Warfare as Submission to the "Law of the Father"

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What is neglected or denied in the concept of the "Law of the Father"
is the entire history of the Twentieth Century. The paternal or symbolic
realm is viewed as the path to salvation and civilization. It is this.

However, it is also the pathway to destruction and death. The
prodigious violence of the Twentieth Century stems from attachment to symbol
systems put forth and defended by Fathers such as Hitler, Stalin and Mao, not
to mention the Generals of the First World War. The creation of sacrificial
victims functioned to glorify and defending sacred symbolic systems given
names like Germany, Communism, England, France, etc.

Violence and aggression are surface manifestations stemming from a
deeper psychic posture. Ruth Stein writes that love for the primal father
contains "masochistic elements of profound submission."

"Obedience to authority" is how scholars explain the behavior of the
Nazis, suggesting passive willingness to "go along." The Nazis understood
themselves better than those who write about them do. In 1936, Otto Dietrich
stated that Adolph Hitler never said anything but what "the people felt in
the depths its soul." According to Dietrich, "No one is ordered, no one is
recruited, but each is called, following his own conscience, and has no
choice but to follow lest he be convicted by his own heart."

Dietrich goes on to say that nowhere else in the world does one find
such a "fanatic love on the part of millions of people," a love that grows
from a "deep and great faith," the kind of lasting confidence that "children
may have for a very good father."

In her explication of terrorism, Stein notes that the most hateful
actions were performed in a "spirit of devotion and love." The terrorists
"returned to their father in simple-minded ecstasy and self-obliteration, in
an act of double-faced love: submissive and murderous at the same time."

What greater love hath any man than a willingness to die and kill in
the name of the beloved object?

Glynne Dyer says: "You offer yourself to be slain. This is the essence
of being a soldier. By becoming soldiers, men agree to die when we tell them
to." War is an institution whereby sons give over their bodies to Fathers in
the name of validating or valorizing the sacred ideal.

One of the significant trends of the second half of the Twentieth
Century has been the growth of skepticism toward societal ideals. The "death
of grand narratives" correlates with the evolution of a counter-sacrificial
psychology. The trend began in the Sixties when students chanted, "Hey, hey,
LBJ, how many kids did you kill today."

The media depiction of "body bags" conveyed the reality of mutilation and
death. When reporters interviewed the parents of the soldier, it became
evident that a real, human being has died.

Americans now are not so fond of the idea of sacrificial dying. There is
a longing to resurrect the days of 1941-1945-when (according to our wish or
fantasy) young men really were willing to give over their lives to the nation
and its leaders. Young persons today, however, join the army because they
wish to obtain an education rather than out of patriotic fervor.

General Patton said that the objective of war was not to die for your
country, but to get "the other fellow to die for his country." War is
hysterical reaction against masochistic passivity--the paranoid struggle
against the wish to submit to the sacrificial imperative. According to
Patton's theorem, we avert our own death by getting the Other to become a
sacrificial victim in place of the Self.

With regards,

Richard Koenigsberg

Richard Koenigsberg, Ph. D.
Director, Library of Social Science

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<HTML>      What is neglected or denied in the concept of the "Law of the Father" is the entire history of the Twentieth Century. The paternal or symbolic realm is viewed as the path to salvation and civilization. It is this. 
 
      However, it is also the pathway to destruction and death. The prodigious violence of the Twentieth Century stems from attachment to symbol systems put forth and defended by Fathers such as Hitler, Stalin and Mao, not to mention the Generals of the First World War. The creation of sacrificial victims functioned to glorify and defending sacred symbolic systems given names like Germany, Communism, England, France, etc. 
 
      Violence and aggression are surface manifestations stemming from a deeper psychic posture. Ruth Stein writes that love for the primal father contains "masochistic elements of profound submission." 
 
      "Obedience to authority" is how scholars explain the behavior of the Nazis, suggesting passive willingness to "go along." The Nazis understood themselves better than those who write about them do. In 1936, Otto Dietrich stated that Adolph Hitler never said anything but what "the people felt in the depths its soul." According to Dietrich, "No one is ordered, no one is recruited, but each is called, following his own conscience, and has no choice but to follow lest he be convicted by his own heart." 
 
      Dietrich goes on to say that nowhere else in the world does one find such a "fanatic love on the part of millions of people," a love that grows from a "deep and great faith," the kind of lasting confidence that "children may have for a very good father." 
 
      In her explication of terrorism, Stein notes that the most hateful actions were performed in a "spirit of devotion and love." The terrorists "returned to their father in simple-minded ecstasy and self-obliteration, in an act of double-faced love: submissive and murderous at the same time." 
 
      What greater love hath any man than a willingness to die and kill in the name of the beloved object? 
 
      Glynne Dyer says: "You offer yourself to be slain. This is the essence of being a soldier. By becoming soldiers, men agree to die when we tell them to." War is an institution whereby sons give over their bodies to Fathers in the name of validating or valorizing the sacred ideal. 
 
      One of the significant trends of the second half of the Twentieth Century has been the growth of skepticism toward societal ideals. The "death of grand narratives" correlates with the evolution of a counter-sacrificial psychology. The trend began in the Sixties when students chanted, "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today." 
 
The media depiction of "body bags" conveyed the reality of mutilation and death. When reporters interviewed the parents of the soldier, it became evident that a real, human being has died. 
 
     Americans now are not so fond of the idea of sacrificial dying. There is a longing to resurrect the days of 1941-1945-when (according to our wish or fantasy) young men really were willing to give over their lives to the nation and its leaders. Young persons today, however, join the army because they wish to obtain an education rather than out of patriotic fervor. 
 
      General Patton said that the objective of war was not to die for your country, but to get "the other fellow to die for his country." War is hysterical reaction against masochistic passivity--the paranoid struggle against the wish to submit to the sacrificial imperative. According to Patton's theorem, we avert our own death by getting the Other to become a sacrificial victim in place of the Self. 
 
With regards, 
 
Richard Koenigsberg 
 
 
Richard Koenigsberg, Ph. D. 
Director, Library of Social Science 
 
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