Unfinished business

Wrapping a couple of posts from earlier.

...

First, concerning the Orwell excerpt from 18 July (really deserved to have more said about it at the time, but I was already wrecking the family computer just typing that much).

Orwell was not especially great with predictions, and his predictions on the effect of air warfare on war cheerleaders, while perhaps accurate for a time, has turned out to be quite the opposite in the context of modern American warfare. What he means to say, presumably, is that the introduction of long-range bombing of cities which began in the Spanish Civil War and reached a climax in World War II meant that it was no longer entirely safe for chickenhawks to egg on a conflict while remaining well out of danger themselves.

Of course, in our world, nothing could be further from the truth. The American mainland can't be threatened in any sustained way by its present enemies, and the overwhelming air superiority of the American military is a favorite catch-all solution to the problems of both liberal "humanitarians" and neo-cons as it solves their chief shared restriction on the use of force; how to rain death and destruction on their enemies with minimum loss of all-important "American lives."

...

Secondly, I feel I should probably clarify note 5 on "The youth and beauty brigade" below, because I can see how it might sound like reverting to unreconstructed NiceGuyism. I'm not looking to be owed anything, I'm just looking for neutrality. That was just born out of some frustration I'd been feeling from being extremely cautious not to offend or embarrass anyone with the suggestion that I might be attracted to them (and what could you do to deserve that fate?) You don't have to feel grateful, or even the least bit flattered, but I have desires, too, and it's exhausting to constantly suppress them because of a fear of being offensive. Being respectful is a good thing, and I hope not to change in that regard, but I'm tired of being overwhelmingly deferential.

I feel like I'll have to clarify that some more in the future.