Ars Technica posted an interesting article on US soldiers’ use of personal technology in Iraq. It brings to mind a number of questions about not just how Americans look to the less-developed world, but also about the ability to keep troop discipline and our operations under wraps. And that’s just the start. In a world where copyright violation is considered a serious problem and child labor is often used to make "Frauda" knock-off bags, is it really appropriate for our military to be shopping for bootleg DVDs in the local markets, encouraging that kind of commerce? If, as The Atlantic‘s correspodent Robert Kaplan asserts in a number his books and articles, the future of warfare is to acculturate our soldiers to train the locals, should the US military continue to allow its foreign bases to be a "little piece of America" amongst hostile locals?
Thinking about the long-term and "victory," in a world more and more besieged by "Inconvenient Truths," does it really make sense to have the values inculcated by our presence to be so overtly comsumption-based? What local children are going to see all of our cool gadgets and huge cars and not want at least a chance to own those items? If we’re worried about the pressure on our oil economy that China poses now, just wait until the rest of the equitorlal world realizes that it can afford air conditioning in every building.
It’s not just democratic values our military ventures should bring to the developing world. It’s sustainable values, too.
Ars Technica – iPods at war
Also: Miltary.com: David Sears: American Stuff
