Remembrance day salutes man’s ancient instincts

05 November 2008

/article_images/articledir_5154/2577166/1_listing.jpg

War has a fatal attraction for men, says James Delingpole. Those who fall in combat are indeed the best and the bravest — and we shall certainly need their like again

Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, and I’m sorry to repeat such a hoary cliché, but the reason it’s so hoary is it’s true. There’s barely a chap I know who doesn’t wonder how he’d fare if forced to undergo the ultimate male test — combat. And the ones who claim not to wonder such things I find frankly a bit weird. Are they not in denial of almost everything it means to be a man?

A boy’s childhood is — even now, in an era when we’re supposed to have evolved from all that militaristic nonsense — a preparation for war. Some of it’s plain obvious, like the way boys love to fight one another with sticks, and shoot each other from behind corners going ‘peeeooing peeeooing’ (or, better still, ‘trrrrrrrrrrrrr’ if they can roll their ‘rs’ and do machine guns) with their pointed fingers.

Some of it is more subtle like hide and seek — a classic concealment and evasion exercise which teaches you the importance of staying stock still and holding your nerve even when the seeker’s so close you think he absolutely must have seen you. Notice too how men and boys behave during friendly games of football. The only time they applaud during the match is when someone is injured and, having writhed on the ground for a decent interval, the victim picks himself up and elects to play manfully on. This sly social conditioning of our boys to put their team’s interests before their own, to be ready if necessary to make the ultimate sacrifice, did not die with G.A. Henty or W.E. Johns. It’s there with us still, from the playing fields of Eton to the scurfy, fenced tarmac of your local housing estate.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 Next page

More articles from: James Delingpole | this section

Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (8)

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Post comment

P. McCormick

November 6th, 2008 3:45pm Report this comment

Superb piece.

Gina Herbert

November 6th, 2008 7:54pm Report this comment

Another wonderful article, sir. You have fast become the best reason to buy The Spectator.

ToM

November 8th, 2008 5:12am Report this comment

Another would-be warmonger (but, obviously, not warrior) trying to sell the innocent on the glories of war. Here's my variation on the author's closing argument for war: "... there is no occasion on which the worst parts of human nature — cowardice, hatred, indecision, cruelty, irresponsibility, selfishness — are exposed quite so glaringly as they are in time of war."

eric

November 8th, 2008 7:34am Report this comment

Sir, you are an idiot. It would take too long to explain why, and you wouldn't understand anyway.

Grandad

November 10th, 2008 10:20pm Report this comment

"there is no occasion on which the best parts of human nature...shine quite so brightly as they do in time of war."

Except, perhaps, on August 6th and 9th 1945?

ian skidmore

November 11th, 2008 8:50am Report this comment

a very fine piece of insightful writing. Thank you.

Zac Smith

November 12th, 2008 3:32pm Report this comment

I suggest that anyone who appreciates this doesn't buy his book. It's rubbish.

Bill Corr

November 12th, 2008 6:04pm Report this comment

"Most soldiers have a built-in antipathy to killing which only rigorous training can override," says James Delingpole.

Dig out a copy of "Letters from a ruined Empire" by Otis Cary and others. Raw Japanese recruits in China were frequently 'toughened up' for the grim business of hands-on close-quarter killing by the simple expedient of being ordered to bayonet bound Chinese prisoners-of-war. This procedure was said to be most efficacious.

Carey et al were interviewing / interrogating surrendered Japanese personnel in the aftermath of the capitulation and there can be no doubt about the facts.

Most Brits have been away from the land for three or more generation and most have never even seen a chicken killed - remember the squeamish fuss about a dead squirrel on the telly?

It's a miracle our police officers and SAS assassins - c.f. Gibraltar - manage to cope as well as they do.

Post comment