“… none of the so-called democracies in the world today are properly democratic. They are, rather, rigid hierarchies, whose oligarchs consent, every few years, to punctuate their routine with a single mass reality-TV-show-style plebiscite. That’s not what democracy means.” p3
or, said better, in my opinion, “We don’t have democracy, in the world of politics today; we have oligarchy punctuated by occasional contests to determine who has the most effective control of the media.” p8-9
” … looking too deeply into the causes of war may encourage you to try and tease out right and wrong. That’s a mistake … because if the rights and wrongs could be easily sorted out then people wouldn’t have gone to war over them in the first place.” p60
“In four out of five possible situations war is simply too costly an option. … you [New Model Armies] came along, and you made war affordable again.” p195
New Model Armies are mercenary armies of technologically enhanced-and-connected soldiers (and because of that connection, which enabled anyone to put forth a proposal upon which everyone could vote, near instantaneously, were, unlike conventional armies drowning in hierarchy, truly democratic) but I wonder if his point is applicable to drones, as well.
And why were so many joining NMAs?
“these people were not joinging up for the money, or for the austere pleasures of putting in place effective military strategy. Three quarters of them were young men. most were not even particularly committed to the ideologies of democracy. most were joining up because doing so gave them the chance to smash shit up, and to ensure that nobody fucked with them.” p197
