Imperial Priorities: Obedience First – Character Last

We want to livepure, we want to live clean -- We want to do our best;

Sweetlysubmitting to authority, leaving to God the rest....

“The Obedience Song,” as sung every week in American Sunday Schoolclasses

Itis with pride that we see that one man is kept above all criticism -- theFuhrer. The reason is that everyone feels and knows he was always rightand will always be right. The National Socialism of us all is anchored in theuncritical loyalty, in the devotion to the Fuhrer that does not ask for thewherefore in the individual case. We believe that the Fuhrer is fulfilling adivine mission to the German destiny! This belief is beyond all challenge.

Rudolf Hess,June 25, 1934, as cited in an appendix to the official transcripts of theNuremberg Tribunal

In preparation for the Iraq war, the Pentagon’s war planners devised acomputer modeling program called “Bugsplat” to estimate the percentage ofcivilian casualties that would result in a given bombing raid. Just before the “Shockand Awe” assault on Baghdad began, Gen. Tommy Franks was informed of twenty-twoproposed bombing attacks that would result in what was described as “heavybugsplat.” He approved all twenty-two raids. 

The term “bugsplat” has become commonplacenow that missile-equipped remote-controlled drones have become the Regime’sweapon of choice for prosecuting wars in at least a half-dozen countries. That’sassuming that the term “war” applies to a campaign of state terrorism in which thousandsof helpless and entirely innocent people have been slaughtered in unexpectedaerial bombardments waged by “warriors” who manipulate drones from the safetyof climate-controlled offices in Nevada. The only combat-related risks those valiantcushion-crushers confront is the possibility of chronic diseases attendant to asedentary lifestyle. 

"Predator Porn": Future "Bugsplat" victims....

 The same lexicon of long-distancemass murder that gave us the term “bugsplat” offers another newly minted termto describe the terrified civilians who can be seen frantically running forcover: “Squirters.” The vaguely pornographic overtones of that expression areappropriate, given the ubiqtuity of what Dr. P.W. Singer of the BrookingsInstitution calls “predatorporn” – footage of drone attacks proudly circulated by the purported heroesresponsible for the carnage. 

In a2009 U.S. Naval Academy lecture, Singer described how “the ability todownload a video clip of combat is turning war into a form of entertainment.”This repellent new genre includes a modern variety of snufffilm: “A Hellfire missile drops, goes in, and hits the target, followed byan explosion and bodies tossed into the air.” Singer described one clip of that kind, sent to him by a joystick-wielding assassin, that “was set tomusic, the pop song `I Just Want to Fly’ by the band Sugar Ray.” 

Singer recalls asking a dronepilot “what it was like to fight insurgents in Iraq while based in Nevada. Hesaid, `You are going to war for 12 hours, shooting weapons at targets,directing kills on enemy combatants, and then you get in the car and you drive home.And within 20 minutes, you’re sitting at the dinner table talking to your kidsabout their homework.” Meanwhile, somewhere in Iraq (or Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya,Somalia, Yemen, or another country yet to be identified), families arepicking through the rubble of their homes in the rapidly evaporating hope thattheir own children have somehow survived this most recent act of imperialgenerosity. 

The Money Shot: Note the "squirter" fleeing in terror.

Do such keyboard bombardiers everexperience misgivings about what they do? Perhaps – but the perversefun is simply irresistible. 

“It’s like a videogame,” onecyber-samurai toldSinger. “It can get a little bloodthirsty. But it’s f****g cool.”

Oh. Well, alrighty then. 

But what happens when the noveltywears off, and conscience starts to press its claims? When “coolness” loses itsallure, conformity – displayed by obedience to “authority” -- will fill thevoid. “If his cause be wrong,” insisted one of Henry V’s soldiers in Shakespeare’s rendering,“our obedience to the king wipes the crime of it out of us” – even if thismeans waging aggressive war, murdering disarmed prisoners, and using thethreat of mass rape and the slaughter of children to compel cities tosurrender. 

For those on the delivering end,drone-facilitated atrocities seem utterly antiseptic. One scientist employed bythe Pentagon to refine and expand the technology of remote-controlled massmurder “said that no ethical or legal issues arise from robots in war,” Singerrecalls. “That is, unless the machine kills the wrong people repeatedly,”interjected the Strangelovian bureaucrat. “Then it’s just a product recallissue.”

