Fun v. Industriousness in Strategy
History is rife with examples of both working wonders.
Fun – Bruce Lee said something like ‘one shouldn’t feel angry when fighting, one should feel every emotion at once.’ The Manhattan Project – the math was done almost singlehandedly one drunk night by an MIT frat pledge (it was fun for him.) – Michael Phelps skipped qualifications, had very little training and had so much THC running through his system he could not pronounce his own name but he broke an American and world record (the former being, realistically, more significant than the latter.) - The Greeks or something built a horse out of paper mache, infiltrated a city, shoplifted some DVDs and ran away while one of their generals made out with a woman he had wanted to for quite some time.
Industriousness – Some transatlantic cable was built across the ocean in the mid 1800's. It was grueling work that involved since forgotten deep sea steam punk technology, many of the workers got the bends and went to bed lonely but when it was all said and done it allowed the US and Europe to share more porn, which was important in such stifling times.
But then there are some instances where Industriousness simply trumps fun. Case in point…
Stalingrad
The Germans kept on psyching out the Russians, doing what was unpredictable and doing it quickly “lightning war” after all Goering was usually hungry during meetings. Go for Moscow, it’s the capital, logical enough. No, get the oil fields, wait no, Stalingrad, they’ll never suspect it…their guide was crazy as evidenced by the silly mustache…they thought it would be a good time, create a giant living room in Eastern Europe or something to do with an adolescent fixation on busty blondes and strange interpretations of the Tibetan occult. Their uniforms were shiny and designed not to have wrinkles with suitability to the elements being an afterthought, the best soldiers had lightning bolt pins like suckers who pay a fee to The Mickey Mouse Club…war was in essence fun to them, something to do on a whim, invade this one to the West, can’t cross a channel cause it’s no fun building transports, let’s go east and invade the largest country which is 75% tundra and full of laborers with no future…it will all be fun and over before we know it.
Meanwhile, the Russians had a different angle. Only invade for practical and diplomatic purposes and when dog piling a country that didn’t stand a chance. Moving the factories further inland wasn’t fun but it was necessary. They were used to the old notion of a hard day’s work for a small piece of bad bread or not even that. Their uniforms were made with utility and cold in mind, not as a suitable substitute high school prom rental tuxedo (remember the adolescent fixation with busty blondes.) Many of the Russian generals were dead, killed by their leader who was a nasty drunk. Ill equipped, in Stalingrad some of the remaining officers remembered the sage advice of their executed comrades. “Play the map,” they said. But what did it mean? Some officers whined the advice was too vague - they were swiftly executed for not getting it, their flesh eaten by those who did. It meant getting the panzers out of the open field, making the Germans take Stalingrad one block at a time. It wouldn’t be fun for either side…but then again that wasn’t the point.
US Involvements
Civil War…no fun at all. The local women were pasty, churchgoing and resembled your sister and sometimes were. The landscape nothing new, some people fought a stone’s throw from their hometown. To die in Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Delaware had no romance to it. Without any real enticing distractions, the Union kept their eye on the ball and lost very little casualties. The South on the other hand dealt with things differently, they did not play the (in this insance boring) map, they fought the boredom instead of accepting it, they added their own flair, charges and moonshine had a lot to do with it, they thought it was a professional wrestling match…the result –they lost handidly.
But in Vietnam we see something completely different. Virtually a paradise - interesting jungle wildlife, helicopter pilots blasting Jimi Hendrix, a small box of laundry detergent could be bartered for 30 primo joints laced with opium, the women were slender, accommodating, desperate and did not resemble any one’s sister, the sunsets were beautiful and the firepower far exceeded what the locals had, to die in a place you couldn’t pronounce the name of was romantic…the US got understandably distracted and lost.
Look at rock band histories. Notice how the members of ones with boring, industrious names like Grand Funk Railroad and Aerosmith live past 72 and never get ED. The one’s with pie in the sky names like Shangri-La, Nirvana and Jefferson Starship end up committing suicide or being some bore at an AA meeting.
The proof is evident.
He've posted many paragraphs in that thread.
