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Book | 04-30-2006 10:01 PM
Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? ON SHEEP, WOLVES, AND SHEEPDOGS By LTC(RET) Dave Grossman, RANGER, Ph.D.,author of "On Killing." Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always, even death itself. The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for? - William J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997 One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me: "Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident." This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another. Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million. Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep. I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful.? For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators. "Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial. "Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf." If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids' schools. But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid's school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial. The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours. Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa." Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog. The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door. Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero? Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed right along with the young ones. Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference. There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population. There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself. Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs. Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, "Let's roll," which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers - athletes, business people and parents. -- from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground. There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. - Edmund Burke Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn't have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision. If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior's path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door. For example, many officers carry their weapons in church.? They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs.? Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones. I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, "I will never be caught without my gun in church." I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy's body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?" Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for "heads to roll" if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids' school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them. Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, "Do you have and idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?" It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up. Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth then you are not physically prepared: you didn't bring your gun, you didn't train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear helplessness and horror at your moment of truth. Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11 book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with our current world situation: "...denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn't so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling." Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level. And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes. If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be "on" 24/7, for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself..."Baa." This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away from sheephood and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.

Ponce Cuba | 04-30-2006 11:26 PM
Re: Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? Ponce is Ponce and will always be Ponce.....Ponce :love:

REV127 | 04-30-2006 11:31 PM
Re: Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? Technically I am classified as a meat popsicle.

chewy | 04-30-2006 11:41 PM
Re: Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? Quote:
Originally Posted by REV127 Technically I am classified as a meat popsicle.
Ya know I always wondered what that meant. It was never explained in the movie. I like that flick. The Fifth Element. This is me: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...atar2642_1.jpg

Halophyte | 05-01-2006 12:07 AM
Re: Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? Waters (a.k.a. Pink Floyd fame) insist it's 'dogs', 'sheep' and 'pigs' - ala 1976 _Animals_ album.. I'll let ya guess who is who. .

Prometheus | 05-01-2006 01:27 AM
Re: Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? Quote:
Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16.
Oh bullshit! The idea that cops are more than a fraction better than acriminal is laughable. As most cops will tell you there are the good guys (cops) and everyone else. Period. This is some eff'ed up writing. Taking the noble sheepdog concept and attributing it to TSA security and a traffic cop? :puke: Thats some sick twisted crap.

GOLD DUCK | 05-01-2006 01:27 AM
Re: Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? QWAK,I'm a DUCK with FLAT FEET!:smile: Its OK because I got a friend that is a "COW with a GUN" :hahaha: http://www.bobrivers.com/player/body...=2&atype=tunes :haha: :ARMS1: :tongue: LOL the DUCK

MacGyver | 05-01-2006 04:40 AM
Re: Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? The guy forgot one thing: The shepherd. Who has an intention to slaughter the sheep and sell the meat for profit. It is the shepherds who breed and train sheepdogs to protect their assets from competition from wolves and such.

wallew | 05-01-2006 06:19 PM
Re: Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? Several TYPES of Sheepdogs. Those that guard. Those that herd. Those that ATTACK the problem, chase it down, kill it and eat it. We actually own two of the three types. Great Pyrenees are those that JUST guard. When a threat is detected, the GP HEAD emerges from the flock and lock onto the threat immediately. And then like a cruise missle goes right at the threat. And keeps going at it until the threat turns tail and leaves the area. Then they bed back down with the flock and once again are in the 'on guard' mode. The second type of sheep guard dog is Akbash. Turkish version of Great Pyrenees. Though built with longer legs (better to chase down the threat) and a little larger/longer head (bigger mouth to eat the threat with). The main difference between a Great Pyrenees and an Akbash is that after chaisng the threat, the Akbash catches it, kills it and generally eats it. I cannot comment on herding animals, as we have never had any of those. http://goldismoney.info/forums/attac...3&d=1144943997