Of course, the specific tool doesn’t kill anyone; it is an instrument employed by a morallyaccountable human being to accomplish that end. We’re not discussing Colossus,or Skynet, the Cylons, or any of the other variations on the Golem legend that arecommon in science fiction. The Regime’s apparatus of state slaughter is proudlydescribed by retired Lt. Col. John Nagle as “an almost industrial-scale …killing machine.” Its most important components are individual Americans whohave been taught that “submitting to authority” validates any action, no matterhow abhorrent, and sanctifies the indulgence of any appetite, nor matter howdepraved. 

In the imperial hierarchy ofvalues, obedience ranks much higher than moral integrity, particularly for those employed as agents of state-licensed violence. The Regime, both the federal leveland through its state and local franchises at the state and municipal levels, hasspent a great deal of money on subsidized “character” instruction, paying specialattention to the military and law enforcement. The most influential contractorin this field is “Character First,” an Oklahoma City-based “leadershipdevelopment” company. Predictably, its teachings emphasize obedience and "teamwork" at the expense of individual moral initiative.

Created in 1992, “Character First” is aspin-off from the Institute for Basic Life Principles, a Christian ministrywhose founder, BillGothard, is regarded by many (including some very conservative,theologically orthodox Christians) as  the leader of something akin to an authoritarian cult.  

Never married himself, Gothard presents himself as somethingof a Rev. Sun Myung Moon-like "idealparent," using his Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) to teach a detailed program of marriage, family, and characterdevelopment based on "Seven Principles" and "49 Traits." Gothard's admirers and political allies include presidential aspirants Rick Perry and Sarah Palin. Texas Congressman Sam Johnson (R-Texas) is chairman of the IBLP's board of directors. More than a few prominent politicians (including Palin, when she was Mayor of Wasilla) have attended Gothard's International Association of Character Cities conferences.

The worldview promoted by Gothard is severelyhierarchical, with all human relationships built on a "chain of command.”From his perspective, "rights" are a fiction, that refusal to submit to"authority" is akin to "witchcraft.” And, yes, Gothard  doeshave a “Little Red Book” outlining his teachings, but it is availableonly to his committed disciples. During the 1970s, hundreds of thousands of people attended mass seminars organized by Gothard, who positioned himself as a bulwark against a self-centered and subversive counterculture. Thus there's more than a little irony in the fact that the Soviets took a shine to Gothard's approach: In 1991 -- while the Hammer & Sickle were still flying over Moscow, and the CPSU was still in charge -- Gothard was invited to set up a five-acre campus in Moscow for a Russian offshootof his Advanced Training Institute. 

When one of Gothard’s followerscreated “Character First” in 1992, he appropriated Gothard’s“49 CharacterQualities,” repackaging them in terms that would be acceptable tosecular institutions. This produced a platitude-heavy catechism that differslittle from what can be found in the texts on management theory and personnelmotivation that clutter the business section of any chain bookstore. 

“CharacterFirst” propagates its message through the standard array of media products –among them a monthly newsletter, illustrated with cartoons depicting variousanimals as embodiments of certain desirable traits. The organization also "works with government leaders and community organizations around the world who want to promote character on a local basis," boasting that its initiatives have been embraced by civic officials in six states and scores of cities in the U.S. and in more than a half-dozen countries abroad. 

Significantly, the type ofprincipled individualism necessary to confront and expose institutionalcorruption isn’t found anywhere on the "Character First" list of traits deemed essential to goodcharacter (“the inward values that determine outward actions,” as defined by “CharacterFirst”). However, the list prominently mentions “obedience” – “quickly andcheerfully carrying out the direction of those who are responsible for me”; "deference"-- "limiting my freedom so I do not offend the tastes of those aroundme"; and "discretion" -"recognizing and avoiding words, actions, and attitudes that could bringundesirable consequences" -- among the traits identifying an individual of"character." 

A government employee whosedaily routine involves annihilating people on the other side of the globe viaremote-controlled drones would have no problem displaying the attitudes andattributes listed in the “Character First” inventory – assuming that heefficiently and conscientiously carried out “the direction of those who areresponsible for me.” By way of contrast, “Character First” offers no support orsolace for the whistle-blower or conscientious objector. 

Yes, the checklist does mention “Justice”– “Taking personal responsibility to uphold what is pure, right, and true” –but the practical application of that principle assumes that it is theprerogative of those in “authority” to define what is “pure, right, and true.” Thus“accountability,” as definedby the “Character First” program, always operates from the top down – neverfrom the bottom up. 

