At times, it seems repetitive to tell people how to look at the future. In many ways, like golf, it’s a simple process you must practice. No shortcuts. Giving the same advice time and time again can feel like a nag.
However, how about giving people bad advice they can ignore? This is a new pedagogical approach, one I am working on for my next book. The power of negative thinking!
I am partially inspired in this effort by this all-too-true blog post on how to lose wars American style.
If you really want to lose a war, follow these easy steps:
- Underestimate the enemy.
- Avoid learning anything about the enemy.
- Explain the invasion to the American public in simple moral terms suitable for middle-school children at an evangelical summer camp.
- A misunderstanding of military history helps. Besides, comprehension would only lead to depression.
- Do not forget that a military’s reason for existence is to close with the enemy and destroy him. An army is not in the social-services business.
- Intellectual insularity should be a primary goal, as it avoids distraction.
- Keep up to date with the latest nostrums and silver bullets. Organize your military as a lean, mean, high-tech force characterized by lightning mobility, enormous firepower, and extraordinary unsuitability for the kind of wars it will actually have to fight.
- It is a good idea to bracket your exposure. Be ready for wars past and future, but not present.
- Insist that the US military never loses wars. Instead, it is betrayed, stabbed in the back, and brought low by treason.
- Avoid institutional memory. Not having lost of course means that there is nothing to remember.
Mindset is more important than capital, more important than information.