"Twenty thousand doomed to die, and they wonder at my hat!"

[villager]

--Leo Tolstoy, "War and Peace"

[sammythecat]

1. Can you expand on that,

for me, and any other unwashed among us. I haven't read "War and Peace", but I know those classic Russian authors had a lot of heavy thoughts on a lot of serious matters.

I'm really interested to know the context behind that sentence. Thanks

[villager]

2. having only seen the film, one of the lead characters is walking

among garrisoned troops who will soon be launched into a battle that everyone knows is futile (during the Napoleonic invasion of Russia).

Said character is wearing an outlandish kind of tophat, while looking at the troops, who point and snicker, etc.

Hence, the line: They're all about to die in battle, yet they're taking time to "wonder at his hat...."

[sammythecat]

3. Ah, I didn't see it, but I can easily imagine the scene.

The ignorance and invincibility of youth. Plus, at the time, maybe a readiness to focus on anything but the truth.

Armies are bizarre organisms. Unfortunately they are necessary, but they make me think of a disease called Lupus. If I'm not mistaken, I think that is when, for whatever reason, the white blood cells go on a rampage and begin attacking and destroying parts of the body. Armies are Mankind's' white blood cells and often enough they go on a rampage of destruction.

[villager]

4. I wonder how much longer armies can stay "necessary"

if we are to survive as a species?

[sammythecat]

5. I only know two quotes that I can bring

to mind at a moments notice. One is my sig line and the other, one I'll never forget, is, I think, attributed to various people. The author is speaking about Mankind and he says, "We have become very clever, but not yet wise." I think that is so, so, true.

We have become so clever with our military technology that we now have the ability to destroy ourselves. It's my opinion that we are in no way wise enough to have these toys. We're like 6yr. olds with BB guns. Will we destroy ourselves? Who knows? If we blast civilization to hell there will probably be some survivors. They can start the process over again, and maybe, again, and again.

On an evolutionary scale, I'd say our species has only just recently managed to crawl out of the mud. It's anybody's guess as to whether we'll make it in the long run. Maybe, eventually, our wisdom will match our cleverness.

You've heard this before, I'm sure. Someone described the army by saying "we kill people and break things." I guess that is the very basic definition of an army. It's hard to deny that is the primary function. It's also hard to imagine a wise people having much use for such a thing.

[villager]

6. Time to re-read "A Canticle For Leibowitz," methinks....