The Military Destroys the Egocentric

[coberst]

The Military Destroys the Egocentric

 

I was recently watching, for the third time, the movie “Full Metal Jacket”. For those who have been privileged to serve in the military this movie will bring back ^#%*@ memories. For those who have not had this privilege this movie will be instructive as to certain means to instill the proper attitude into the citizen turned soldier.

 

The military recruit spends eight weeks in basic training upon first entering service. This eight week period includes an introduction to certain skills and knowledge required by all military people. Primarily, however, these eight weeks are designed to change dramatically the attitude of the recruit.

 

One aspect of this attitude change focuses upon changing the natural egocentric attitude into a sociocentric attitude. We do not generally recognize that we are motivated by the impulse to “view everything within the world in relationship to oneself, to be self-centered”. We are innately egocentric.

 

The people who study such matters seem to conclude that the normal human reaction is generally irrationally egocentric. The military, I think, wishes to change that irrational egocentric behavior into an irrational sociocentric behavior with the military as the social group which replaces the individual ego.

 

It appears that the key question of an egocentric is “How can I get what I want and avoid having to change in any fundamental way?”

 

My point in mentioning all of this is to draw your attention to this natural egocentric behavior because it is the source of many of the problems our world is faced with. One of the reasons we (USA) get into terrible messes is because we do not study our adversary and develop rational solutions. Often egocentric tendencies on the part of all humans are our adversary.

 

I do not think we understand this natural behavior well enough. What is your considered opinion?

[ronthepon]

The military performs this by employing a procedure which can be called 'subjecting to hell and getting them used to it'

 

I have been in contact with the military all my life.

 

The people in the not-so-high-posts say that they are kicked likr dogs at the beginning, then the things get tougher in some directions, while some points get easier to live with.

They are humiliated, beaten(almost), overworked, and roughly pushed until they get strong enough to handle any thing.

 

Now how exactly does it destroy the ego?

 

Probably because the person being trained begins to realise that their ego in light will get them kicked big time. Lay low, accept, agree, listen and it gets easier. Fight, rebel, resent or otherwise be fat headed, and it gets tougher till your limit.

[coberst]

I would say that in the natural state we act egocentrically almost always. Only when we have learned how to think rational can we begin to modify that innate tendency. But no matter how rational we train our self to be we must constantly be on guard against irrational behavior. I suspect the urge to act selfishly is as strong as the urge to over eat or to smoke. I think the egocentricity is combated through careful cultivation of good intellectual character traits.

 

We can go to school and learn all of the rules and standards of rational thinking and from that we can use that knowledge to be selfish minded or we can be fair-minded. I think that we can compare this to the philosopher and the sophist. I do not mean to set the philosopher on a high pedestal but I merely use this word because I cannot think of another. But I think you get my drift.

 

What the military does is replace the ego with the group. The attitude of the individual becomes focused upon the group and many of the instinctive behavior that was egocentric now become sociocentric. Even when these soldiers have been seriously wounded in Iraq it appears that their desire is to get back to their buddies.