Savannah Lee

Juan Cole, near the very end of this post:

"Colonial conquest is always a kind of rape."

An occupying power rarely sees itself as a rapist, of course, but as an injured party forced to act in self-defense. Whether that bears any relationship to the actual situation is another question. But the rationale is almost always there.

This is a result of the unintended consequences of moral improvement. Human beings are not supposed to conquer each other for the hell of it anymore. It's not okay to just say "HULK WANT LEBENSRAUM" and invade the Sudetenland. Ancient pagans could do that. Modern people have to lie to themselves. Convince themselves they had no choice.

So pretty much every occupying army of the last millennium has marched around collectively thinking that it's narrowly saved itself from being destroyed at the hands of a monstrously powerful and evil foe which, at great peril to itself, it has triumphantly feminized. According to this unspoken script, the monstrously powerful and evil foe should now (a) feel ashamed of itself for having been monstrously powerful and evil and (b) recognize that it has now been feminized and become accordingly submissive, meek, and respectful.

Maybe this is why occupying forces tend always to be so shocked and offended (and they are) by guerrilla resistance. "Hey, wait a minute! What's going on?" is the usual tone of the response. "It wasn't supposed to be like this!"

Meanwhile, the justifications for the next war pile up on the ground, snowflake after snowflake, until they drift into a peak.