rant · moment 16 of 23
Performing for the Troops, Mercenaries, and Kill Rates
from America's Election Headquarters · #121
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
6 minTim delivers an extended riff questioning the sentimentality around comedians performing for the military, cites a WWII study on soldiers' reluctance to fire their weapons and later conditioning to fix it, and imagines absurdly performing for Blackwater mercenaries and Navy SEALs.
- 34:21Tim explains his lack of enthusiasm about flying 18 hours to Jordan to perform for troops.
- 34:49On World War Two: average person's perception was about survival, and most soldiers went for the right reasons.
- 35:25Post-9/11 military recruitment was driven by patriotism, but by 2005-2007 the character of who was enlisting had changed fundamentally.
- 36:14Performing for troops in Iraq feels emotional, but the reality is they would kill without hesitation if ordered.
- 36:42Tim cites a post-World War Two study showing only 25% of combat troops actually fired their weapons at enemies.
- 37:21Tim jokes about performing at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, claiming troops loved his material even in those settings.
- 38:05The military fixed the low firing rate problem using B.F. Skinner psychology and pop-up target conditioning, raising rates to 95% by the Gulf War.
- 38:47Tim expresses interest in performing for private military contractors instead of regular troops.
- 39:05Tim defends mercenaries by arguing they spent years learning killing skills, so working private defense contracts makes sense.
- 39:33Private military contractors get better entertainment acts than the regular U.S. military does.
Erik PrinceLindy EnglandBlackwater