Greetings, and welcome to the World Affairs Board!
The World Affairs Board is the premier forum for the discussion of the pressing geopolitical issues of our time. Topics include military and defense developments, international terrorism, insurgency & COIN doctrine, international security and policing, weapons proliferation, and military technological development.
Our membership includes many from military, defense, academic, and government backgrounds with expert knowledge on a wide range of topics. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so why not register a World Affairs Board account and join our community today?
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov
On a serious note, there were a lot of interesting stuff in barrack regulations and field instructions during the Arrow/Second Opium War. I don't know if there are English-language works on the subject but the essay I read is by a Taiwanese scholar. He found reams and reams of doctrinal and medical corps manuals on finding good, salubrious locations for military camps and how to maintain them. They emphasized access to clean running water, dry and high ground and clean air. Almost hilariously, all of that useful practical knowledge was based on erroneous pre-Pasteurian medicine that did not understand germs cause diseases. But the discipline and empirical knowledge was impressive, and the impression was backed by remarkably low rates of non-combat casualties reported by the British Indian Army during the Arrow War.
hey, if the overall effect is the same...for the grunt, a cultural poo taboo works just as well if not better than a sketchy theoretical knowledge of germ theory...
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov
The Romans did fine without knowing anything about germs, certainly. The greater point is discipline in the Foucauldian sense, that you can tell those grunts to do exactly what you tell them, and they listen to you exactly as they are told.
All those who are merciful with the cruel will come to be cruel to the merciful.
-Talmud Kohelet Rabbah, 7:16.
Comment