Proportionality

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

I am not sure if this word is in the dictionary and I cannot be arsed to look it up. I've got a handle on it though. It has been used by the media and commentators for a while now regarding the response that one party may make to another. Basically it seems to founded on the flawed logic that when responding to the attack of another (verbal or physical), the response should be no greater in strength nor venom than that of the original assault. It's not a new idea: Moses came up with it but that does not make it better.

How bloody stupid can you get?

If you are minding your own business and you are attacked, then I see no reason why retaliation should not be swift and total. If you get a slap in the face and give one back, then you may well get another. No, if you get a slap in the face, then smack the assailant down to the point where he will not attempt an assault again. See my earlier post on bullying.

Neither von Clausewitz nor Sun Tzu called for total war, Goebbels coined that phrase, but the message was the same. If you are going to fight, then fight to win. Wars have changed in the past 200 years. In ancient times, it was army against army and civilian casualities were an unfortunate by-product. These days, it is culture against culture and everyone is involved, regrettably.

The world's media have been largely equivocal on Gaza as I have said before but there is an undercurrent of opinion to what is seen as Israel's 'disproportinate' attack on Gaza. So what is Israel to do? Count the rockets fired by Hamas and send an equal number back? Hamas is committed to establishing an Islamic state across Palestine so that ain't gonna work. Hamas needs a bloody good smack to discourage it from trying again and if they cared one little bit about their own or anybody else's civilians, they should quit firing missiles today.

Proportionality is just another absurd doctrine dreamed up by cosy people far away from the front line. It is the stuff of politicians and the chattering classes. And of course for many of them the death toll of 2,752 on 9/11 is but a faded memory.