In message , Alan Lothian
writes
In article , Paul J. Adam
wrote:
In semi-modern parlance, US domestic opinion was a centre of gravity,
and keeping public opinion on-side was a key enabling factor that North
Vietnam successfully attacked.

Well, yes. It's that "attention deficit" again. Something that US
allies have learned to worry about. For a distressingly long time.

(Sorry for the delayed response, Alan, been having fun up in the
Minches)

To give them credit, when you convince the US public, they can get very
determined, but when El Presidente makes a decision without getting his
country behind him... it goes about as badly as when we try it.

Or, flipping it around, if the "fight" crowd in the US had made a better
case for "why we fight" then things might have been very different.

Hmmm. Yes, but.

I never said "better" - one risk is a little too much MacArthuresque
"never fear, Mr President, those cowardly commies will _never_ dare
to... well, who'd'a'thunk it?" - but most certainly different. Once a
_Dolchstoss_ myth takes hold it's remarkably powerful, and a US without
that is a big change. (Probably more appropriate to s.h.w-i, though)

At the risk of pushing this more-than-somewhat OT topic
into an arid wilderness, we are faced with the fait accompli of the
destruction of the liberal arts education in the US and much of the
anglosphere in favour of some kind of bizarre, historically-ignorant,
posturing self-loathing that passes for "the Left". Which has gained
itself a stranglehold, a bit like Russian ivy, all over the bloody
place, especially the meeja.

You hardly need it, Alan, but Frances Wheen's "How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered
The World" is a good read on these matters - I especially enjoyed the
description of l'affaire Sokal, which I had not previously heard of, but
which conformed with horrible precision my preconceptions of how such a
prank might go.

Me, when I need leftwing guidance, I ask myself what Lenin would have
done. The answer rarely involves gender politics or queer studies, but
tends towards, shall we say, more robust solutions.

When in doubt, shoot some more intellectuals, revisionists, hooligans
and saboteurs... and if they run short, shoot anyone inconvenient and
_then_ denounce them as revisionists, intellectuals, saboteurs and
hooligans. (Today's soggy-Left should thank their lucky stars Lenin and
Stalin are no more, it always seemed to be easier to kill toadies than
real opponents. Trotsky took a lot of hunting and killing, while Stalin
executed most of his 'inner circle' with little apparent effort)

From which, as the
most liberal and tolerant of men, I am usually obliged to distance
myself. Still, it's always there as a thought.

I'd consider myself fairly liberal, in the classical sense at least
(even got a degree from UCL) though I grow less tolerant with age.

Perhaps Lenin was too soft in limiting himself to small-arms.

This is one reason I get very, very angry with anyone who dismisses "the
media". They may be ill-informed (and many are), they may be downright
hostile (and many are), but they have to be worked with and dealt with.
Ignore them or annoy them and they will hurt you badly.

Another "yes, but." The thing I can't forgive the meeja (by which I
mean overwhelmingly tv) is their utter incapacity to avoid telling
lies. Indeed, their complete epistemological inability to tell one from
the other: only what makes "good" tv and what does not. They're quite
smart at that.

From a military point of view, that's like complaining about geography:
why do the enemy never let you assault them downhill, over dry ground
with good going yet plenty of nice concealing folds and tussocks, on a
day not so hot you sweat to death during the assault nor so cold that
certain important bits froze off waiting for H-Hour?

"The meeja" exist as they are, just as the weather and the ground and
the enemy do. Good commanders do what they can to gain benefit from them
(like, making sure 'Our Story' is better TV than 'Their Story') while
limiting the damage they can do. Not easy, but that's why good
commanders are to be cherished.

Hence, the hard work required of a J3 Media Ops staffer.

Thankless in success, worse in failure.

Sadly, far from alone in the military pantheon. Even I, having a layer
of political insulation and friendly distance from the _direct_
consequences of any failure, will likely only come to notice if things
go badly pear-shaped.

--
Paul J. Adam