Postmodern warfare

I attended a movie/documentary psuedo-docu-drama screening event hosted by Hillel on Temple's campus this evening. The film was called "Obessions: Radical Islams War Against the West," and was probably the worst piece of propaganda I have ever had to suffer through.

Want to check it out? Taste a sample.

IN the film, a woman refers to Militant Islam as "postmodern warfare." This was disconcerting to me. How do you reconcile the two concepts? I suppose you don't and that is postmodern.

But, let's think about what postmodern warfare implies.

Warfare is organized choas - okay, there is a parallel. But, in war there is a specific goal and a plan of attack by which to reach that goal. If we are talking about Postmodernism as it applies to war, than just as postmodern art is art for arts' sake, the result would be war for wars' sake. Senseless killing on a mass scale.

Interesting that today's warfare is so hands-off. Missles launched from 100 miles away are killing millions of people. Most of the world is watching the war in Iraq unfold on their television screens. Dehuminzation of the war has lead to passivity and ambivalence. Politicians and demagouges seize the indifference of the people to wage war for their own benefit - can you say Halliburton?

This is not just a disturbing thought, but one that needs to be had by the people of America. We can embrace technology and emerce ourselves in a mosaic of self-imposed worldviews, but we cannot allow this to become such an overwhelming distraction as to deter us from the values that we hold most dear. Even with our individualized moral systems, most people in this world can agree that murder is an unacceptable means to an end.