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from the with-great-power-comes-great-responsibility dept.
The main reason why the U.S. military can promote global peace is because of the aura of invincibility it gained in World War II, because of the end of the Cold War, and because of its overwhelming military spending and technological advantage. But an aura of invincibility is a dangerous thing. And unfortunately, there are signs of rot.
Today, the U.S. military has fallen under the Bureaucracy Rule. The U.S. has no great power rivals, and thank God for that. Iraq and Afghanistan have not caused an identity crisis for the U.S. military because many senior commanders view these as "freakshow" wars — counterinsurgency wars, not the kind of "real" wars that militaries fight.
What are the signs that an organization has become a bureaucracy?
The first is excessive PowerPoint. Every organization should ban PowerPoint ( http://theweek.com/audio/442552/ban-powerpoint ). But it has become particularly endemic in the military ( http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/27powerpoint.html?_r=0 ).
The fact that the new Defense secretary has banned PowerPoint from some senior briefings is a step in the right direction ( http://www.forbes.com/sites/pascalemmanuelgobry/2015/02/23/the-war-on-powerpoint-in-the-military-continues/ ).
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 28 2015, @02:11PM
The "rot" affects more than just government organizations (like the military). It affects all of Western society these days. And it's mainly due to the Baby Boomers. They've managed to ruin everything they've ever touched. They've been calling the shots for the last 40 or so years, and this corresponds exactly to the period of time when everything started to go to hell. They've mismanaged the government. They've mismanaged the military. They've mismanaged the nation's immigration policies. They've mismanaged education. They've mismanaged healthcare. They've mismanaged business. They've mismanaged infrastructure maintenance and development. They've mismanaged the economy. They've mismanaged everything they've been involved with! We're getting to the point where a man can merely just claim that he "feels that his gender is that of a woman", and according to this the Baby Boomers think he should have every right to use women's washrooms! Baby Boomers promote mismanagement and deviancy wherever they go. If there's a problem that exists today, there's a very good chance that Baby Boomers are directly responsible for it, or they're responsible for creating the environment that allows the problem to exist.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 28 2015, @04:01PM
I don't know that I'd call it "mismanaged", everything was managed that way on purpose in order to get themselves and their buddies rich.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 28 2015, @04:13PM
Nepotism is a form of mismanagement, even if those involved do benefit from it.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 28 2015, @09:12PM
And it's mainly due to the Baby Boomers. They've managed to ruin everything they've ever touched./quote>
Dad! I asked you not to follow me to Soylent News! Yes, I know you were the "Greatest Generation", but that is no reason to keep dissing everything us Baby Boom youngsters do! And besides, most of the problems we have to deal with are the result of your screwups! So, back off, or we'll have to send you back to the Home.