Can you cite examples? I'm honestly interested in how you came to your current stance on the subject.
Here is an outstanding paper written by a couple of PLA Colonels:
Unrestricted Warfare And here is a more accessible Wiki summary:
Unrestricted Warfare My understanding of the differences between the more ridged and deconstructionist way of Western thinking vs the more flexible and holistic way of eastern thinking started when I learned to play go and chess as a kid. But it wasn’t until I joined the Marine Corps that my mind was really opened to the warfare ramifications.
The Corps I joined was run by Vietnam Vets who learned from experience what it’s like to fight a non Westernized Asian enemy. Everyone in my Battalion was required to study counter insurgency warfare. For NCOs and officers required readings included “The Art of War” and Mao’s writings. The Marine Corps itself has up until recently done most of it’s heavy fighting in the far east and like any successful expeditionary force adopts what works from it’s enemies. So in many ways the Marine Corps has become more “Eastern” than “Western” in it’s fighting much to the chagrin of Western reporters in Iraq. Hell when I was in we didn’t even use the term Gung Ho! We always said “Gong He” (pronounced more like gun-gee but like one word) which is the Mandarin way of saying it. I never once heard someone say “Gung Ho.”
Basically what I learned was that there are no rules. You do what it takes to win anything less is stupid while anything more is wasteful. You attack only where the enemy is weak and run when he is strong. You attack by any and all means combat, political, educational, economic, moral. Even when not engaged in open hostilities you pursue the conflict through any other means available always trying to outmaneuver your enemy and win the battle/war in the best way possible w/o having to fight.
If you are interested in eastern military philosophy then you must start by reading “The Art of War.”
On a more general side the basis in our difference in thinking about warfare stems from our respective cultural beliefs. Several things happened in the West that happened nowhere else in the world on the same scale at the time.
Christianity (and to some extent it’s precursors) introduced a finite linnear concept of time (the universe has a beginning, middle and end) whereas most of the rest of the world viewed time as cyclical.
Through both Christian and ancient Greek philosophies the idea of dichotomies (the dialectic) evolved into Western culture and permeates “intellectual” thinking of all types.
Modern Science developed a codified way to deconstruct the world (or arguments) into parts. Makes for faster progress as smaller problems are usually easier to solve but often with a narrow focus and understanding. Loosing sight of the forest for the trees so to speak.
IMO these cultural precepts lay the foundation for Western thinking and from them develop higher order differences we see between Western European and other ways of thinking. The apparent “success” (only time will tell) of the “Western Way” fuels Westerners sense of superiority and the Westernization of the rest of the world.
Add to that the Germanic concept of the individual prevalent in Anglo (Germanic) peoples and you further differentiate the English speaking peoples from the rest of the world even many continental Europeans.
Bored Yet?
Dean
P.S. My two favorite social theorist are Mark Twain and George Carlin.
