[OT] war games and war

> Glenn wrote:
Why is it that war games seem so... well, Fun... but the real thing is so...
Horrific? Is it because it has the 'distance' of history or (for SF and
Fantasy) 'not reality' or because we compartmentalize our minds so easily?

I reply:

That is a part of it. The other part is that in our games, the only dying is
done by lead figures. Not real people. And the little lead guys don't bleed,
don't have families, and they get up to fight the next one. It is half
simulation and half competitive mental exercise. I think for some of us, it is
a tool for understanding one ugly part of reality in some very very small
inadequate way. But it is, and always should stay, a game. I won't game on
Rememberance Day, and I surely won't be running any terrorist scenarios at any
of the cons I go to for a long long while. To me, it seems to make light of a
very serious matter.

OTOH, the men and women in the civilized world, in the armed forces and merely
citizens and voters, they create a world in which we have the freedom to game,
to engage in mental excercises and to socialize and have fun without fear of
oppression. And the police, firefighters and soldiers stand up and defend our
safety. Their efforts allow us to game and as Mr.Sarno said to me "I will not
let terrorists run my life". Life goes on, and in going on, defies the will of
those who would steal from us our simple enjoyments, our happiness, our
entertainments. By not letting these things be taken from us, we show that we
are affected, but that we will not let them achieve their aims.