The Morality of Power

I remember having an intense debate senior year in high school during English class with a friend of mine, whom I’ll refer to as C, concerning the idea that “might makes right.” I don’t remember in what context the debate took place. We read E.M. Forster’s Passage to India that year, so it’s possible we were debating the merits of imperialism.

C asserted that if a country is powerful enough to dictate its will upon a weaker country, then it is morally acceptable to do so. C also tried to sign up for the Navy on September 12, 2001, and I’m sure had well-worn copies of Nietzsche in his bedroom. Me being who I am, and my high school classmates being who they were, tried to refute C’s position by informing him that morality is separate from strength and power. He didn’t agree with us, and I guess the matter was dropped.

I was reminded of this mini debate while watching the miniseries Generation Kill on HBO the other day. The show centers on a Marine unit participating in the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The series is fictional, but it was written by a Rolling Stone journalist who was embedded with this Marine unit back in 2003. One Marine, named Trombley, is particularly anxious to find and fight the Iraqis. Once, after exposing himself to enemy fire, he explains that he “gets more nervous watching a game show on the couch at home” than he does in Iraq, under fire. He says that “deep down,” he wants to know what it’s like to be shot.

The other Marines are incredulous. They’re all eager to fight, but Trombley displays something different. One Marine, talking with a comrade, concludes by saying that “he’s a psycho. But at least he’s our psycho.”

At least he’s our psycho. Might makes right. Aren’t those two statements related? We’d rather have Trombley on our side than on the enemy’s, and we definitely don’t want to be on the wrong side of the Strong vs. Weak equation. The world is a violent place, so even though we liberals might talk about a morality divorced from power, isn’t it still coldly comforting to have the psychos making sure we’re strong?