified it, I'd be ok with it. However, I don't want to see any more generations of the US being turned into corporate foot soldiers.
BTW, thank you for your service, Lasher!

[nadinbrzezinski]

33. What do you think is going on right now?

"I don't want to see any more generations of the US being turned into corporate foot soldiers."

Read the article linked by the OP... it might clue you in as to what is going on.

[Kurmudgeon]

37. Perhaps you should be more specific.

Iraq is being wound down, Libya has no US foot soldiers on the ground.
Meanwhile, stroll on over to this link if you would.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x610702

[Javaman]

24. Check out my reponse #22. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. And I wonder how many calling for one

already served and get it?

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. And THAT is why they killed the draft.

They claimed it was becasue draftees made for bad soldiers, and pointed to drug use in Vietnam - but the fact is it was draftees who won WW1, WW2, who fought the Chinese hordes to a standstill in Korea.

[David__77]

8. There's a whole lot of chickenhawks cheerleading for the war against Libya.

It's sad to see nominally progressive people taking such a position. It exposes the real schism at the heart of the Democratic Party: will it become a progressive party or not?

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. I am willing to bet that those same chickenhawks

like my family who cheerleaded the war in Iraq, would never be in danger of even walking by a recruiter's office, that was the point of the article.

It is really, and I mean this REALLY easy to cheerlead for war and destruction when it is a game you watch on CNN.

[MrScorpio]

9. Most anti-war protests were, in fact, anti-draft protests

A lot of people forget that the Vietnam was was pretty popular until more and more people started coming home in body bags and those with draft cards got religion first.

[pinboy3niner]

14. Nine months ago today, the last draftee who served in VN retired from the Army:

The last draftee who served in Vietnam retires


He was a kid who didn’t want to be a soldier. There was a war in Vietnam and a peace movement in America.


But then he got the government's letter. So he quit his job at a furniture store, quit thinking about college and found himself on a cold December morning in 1970 standing in front of a post office in Sumter, S.C., listening to a soldier read names off a clip board until he heard his: “Clyde Green!”


With that, the 20-year-old kid climbed on the bus with the rest of the recruits and headed to a U.S. Army base where he’d get his hair shorn to stubble, a uniform, shots, a bunk in a barracks and quick indoctrination into the military.


“I didn’t want to join the Army,” Clyde Green said last week. “The Army came and got me.”

...


“When I got that letter I thought my whole world was ending,” he said.

...


http://www.ajc.com/news/the-last-draftee-who-645726.html

[Flubadubya]

15. I think there is a parallel here...

with self-loathing gay lawmakers (who would never admit to being gay) but who just love to enact legislation that is intended to either further deny LGBT their rights, or to outright punish them.

In either case, I think there is a great deal of cowardice and poor self-esteem driving each.

[TxVietVet]

16. I joined the Army. I got my draft notice while in basic training.

With the draft, there is shared sacrafice. You are part of something bigger. You have to adapt to get along with others. What I learned when I returned to the States was that society had changed. Especially for those who got out of the draft and never served. The most important factors are that most of them I knew were now greedier, more self-centered and believed in the conservative line of bu$hit. That's my personal experience. I served with many draftees. They were just as good a soldier as an enlistee. The major difference between the two types of soldiers is the amount of time one has to serve. Between troops, it becomes a running joke. When you think of it, two years isn't a long time. I joined the Army for 4 years in '68. Many draftees go on to serve on to retirement. The conservanazis believe the myth that draftees don't make good soldiers. My father was drafted in WWII and had to serve for the "duration" which ended up being 5 years. When I asked him what it was like, he said, "a million dollars couldn't pay for the things I've seen and done and a million dollars couldn't make me do it again." He said, "join up, it will either make a man out of you or you will not like it."



I believe serving one's country will make a major difference in our society. There would not this idea to jump into a war as easy as bu$h did it. Serving gives an experience to a young person that they normally wouldn't have. One has to deal with a structured life, with discipline, responsibility, meeting various types of people (who usually end up being your friend), belonging to a special group or unit, and seeing different countries.

Connservanazis play on the ignorance of it's supporters, who are bombarded with lies and bu$hit that feeds their prejudices and fears. "God, gays and guns". Experience in the military puts a lot of that bu$hit to rest.

