Cowardice

[JockSporran]

What constitutes 'cowardice'? I could never understand how some cultures (e.g. Viking, Samurai) speak of a glorious death on the battlefield. Even the Viking idea of Heaven was fighting on a big battlefield. Were they stupid or what? Is there anything wrong with not wanting to die or get hurt?

[banned-dot]

I don;t think not wanting to die or get hurt is the same as cowardice. How fine the line is dividing them I am not sure. My grandad enlisted when he was 17 to fight in the first world war, he and several of his pals all went together, he was only a kid and lied about his age to join up, because he felt it was what he had to do and could not wait until he was 18. Conscription didn;t start until later in the war. he looked after the horses pulling the gun carriages and whilst he was willing to fight as a soldier, he wasn't willing to see the terror in the horses as shells exploded around them and they were blown apart, and so he found the whole thing traumatic and changed how he felt for the rest of his life, and though he came through it all, he was never as brave again, and became a very meek and non confrontational person from the time he returned in 1918. He lost any inclination to fight, and just wanted peace and quiet and always avoided any arguments for the rest of his 60 odd years. I know he was always the one to back down and would never confront anyone and it meant he was seen as weak, but he didn;t start out that way.

[andy-hughes]

A lot of cultures embody the notion of a 'noble' death - Vikings believed that dying with a sword in his hand was a warrior's sure route to Valhalla - their version of the afterlife where dead warriors feasted in great halls and told storesi of their exploits for eternity.

It's simple psychology. If you can convince a man who is more than likely to die - and who knows it - that his death will lead to a glorious afterlife, he is far more likely to have a good go at fighting and dying well, rather than obeying his instinct which will be to exit stage left - rapidly.

There is nothing at all wrong with not wanting to die or get hurt - its just not a desireable mindset in a soldier.

The endless drilling of and yelling at soldiers in lost armies is designed to stop them thinking about what they are doing, and learn to obey without question - highly desireable when you don't have time to explainsituations. you simply wanta response - even if it is against the basic response of survival of the individual.

People who think like you - and I - tend not to join the armed forces.

[wildwood]

Cowards are men who hit women, adults who abuse children and animals, morons that beat up old people to steal their last couple of quid - infact, anyone who abuses their power/position to lord it over other less fortunate or forceful.

[China Doll]

Agree with wildwood.

But I'm scared of anything with more than four legs to be honest (although I can pick up monster size spiders with my hands when drunk if I'm in the right frame of mind but can't do it sober) and I hate puppets and ventriloquist dolls... so I think I might be a coward!