Here is the warning:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dail...mg00000009
The armed forces are by necessity authoritarian bodies -- but just remember what the honor codes of the Service Academies say. The wording differs from academy to academy, but in essence:
Do not lie, cheat, or steal; do not allow others to get away with lying, cheating, or stealing.
It isn't blind obedience or reckless displays of bravery. One needs to know that the orders are genuine, lawful, and coherent as well as from legitimate sources and even wise and possible. "Lead your troops off a cliff" is not a valid order.
That is a good standard for any responsible profession from accountancy to teaching to medicine to engineering to research.
It's easy to understand why the military puts so much importance upon integrity. Combat, an inevitable part of any military career or a consequence of decisions that one makes as an officer, depends upon the reliability of superior orders for the achievement of military success. Yes, there is the fog of war; yes, there are events that happen because the Enemy is where he is unexpected. Difficult and dangerous as combat is, soldiers need to know that the chain of command has the best knowledge and intentions.
If one does not know, one must not pretend to know. One must never relay data that one knows is false. One must not pretend to have had successes that have not happened or disguise a failure. One might take from military stores as necessary for a limited objective, but one had better not do so for corrupt gain and one must record what one took. Someone else may need ammunition and rations.
If one is an engineer, then one must not substitute substandard materials and pocket the difference. The bridge that one builds might collapse some day if the materials are substandard. If one does scientific (especially medical!) research, one has obvious standards to meet. An accountant must make audits in accordance with generally-accepted accounting principles.
Objective truth is precious. It may not be convenient, but it is all that we have for making competent decisions. Those who live in accordance with the consequences of knowing the truth can experience unpleasantness in life, but those who don't live in accordance with it set themselves and others up for catastrophe.
Needless to say, I do not trust Donald Trump. 'Post-truth' and 'alternative facts' are lies at worst, and delusions at best.
Quote: Fascism says nothing’s true. Your daily life is not important. The facts that you think you understand are not important. All that matters is the myth ― the myth of one nation as together the myth-ful connection with the leader.
When we think of “Post-truth,” we think its something new. We think its something at campuses. We think its something irrelevant. Actually, what post-truth does is it paves the way for regime change. If we don’t have access to facts, we can’t trust each other. Without trust, there’s no law. Without law, there’s no democracy.
So if you want to rip the heart out of democracy directly, if you want to go right at it and kill it, what you do is you go after facts. And that is what modern authoritarians do.
Step one: You lie to yourself, all the time. Step two: You say it’s your opponents and the journalists who lie. Step three: Everyone looks around and says, “What is truth?” There is no truth.
And then, resistance is impossible, and the game is over.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dail...mg00000009
The armed forces are by necessity authoritarian bodies -- but just remember what the honor codes of the Service Academies say. The wording differs from academy to academy, but in essence:
Do not lie, cheat, or steal; do not allow others to get away with lying, cheating, or stealing.
It isn't blind obedience or reckless displays of bravery. One needs to know that the orders are genuine, lawful, and coherent as well as from legitimate sources and even wise and possible. "Lead your troops off a cliff" is not a valid order.
That is a good standard for any responsible profession from accountancy to teaching to medicine to engineering to research.
It's easy to understand why the military puts so much importance upon integrity. Combat, an inevitable part of any military career or a consequence of decisions that one makes as an officer, depends upon the reliability of superior orders for the achievement of military success. Yes, there is the fog of war; yes, there are events that happen because the Enemy is where he is unexpected. Difficult and dangerous as combat is, soldiers need to know that the chain of command has the best knowledge and intentions.
If one does not know, one must not pretend to know. One must never relay data that one knows is false. One must not pretend to have had successes that have not happened or disguise a failure. One might take from military stores as necessary for a limited objective, but one had better not do so for corrupt gain and one must record what one took. Someone else may need ammunition and rations.
If one is an engineer, then one must not substitute substandard materials and pocket the difference. The bridge that one builds might collapse some day if the materials are substandard. If one does scientific (especially medical!) research, one has obvious standards to meet. An accountant must make audits in accordance with generally-accepted accounting principles.
Objective truth is precious. It may not be convenient, but it is all that we have for making competent decisions. Those who live in accordance with the consequences of knowing the truth can experience unpleasantness in life, but those who don't live in accordance with it set themselves and others up for catastrophe.
Needless to say, I do not trust Donald Trump. 'Post-truth' and 'alternative facts' are lies at worst, and delusions at best.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.