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After spending much, much time on 'Poly, while reading the posts of many American posters, I think this question is interesting. And it's a question that cannot be answered by a one big "duh!" in one direction or the other.
Why is this question interesting?
The US has a very comfortable #1 position in the world, in military and diplomatic matters. The US, as such, can go to war virtually unchallenged. The way the Americans at large (public opinion and political elites alike) see war has thus a strong impact on the world.
Besides, with Sept. 11, the Us has discovered that the post-cold-war world was a dangerous place for them too. War is one of the ways the US can adapt to these new threats (and the US has waged two wars already since Sept. 11)
Why would te Americans be warlike?
1. War is seen as an acceptable political method.
The US hasn't suffered any significant horror and destruction since the Civil War, bar Sept. 11 (and one may argue Sept. 11 is a pretty paltry horror in comparison to what other countries have experienced in their history, but that's not the point of this thread).
As a result, there are far fewer Americans than, say, Europeans, who oppose the very idea of war for the sake of principle. When Europeans want to use all political means until exhaustion, many Americans wish a swift action to be taken, because the "bad guys" don't care for words, and only understand force.
This "It's about time we do something that works!" mentality could be seen with the war in Kosovo (where the American diplomacy ruined the -maybe useless- European diplomacy by immediately siding with the guerilla and initiating the NATO war against Serbia). It could also be seen in Iraq, where the US wanted a war, as they distrusted Saddam to comply if not for that.
This mentality, I have also seen it time and time again, held by numerous posters. I am not arguing that it is right or wrong. I am arguing, however, that this mentality makes war something acceptable.
2. The belief in the US as a force of good.
The so-called 'Messianic self-opinion of the United States' strikes me as completely true, by my experience here. Nearly every American supporter of the wars happening after the Cold War argued that the American involvement would make the attacked country a better place.
Among our American posters who support outside intervention, most think that the US' role is to shape the world in a better place. Very few show their belief that the US should strive for its interests, and nothing else matters.
It means that the States have the right to impose their solutions to "****holes", sometimes at gunpoint. The US has a right to change entire nations or regions in a fashion that the Americans think is better (again, I'm not judgemental - it has happened quite a few times that the modified nation strongly appreciates it).
Of course, since the Americans see themselves as the "good guys", and since their enemies are always the "bad guys", it makes war the more acceptable. Who wants to see bad guys still in place, when the good guys can do something about it?
3. The belief in technology and "Clean Wars".
The terminology is amazing. "Smart Weapons". "Clean War". "Zero-dead war". Admittedly, these concepts have suffered a bit since Gulf-War 2, as many Americans lost their lives in very nasty ways. And because some fights (Fallujah) were not done throough glitzy electronics, but showed the cruel reality of street warfare.
But despite these recents setbacks for the idea of a "clean" war, I think this belief is deeply ingrained in the American psyche. Many Americans here get defensive when someone mentions a 'absurdly' high amount of Iraqi casualties. It hints to a kind of shame that the Americans (the ones with the technology that can kill foes without killing friends) would kill too many people.
So, the Americans not only tend to believe that war is something acceptable (point 1 & 2), but also something that ought to be relatively painless.
4. The belief in the military as a force of good.
The way the Americans see their military strikes me as something completely different to what I grew up in. Over here, you'll never hear somebody saying "The troops defend our Freedom!" (how many times did I see Americans making that statement). The military is seen as force of freedom, of liberation.
To many, the military is also very formative. Many posters here (despite 'Poly being far more liberal than the bulk of the US) identify strongly with their military past. I don't remember even one non-American poster sporting its military past as a main aspect of their identity.
Besides, the military seems to be an important issue in everyday discussions. People are expected to visibly "support the troops", whether in our debates, or in real life. For example, OzzyKP told us about the "Yellow Ribbon Fever", the Yellow Ribbon was originally a symbol someone hung at his front door to say they had a relative serving in a war. It has turned into a symbol saying "I support the troops" to all your neighbours. The fact that it spread so much shows that 1) support for the troops is socially expected (and no, it is not obvious) and 2) many people consider it an important enough issue that they put a symbol on their front door that actively shows their concern.
