This train of thought started here but veered widely off and is now almost entirely unrelated.
Military training - and by extension military life - is intentionally dehumanizing. We've all seen boot camp movies, we all have a general idea of how it works. They break you down through humiliation and dehumanization then build you back up in the image they need. And then they own your ass and you go where and do what you're told. That's just how it works.
But I wonder if anyone has ever bothered to truly question and think critically about whether this is necessary? I think everyone tends to just generally accept that that's how the military works, that's what makes it the military. It's always been like that, that's what people expect from the military. But is it actually necessary? Are they mindfully doing it this way for a reason, or are they just doing it this way because that's how they've always done it? Is anyone giving this serious thought?
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As someone who was (willingly) subjected to the military system on a part-time basis, I can say that it is very effective at getting the subject to perform specific duties in a specific way, quickly and accurately, with very little loss of speed and accuracy from fatigue or stressful conditions.
That's an important thing when you don't have a lot of control over the quality of the recruits you get; even more important when you are dealing with lethally dangerous materials, and potentially defending others from a lethally dangerous enemy.
The military sees this as a necessary evil. In many ways I agree with them. But that doesn't mean they are absolved of responsibility for each and every tragedy described in the Star's series. Quite the opposite, in fact.
But is anyone putting any thought into whether the same results (insofar as the results are psoitive) could be achieved in a less dehumanizing way? Or are they just blindly and unquestioningly accepting that this is the best way to do it because that's how it's always been done?
I think it's the latter.
I once saw a long "60 Minutes"-type feature on a military man of high rank that has turned against the entire idea of the dehumanization and similar techniques. I wish I could remember his name, but it was a very long time ago.
He has come to believe the whole method is actually counter-productive, and in addition to leading to things like war crimes, also cause PTSD, domestic violence, etc.
Of course he was getting absolutely nowhere with trying to change things. Everyone who lived through such a system feels that every newbie should be similarly punished. They don't want the military to be "soft" and "politicall correct" (gag).
It seemed to me that the motivations behind the dehumanization were much more about some fucked-up definition of masculinity than about efficiency.
The program stands out in my mind because it's the only time I've ever seen anyone in the military questioning the whole system that way.
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