The twentieth century, with its bloody world wars, revolutions, and genocides accounting for hundreds of millions dead, would seem to prove that human beings are incredibly vicious predators and that killing is as natural as eating. But Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman, a psychologist and U.S. Army Ranger, demonstrates this is not the case. The good news, according to Grossman - drawing on dozens of interviews, first-person reports, and historic studies of combat, ranging from Frederick the Great's battles in the eighteenth ...
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The twentieth century, with its bloody world wars, revolutions, and genocides accounting for hundreds of millions dead, would seem to prove that human beings are incredibly vicious predators and that killing is as natural as eating. But Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman, a psychologist and U.S. Army Ranger, demonstrates this is not the case. The good news, according to Grossman - drawing on dozens of interviews, first-person reports, and historic studies of combat, ranging from Frederick the Great's battles in the eighteenth century through Vietnam - is that the vast majority of soldiers are loath to kill. In World War II, for instance, only 15 to 25 percent of combat infantry were willing to fire their rifles. The provocative news is that modern armies, using Pavlovian and operant conditioning, have learned how to overcome this reluctance. In Korea about 50 percent of combat infantry were willing to shoot, and in Vietnam the figure rose to over 90 percent. The bad news is that by conditioning soldiers to overcome their instinctive loathing of killing, we have drastically increased post-combat stress - witness the devastated psychological state of our Vietnam vets as compared with those from earlier wars. And the truly terrible news is that contemporary civilian society, particularly the media, replicates the army's conditioning techniques and - according to Grossman's controversial thesis - is responsible for our rising rates of murder and violence, particularly among the young. In the explosive last section of the book, he argues that high-body-count movies, television violence (both news and entertainment), and interactive point-and-shoot video games are dangerously similar to thetraining programs that dehumanize the enemy, desensitize soldiers to the psychological ramifications of killing, and make pulling the trigger an automatic response.
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My Dad, Neil Alexander Kelley, fought the Japanese in WWII. He was an emotionally detached father and he only told me one word about his combat experience. One day, when he was watching baseball in the early Sixties, I popped the impertinent question "Dad? How many Japs did you kill?". His locked jaw expression didn't change and he said flatly "Eight.". Years later I learned that Neil was a member of the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion. The Marine Raiders were our first Special Forces. He fought in some of the bloodiest battles of the war in the jungles of Bouganville, the beaches of Guam and the hills of Okinawa. The killing he did was at close range. This book explains why my Dad took his own life in 1967.
The author, and ex-Army Ranger, couldn't have better credentials. His logic is irrefutable and the writing is crisp. Thanks to this book, I now understand why I had so little time with my Dad. Thanks to this book, I now understand the sacrifice that he made to defend his country.
Robert
Jul 31, 2008
Outstanding!!!
A highly recommend book for any person interested in the under-researched field of the psychology of killing. Anyone who may have to kill as part of their duty (e.g., military, law enforcement, citizen protecting him/herself) will benefit from this book. For those who embody in modern society a warrior ethos, this will complete your libary!
rm2013@gmail.com
Jan 3, 2008
8The Ugly Truth of War
This book, written by a combat veteran, breaks down various wars and shows that most human beings, who, being placed in the role of soldier, either by volunteering, or by draft, have very little interest in killing other human beings if at all possible. The true killers, as the author states, are the ones who are able to disassociate the fact that they are killing, or in some cases, murdering, their fellow man.
LTC Grossman then goes into the dichotomy of how combat action affects the individual based upon their relative distance to the soldiers of the enemy whom they are having to shoot; from the grunt on the ground; and those who have to deal the most with PTSD, to the bomber pilots who feel nothing from their job, because they are dropping their lethal loads to coordinates on a map. The further you are away from your target, the less guilt you'll feel afterwards. I am a retired soldier and highly recommend this book to patriots and pacifists alike; as both sides will find common grounds that they had not previously considered.