REV127 | 05-01-2006 07:02 PM
Re: Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? Those are some real nice looking pups. No family is quite complete without at least one. I'm a mastiff guy myself, not exactly a sheepdog, but definately an eat the badguy dog. They're also very good with children, my younger siblings used to ride theirs like horses when they were small, the dogs had a lot of fun. The way I see it, it's cheaper for me to feed half a dozen large dogs than it is to hire fulltime human security, and probably about as good. Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war! :D More on topic, after re-reading this, isn't this the same weird guy with all those strange views on violence? I thought I've seen him suggest that the most lethal unarmed technique a man can do is stick his finger through an eye and stir around somebody's brain, but no martial art does this because it's just too violent. :rolleyes: Or maybe because it's totally unrealistic. He also suggested nobody would be able to hunt rabbits if they had to kill them with their hands. Cops, soldiers, etc are .gov sanctioned enforcers with no inherent morality or ethics to the institutions. Quite often politicians turn their enforcers against the citizens, sheep. Since police are in the business of enforcing law rather than keeping the peace or administering justice it can also be questioned whether or not this is inherently any better than just letting people take care of things themselves. Police forces are a very new idea. Self defense is a very old idea. Our current societal immune system sucks so bad you could see America as a giant AIDS patient. There has been very little meaningful defense of our culture or country for a long time. Our leadership is a festering hemmoroid on the country's posterior. The worst part is when good and respectable Americans get caught up in twisted, exploitive governmental institutions when all they really want to do is honorably serve their society. I don't know what you can do about this mess except let it break and then try to rebuild it better than it was. Man we're sick.

Unclad Lad | 05-01-2006 10:00 PM
Re: Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? Don't forget Goats. Many people confuse Goats and Sheep, but back a frightened sheep into a corner, and it'll try to squeeze itself even deeper into that corner. The goat will kick, bite, and head-butt you, but later it'll appear as docile as the sheep. There are more Goats out there than most people suspect.

Book | 05-01-2006 10:04 PM
Re: Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? Quote:
Cops, soldiers, etc are .gov sanctioned enforcers with no inherent morality or ethics to the institutions. Quite often politicians turn their enforcers against the citizens, sheep. Since police are in the business of enforcing law rather than keeping the peace or administering justice it can also be questioned whether or not this is inherently any better than just letting people take care of things themselves. Police forces are a very new idea. Self defense is a very old idea. Our current societal immune system sucks so bad you could see America as a giant AIDS patient. There has been very little meaningful defense of our culture or country for a long time. Our leadership is a festering hemmoroid on the country's posterior. The worst part is when good and respectable Americans get caught up in twisted, exploitive governmental institutions when all they really want to do is honorably serve their society. I don't know what you can do about this mess except let it break and then try to rebuild it better than it was. Man we're sick. -REV127
I'm glad to see my thread inspire this thoughtful insight into our [sick] society. Interesting how a cop/prison guard can rationalize what they do...to the sheeple...and how the sheeple rationalize the need for them. :smokin:

REV127 | 05-02-2006 08:44 AM
Re: Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? I don't even resent police and such as much as I did when I was younger, but the lines between goodguy and badguy are very blurred in our system. You never quite know whether to feel safer or more affraid when dealing with the enforcers. I guess that is deliberate.

Ash_Williams | 05-02-2006 09:07 AM
Re: Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? There aren't any sheepdogs. A wolf may be very protective of certain sheep, but that doesn't make it a sheepdog. The sheepdog part is just made up so the wolves feel better about what they do or can do.

keehah | 05-02-2006 01:58 PM
Re: Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? Good premise but the article was too obviously written by sheep. I would prefer more insight other than sheep concerns of house fire, car accidents and unorganized off-kilter gunman. I also agree with Cousi, sheepdogs are a very rare breed and many are wolves in sheeps clothing. But many may be sheep who think they understand 'the system' and see themselves as canines. The following quote modified by HT sums the same thought: 'The few who can understand the ... system or think they understand the system,' he says, 'will either be so interested in its profits, or so dependent of its favors that there will be no opposition from that class, while on the other hand, ...those who think they understand the system,...will bear its burdens without complaint and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests.'

Ash_Williams | 05-02-2006 10:23 PM
Re: Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? Nothing wrong with wolves. I answered that I was a wolf. There ain't any dogs though, just wolves who want to pretend that they aren't wolves. I answered that I was a wolf, because I've always had the ability do what it takes, and the capacity for violence and a predatory nature. I protect my friends, and could never hurt them, but that doesn't make me a dog. I can live with that. Being a psychopath is what makes me a wolf. I could kill without feeling all that bad about it, and I could do it well when it became clear it was necessary. I know what kind of person that makes me, but I also know that some friends of mine need that kind of person to protect them from similar people.

1919A6 | 05-02-2006 11:15 PM
In a poll you pick the best of the choices if you want to be counted. The sheepdog is not a COP! Yeah, he is there to guide them back to the flock but if they are intent on wandering and getting eat by wolves, that's their problem. The sheepdog got the fangs that the sheep forgot to grow! I got the fangs, the disposition more like a sheep not the wolf, the fangs and the inclination to use them if needs be - that's a sheepdog. So be it!

Master_Ho | 05-25-2006 11:22 PM
Re: Are You Sheep, Wolf, or Sheepdog? Sheepdog - guarding my flock.......... Ho

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