Under the “Character First”formula, imprisoned whistleblower Bradley Manning – who, as it happens, is alsonative to Oklahoma – would have been considered an exemplary soldier if he hadbeen content to obey his superiors and abet the cover-up of war crimes in Iraq. 

As an intelligence analyststationed in Iraq, Manning was immersed in a steady stream of “bugsplat”videos. “At times it felt like watching nonstop snuff films,” observesa recent New York magazine profileof the prisoner of conscience. “An intel analyst sat at his work station andtargeted the enemy, reducing a human being to a few salient points. Then hemade a quick decision based on imperfect information: kill, capture, exploit,source.”

Overwrought with misgivingsabout the war before being shipped to Iraq, Manning had consoled himself withthe thought that he might actually be able to discriminate between “bad guys”and innocent bystanders, but that illusion perished abruptly in combat. “At onepoint, he went to a superior with what he believed to be a mistake,” points outNew York magazine. “The Iraqi FederalPolice had rounded up innocent people, he said. Get back to work, he was told.” 

Manning’s first breach of “confidentiality”came in late 2009,  when he told apsychological counselor “about a targeting mission gone bad in Basra” in whichan innocent bystander was killed, leaving Manning crippled with remorse.Shortly thereafter, he allegedly began leaking the Iraq war logs, whichsome day will be seen as an indispensable chronicle of a world-historicatrocity. 

The first and most potentrevelation came in the form of the notorious – “bugsplat” video entitled “Collateral Murder.” Thatvideo documented the slaughter – by two U.S. Apache helicopter gunships – of twelveinnocent civilians, including two employees of the Reuters news agency. Twochildren were among the wounded. 

 Former U.S. Army SpecialistEthan McCord, who can be seen in the video attempting to carry the woundedchildren to safety – has testified that this war crime was the product of a “standardoperating procedure” dictating “360 degree rotational fire” in residentialneighborhoods in retaliation for IED attacks on occupation troops. 

“If PFCBradley Manning did what he is accused of, he is a hero of mine,” writesMcCord, “not because he’s perfect or because he never struggled with personalor family relationships—most of us do—but because in the midst of it all he hadthe courage to act on his conscience.” 

But conscience has no place in the Empire’s hierarchy ofvalues. It is sand in the gears of imperial violence, for which conformity isthe optimal lubricant. 

I’m tempted to say that if the “Character First” program hadbeen in existence in the 1930s, it could have been translated into German andmarketed to the Nazi hierarchy without modification. But this isn’t strictlyaccurate: Nazi Germany did have its equivalent of “Character First” – a State-centereddoctrine called “Positive Christianity,” in which obedience to “authority” wasdefined as the highest practical good and a categorical imperative.

After the National Socialists came to power, writes EricMetaxas in his splendid biography Bonhoeffer:Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, “Some church leaders felt the church shouldmake peace with the Nazis, who were strongly opposed to communism and`godlessness.’ They believed the church should conform to the Nazi racial lawsand the Fuhrer Principle. They thought that by wedding the church to the state,they would restore the church and Germany to her former glory…. Hadn’t Hitlerspoken of restoring moral order to the nation? They didn’t agree with him oneverything, but they believed that if the church’s prestige were restored, theymight be able to influence him in the right direction.”

The eternal refrain oftemporizers, opportunists, and collaborators is that they can “do more good” by“working from within” the system, on the assumption that their sheer decencyand inexhaustible virtue will have a purgative effect on even the most degeneratepublic institutions – and that obedience to authority will cover a multitude ofsins. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose heroicresistance to the Nazi regime was a product of his unconditional commitment toGod, would almost certainly admire the character and courage displayed by theatheist Bradley Manning in exposing war crimes. He would likewise see something familiar in the effort to cultivate a population of polite, punctual, dutiful, thrift, orderly collaborators in institutionalized evil.

In 1933, many of Bonhoeffer’s pious friends chided himfor his insistence on opposing the Nazi regime. The Third Reich was anirresistible tide, Bonhoeffer was told;  it was better to “ride the wave”than to stand against it and be overwhelmed. 

Choosing a different metaphor,one that would acquire grim connotations within a few years, Bonhoeffer gentlybut firmly dismissed the idea of collaboration: “If you board the wrong train,it is no use running along the corridor in the opposite direction.” 

 

 Dum spiro, pugno!