Small Wars and Sports

[TheCurmudgeon]

Ganulv,

From my perspective any of those would work. The sport does not need to be blatantly combative, it only needs to satisfy the need for competition and status - the same needs that I would argue are satisfied by becoming a member of an insurgent group. The idea is that some young men don't necessarily join a group because they had an ideological affiliation with the group, they join for the excitement and the status. Offering them an alternative might (big might) reduce the number of insurgents in the field (or it just may better train them for combat ;-))

I like the Bingo ticket - I suppose anything that is science today is farce tomorrow.

[ganulv]

The idea is that some young men don't necessarily join a group because they had an ideological affiliation with the group, they join for the excitement and the status. Offering them an alternative might (big might) reduce the number of insurgents in the field (or it just may better train them for combat ;-))

Hindsight is of course 20/20, but during my initial viewing of Triumph of the Will it was very hard for me to understand how the leaders of the nations of the world could think that the scenes involving the labor service units were about anything other than military training by another means.

[TheCurmudgeon]

Hindsight is of course 20/20, but during my initial viewing of Triumph of the Will it was very hard for me to understand how the leaders of the nations of the world could think that the scenes involving the labor service units were about anything other than military training by another means.

You reminded me of a scene from the original "Red Dawn" where the Soviet Military Leader is asking the town mayor about boy who was a friend of his son and who was also a member of that well known paramilitary organization - the Eagle Scouts.

Perhaps we should have tried organizing Boy Scout packs in Afghanistan

[ganulv]

You reminded me of a scene from the original "Red Dawn" where the Soviet Military Leader is asking the town mayor about boy who was a friend of his son and who was also a member of that well known paramilitary organization - the Eagle Scouts.

• 36.4 percent of the United States Military Academy (West Point) cadets were involved in Scouting as youth. 16.3 percent of cadets are Eagle Scouts.
• 22.5 percent of United States Air Force Academy cadets were involved in Scouting as youth. 11.9 percent of cadets are Eagle Scouts.
• 25 percent of United States Naval Academy (Annapolis) midshipmen were involved in Scouting as youth. 11 percent of midshipmen are Eagle Scouts.

– source: the horse’s mouth

[TheCurmudgeon]

I think if we had started a Boy Scout type organization we could have gotten a number of young men who would have volunteered to be Scout Masters, particularly if the Scout meetings were on Thursday night.

But returning the thread's original purpose I guess I should explore some of my base assumptions, that:

1. young men join military organizations for adventure and status and not necessarily for ideological reasons, particularly where there are few other ways to have excitement, competition, and status; and

2. that given number 1, some of those young men could be satiated by providing them a non-military alternative.

Finally, if the alternative was socially acceptable in the target society the odds of it attracting participants would be greater than if it was not (as there is little use having status in an organization that no one respects).

Also curious if the effect would be exponential if the sport/activity allowed for spectators, a sort of vicarious status by following your "home team".