[RandomThoughts]

17. You don't know anything about the '101st Fighting Keyboarders'

Part of your article is interesting.

And I am due beer and travel money, and many experiences.

[pinboy3niner]

18. You're in luck...

The Army offers beer and travel money, and many experiences! :)


:hi:

[RandomThoughts]

19. I took a path of courage, not military service.

[Javaman]

21. He forgot the "fake soldier".

we have seen them time and time again in the newspaper, on tv and on the net. These are the guys that pose with a chest full of metals and ribbons and claim they are vets of such and such when in fact, they never served a single day in their lives.

they love to play themselves some pretend.

fuck wads.

[pinboy3niner]

25. aka 'wannabes'

Yes, we see them all the time. There was a sudden profusion of phony 'Vietnam vets' after the dedication of the Wall. Now, since OBL was killed, seems like they're all 'vets' of Seal Team Six. Real vets scratch their heads, thinking: If these yahoos had a fucking clue what comes with that territory, they'd never envy it.

[Javaman]

28. Personally, I have never served...

I have read enough on the horrors of war to know that anyone who experienced it, has my humbled respect.

Anyone pretending to have served, especially saying they were in combat, are some truly fucked up people.

As I have read many times, no one knows how they will react in the face of actual combat, I know myself well enough that I would more than likely be scared shitless and probably would collapse in a pile of shaking goo.

Cheers.

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. There is a danger to pretend you are a pretend seal though

ouch.

[pinboy3niner]

41. Well, nobody claimed these guys were bright

I'm glad to see you're still here. My best to you and the Chief. :patriot:

[Javaman]

22. I suggest a new type of draft.

one that only drafts from families who have benefited directly from the wars.

It appears as if that falls, generally speaking, upon the families of the rich.

far too long have the poor of this nation been fighting the wars for the rich.

Fuck it, it's time for these rich bastards to step up to the fucking plate and do their own dirty work.

in the mean time, we of the poor classes, will fight for our civil and working rights here at home. We don't need a draft for that, we do it everyday.

[Kurmudgeon]

30. Great idea, but it'll never happen. Lil elites like Dubya will always be protected.

[Bragi]

26. I don't quite agree with this

My point of disagreement is that I think being a "chickenhawk" is just a symptom of being a right-wing conservative, and not a condition in and off itself.

The "cause" of right-wingery has to do with a deep (learned and conditioned and neurological) attachment to paternalism and authoritarianism.

Fanatical political support for all-things military is just a part of this overall condition.

As for the "chickenhawk" allegation, I think people who support the military because of their right-wing orientation are no more obligated to join the military than, say, people who support international development are obligated to spend their lives volunteering for the peace corp in Africa.

Note: I think my view here is consistent with the views expressed by George Lakoff in his work.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lakoff

Or: "Don't Think Of An Elephant!/ How Democrats And Progressives Can Win: Know Your Values And Frame The Debate: The Essential Guide For Progressives"

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Think-Elephant-Democrats-Progressives/dp/1931498822/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309444556&sr=1-1

[ieoeja]

29. Fear

Fear is the cornerstone of Conservatism. Fear of change. Fear of people who look different. Fear that another man may be attracted to me (which I always found complimentary; this is one of the most ridiculous fears they have).

What they fear, they want destroyed. But they are too afraid to risk themselves. So they send others to do it.

So as you say, it would be unusual for a Conservative to *not* be a Chickenhawk. It speaks to the very heart of Conservativism.


Many in the armed forces who claim to be conservative are no such thing. They believe in an incredibly invalid definition of liberal and simply view conservative as anything not liberal. Most vets I have met hold very strong liberal views. But still hate "liberals" because of their mistaken definition of liberalism.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

27. I've noticed this in middle-aged white men who never served like Tweety.

He has to come across as gruff and tough; it's the guilt they feel about not having served.

[Dawson Leery]

40. Tweety is full of guilt for going into the peace corps after getting

deferments while his older brother Jim, went to war.

[Kingofalldems]

38. I wonder if any of the Koch brothers served.

No surprise if their dad didn't serve in WWII either.

[Dawson Leery]

39. k/r