An end to war?
Friday, May 25, 2012
As I write, I am listening to an impressive interview on WNYC (NPR) with Paul Chappell, the author of a new book, Peaceful Revolution. Captain Chappell is a West Point graduate, an Iraq War veteran, a student of military history, and an extraordinarily articulate exponent of the idea that war can be abolished before the end of this century. This is a notion that, frankly, never occurred to me (I would have said “the warlike you have always with you”). This interview is having an effect on me.
Chappell is the son of a Korean mother and a father who was half-white and half-black. When he was growing up in Alabama, his parents drilled into him that if he wanted to get ahead, he should go into the Army, since there were so few opportunities for “a black man who looks Asian.” Hence his decision to go to West Point. Part of his intellectual and moral development has been his experience of the tremendous changes, in a relatively short time, in attitudes to slavery and race.
Brian Lehrer, who is a brilliant talk-show host interviewer, is a major figure in NYC and its environs. He is conducting a series, “End of War.” You can find him, and the Chappell interview, at
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/
Paul K. Chappell is not to be confused with Baptist minister Paul Chappell who is probably foaming at the mouth at this point from the competition. Captain Chappell who wrote Peaceful Revolution is at this site:
http://www.paulkchappell.com/
No matter what your attitude toward all things military, you will find this young man very compelling.
P.S. It is amusing to see, at the bottom of Chappell’s website page describing his book, these words in small type: “The views presented here do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Defense.” Indeed.
