Conference paper
Fear is the Parent of Cruelty: Racism, the Military, Terrorism and War
The Complexities of Racism: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Racisms in the New World Order, pp.86-103
International Conference on Racisims in the New World Order, 2nd (Caloundra, Australia, 06-Dec-2007–07-Dec-2007)
University of the Sunshine Coast
2008
Abstract
In my 2005 presentation, entitled Australian Nationalism, Conflicted Identities, Militarism and Exclusion, at the previous conference in this series, I argued that Australian nationalism is very much alive but is also conflicted, complex and problematic; and argued that this could be an indicator of the future direction of nationalism elsewhere. I have in mind other societies focussed on the military aspects of their history that Samuel Huntington would describe as 'Praetorian', that is, strongly influenced by a deep embeddedness of the military in the civil institutions of the nation state (Huntington 1970). In this paper I postulate that a relationship may exist between societal attitudes to 'other' ethnicities and the military experience. I examine the military culture and indoctrination, war crimes and punishment, dehumanisation of opponents, killing distance and callous attitudes, racial attitudes, fear of numerical superiority and the propaganda that reaches the wider community. I have focussed on Australia, the United States and, as a case study, Israel. The military has a special role in the forging of national identity and creation of the narrative of national mythology by political elites. In Australia, the celebration of ANZAC Day, the resurgence of militaristic depictions of Australia's history and national identity and the former Prime Minister, John Howard's concerns for the teaching of history in schools. I will develop this theme of military identity as it applies to the dissemination of the 'national mythology', racial attitudes, drawing out the synergistic relationships of racism, military training and indoctrination and the experience of combat against peoples of outgroup 'other' ethnicities. There appear to be synergistic relationships between racism, military training and indoctrination as well as the experience of combat against peoples described by Social Psychologist, Matthew Hornsey, as being of outgroup 'other' ethnicities (Hornsey 2004) (Hornsey M September/October 2004). It is noteworthy that many of the wars and warlike actions that have involved Australian military personnel have been against ethnic 'others'. These engagements appear to significantly amplify and ingrain authoritarian, patriarchal behaviours and attitudes and the practise of simplistic racial stereotyping in Australian society.
Details
- Title
- Fear is the Parent of Cruelty: Racism, the Military, Terrorism and War
- Authors
- Willy Bach (Author) - Queensland University of Technology
- Contributors
- Hurriyet Babacan (Editor)Narayan Gopalkrishnan (Editor)
- Publication details
- The Complexities of Racism: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Racisms in the New World Order, pp.86-103
- Conference details
- International Conference on Racisims in the New World Order, 2nd (Caloundra, Australia, 06-Dec-2007–07-Dec-2007)
- Publisher
- University of the Sunshine Coast
- Date published
- 2008
- ISBN
- 9780980474411
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2008 The Authors. Reproduced with permission of the authors.
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99449669602621
- Output Type
- Conference paper
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