Comments | chronarchy: Groundwater poisoning. That's what it is.

chronarchy

Groundwater poisoning. That's what it is.

Jan 06, 2005 12:05

It's part of a scorched earth policy. You retreat slowly, backing away from the perceived opponent. At this point, you have nothing left to lose, and you know you have nothing to gain ( Read more... )

writings, history, reflections, adf, discord, goh

Comments 7

hatred can feed bloodlikerain January 6 2005, 20:14:54 UTC

anger is that last fig leaf.....when you've lost everything, if you can hold on to anger and hate to sustain you, to get you through, to make you fight back, even if you are fighting the undeserving, then you can make it.

once you lose the anger and hate, then their is despair and acceptance. if one accepts that they've lost, then the battle is well over.

saffronhare January 6 2005, 22:02:36 UTC

Yes. That is a think I know much more about than is comfortable sometimes. Three cheers for military history and tactical training.

fred_smith January 6 2005, 23:33:30 UTC

Its interesting. I spend quite a bit of time wondering what it would be like to be right at the end of things. Is it better to go out fighting, or to allow your people to pass on in a more peaceful way. Maybe, at times its just a better option to destroy everything than to allow your enemy to use it, and advance further into other areas.

romandruid January 7 2005, 16:24:38 UTC

Leave it to me to distill this all into (yet another) chaos vs. order thang. It's childish and incredibly selfish, but some folks still think that when they're unsuccessful at imposing their idea of order upon the world (i.e., they don't get their way) the thing to do is to make such a mess of things that no one else can either. There are (at least) two problems with this approach: (a) it doesn't work, and (b) it invariably hurts the wounder far more than the intended woundee.

( A true story )

smithing_chick January 7 2005, 20:25:23 UTC

Well, because it *doesn't* always bite people on the ass. Look at what Rome did to Carthage. Didn't really seem to hurt Rome at all- just utterly desroyed Carthage.

chronarchy January 7 2005, 21:19:25 UTC

And Sherman destroyed Georgia, but look at the South today.

When Rome took the walls at Carthage, though, the Carthaginians burned the streets as they retreated. The last defenders died in a fire of their own setting.

After the Senate ordered the destruction of the city, Polybius said that he feared the same would happen to Rome. Rome did eventually get sacked.

smithing_chick January 7 2005, 20:47:47 UTC

Having heard my sister justify various things the government does in wartime (& being aware that scorched earth involves destruction of all forms of fertility, including women), I'm not sure that many of are particularly troubled by their consciences. Maybe I'm cynical, but I'm pretty well convinced that people who employ such tactics have no conscience.