Just read Soob’s recent post criticizing the misreading of Tom Friedman’s Superempowered Individual concept that is prevalent in some parts of the blogosphere. Overall, I agree whole heartedly. I really need to think Aherring for finally distinguishing GMW (The Generations of Modern War, William Lind’s invention) as distinct from the more serious XGW (0GW, 1GW, 2GW, 3GW, 4GW, 5GW) work being done online. GMW is a slippery conception of questionable assumpitions — it’s a Hegelian dialectic, for heaven’s sakes! — that is it useful for neither practioniers nor students of war.

When I was still trying to salvage GMW, I was continually depressed by the parade of empty fads that keps popping up (SEIs, ad naseum) with proponents. Now I understand that GMW is a fundementally broken, fadish, unscientific, and useless way to study war, so it’s no surprise it attracts similar non-theories.

Explicitly rejecting GMW also allows me to agree with wise pundits who have criticized the nonsensical features of the theory, while still being able to salvage what is useful in the XGW framework.

So good bye to GMW, SEI, and all that.

I feel good.