Greenwald on Warmongering Psychology

Glenn Greenwald has a good post over at his blog discussing the prevalence among many conservatives and hawks of macho, tough-guy rhetoric. Many prominent conservative writers and media figures -- Rush Limbaugh, David Warren, Bill O'Reilly, Jonah Goldberg, and Victor Davis Hanson come to mind, among others -- have a seemingly compulsive need to emphasize their manliness, courage, and masculine dignity. While critics of Greenwald could dismiss this with any number of cliches about "armchair psychology", I think he does in fact raise an important point. As Greenwald discusses, many of these men very frequently accuse others of cowardice, while they advocate for others to be sent to war, for others to show bravery, and for others to take risks.

Rather than just focusing on specific media personalities, Greenwald posits that psychological factors have at least as much influence on American foreign policy as any kind of political ideology. When you look at the rhetoric and recurring themes of our foreign policy, it is hard to deny this -- so much of president Bush's rhetoric centers around being "strong" and "resolute" and standing up against any hint of a threat, so as to not look "cowardly". Republicans also constantly criticize Democrats along these same lines, saying that the Democrats are "weak" or "afraid" or "confused" -- qualities obviously opposite to the self-styled manliness and courage of Republicans.

Greenwald also says that this goes far beyond the idea of "chicken hawks" (those who push for war but never served in the military) in that it concerns the entire structure of decision-making and results in serious government policies with widespread effects being formed on the basis of our leaders' need to feel empowered and masculine. This is certainly something to think about next time you listen to a political speech or the tough-guy rhetoric of TV pundits and writers.