Why is this question interesting?
The US has a very comfortable #1 position in the world, in military and diplomatic matters. The US, as such, can go to war virtually unchallenged. The way the Americans at large (public opinion and political elites alike) see war has thus a strong impact on the world.
Besides, with Sept. 11, the Us has discovered that the post-cold-war world was a dangerous place for them too. War is one of the ways the US can adapt to these new threats (and the US has waged two wars already since Sept. 11)
Why would te Americans be warlike?
1. War is seen as an acceptable political method.
The US hasn't suffered any significant horror and destruction since the Civil War, bar Sept. 11 (and one may argue Sept. 11 is a pretty paltry horror in comparison to what other countries have experienced in their history, but that's not the point of this thread).
As a result, there are far fewer Americans than, say, Europeans, who oppose the very idea of war for the sake of principle. When Europeans want to use all political means until exhaustion, many Americans wish a swift action to be taken, because the "bad guys" don't care for words, and only understand force.
This "It's about time we do something that works!" mentality could be seen with the war in Kosovo (where the American diplomacy ruined the -maybe useless- European diplomacy by immediately siding with the guerilla and initiating the NATO war against Serbia). It could also be seen in Iraq, where the US wanted a war, as they distrusted Saddam to comply if not for that.
This mentality, I have also seen it time and time again, held by numerous posters. I am not arguing that it is right or wrong. I am arguing, however, that this mentality makes war something acceptable.
2. The belief in the US as a force of good.
The so-called 'Messianic self-opinion of the United States' strikes me as completely true, by my experience here. Nearly every American supporter of the wars happening after the Cold War argued that the American involvement would make the attacked country a better place.
Among our American posters who support outside intervention, most think that the US' role is to shape the world in a better place. Very few show their belief that the US should strive for its interests, and nothing else matters.
It means that the States have the right to impose their solutions to "****holes", sometimes at gunpoint. The US has a right to change entire nations or regions in a fashion that the Americans think is better (again, I'm not judgemental - it has happened quite a few times that the modified nation strongly appreciates it).
Of course, since the Americans see themselves as the "good guys", and since their enemies are always the "bad guys", it makes war the more acceptable. Who wants to see bad guys still in place, when the good guys can do something about it?
3. The belief in technology and "Clean Wars".
The terminology is amazing. "Smart Weapons". "Clean War". "Zero-dead war". Admittedly, these concepts have suffered a bit since Gulf-War 2, as many Americans lost their lives in very nasty ways. And because some fights (Fallujah) were not done throough glitzy electronics, but showed the cruel reality of street warfare.
But despite these recents setbacks for the idea of a "clean" war, I think this belief is deeply ingrained in the American psyche. Many Americans here get defensive when someone mentions a 'absurdly' high amount of Iraqi casualties. It hints to a kind of shame that the Americans (the ones with the technology that can kill foes without killing friends) would kill too many people.
So, the Americans not only tend to believe that war is something acceptable (point 1 & 2), but also something that ought to be relatively painless.
4. The belief in the military as a force of good.
The way the Americans see their military strikes me as something completely different to what I grew up in. Over here, you'll never hear somebody saying "The troops defend our Freedom!" (how many times did I see Americans making that statement). The military is seen as force of freedom, of liberation.
To many, the military is also very formative. Many posters here (despite 'Poly being far more liberal than the bulk of the US) identify strongly with their military past. I don't remember even one non-American poster sporting its military past as a main aspect of their identity.
Besides, the military seems to be an important issue in everyday discussions. People are expected to visibly "support the troops", whether in our debates, or in real life. For example, OzzyKP told us about the "Yellow Ribbon Fever", the Yellow Ribbon was originally a symbol someone hung at his front door to say they had a relative serving in a war. It has turned into a symbol saying "I support the troops" to all your neighbours. The fact that it spread so much shows that 1) support for the troops is socially expected (and no, it is not obvious) and 2) many people consider it an important enough issue that they put a symbol on their front door that actively shows their concern.
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