Patterns of Conflict
| The works of |
| Works of John Boyd |
|---|
OODA WIKI Edition
Quantico Transcription
Now, thinking about that, let's see if we can make some sense of all this. So, what we've got here are some insights regarding Falls’ statement and Balck’s ideas. Now Falls’ comments, we know, you take all this stuff, and at a quick glance at these words and phrases are all directly related to one another, all those phrases that I underlined. Even though they’re from different times, they’re all pretty much directly related to one another. That's one point.
Going further, we can see that his comments, what do they say? The moral effects in some sense are related to the menace posed by the zepplins and dive-bombers, and the uncertainly associated with not knowing what to expect or how to deal with it. At least that's the message he's bringing out to you. Whether you like it or not, that's the message. So put simply, from that viewpoint, moral effects are related to menace and uncertainty. That's the first thing.
So I say for a first cut, this suggests that moral strength represents mental capacity to overcome menace and uncertainty. But we’re left a little bit uneasy with that. On the other hand, it seems to leave out something humans either need or must overcome for collective moral strength. In other words, I’m bringing in the organic whole.
So we’ve got to remember, going back, and looking at some of, remember those guerrilla commanders, they're trying to stress propaganda, civil disorder, they’re trying to generate mistrust so they can pull the government down and then build up bonds of trust for their own, for the people they're trying to swing over to their side. And Balck emphasized the importance of trust, not mistrust. That being the case, then we're getting on to something. Recognizing that these guys really know how to operate in these environments, suggests moral strength in some sense represents mental capacity to overcome menace, uncertainty, and mistrust. Overcome them, then you’ve got the moral strength. That ability to counter that mistrust, trust the men.