All human words and thoughts are Loch Ness, placid and navigable on the surface, mysterious and muddy in the depths. Thus, it is not even obvious that blue must exist or mean the same thing to all people. In many civilizations there was no distinction between blue and red, Homer described the sea as “wine-colored” in the Iliad, and there are many color-blind people who do not know that they are color-blind. Maybe my pain is different than my friends, that would explain my fear of the dentist. Even more so with more complex concepts such as forgiveness, defense or freedom, do they mean the same to everyone? Wittgenstein already said that philosophy is etymological, not epistemological, debates.
All this may seem like the ramblings of idle people. In fact, there are people who believe that many complexities and disputes can be fixed with a little common sense. The problem is that common sense has serious limitations. It can mean logic, consistency and common sense, but at different times in history it has implied wrong things. For example, that an iron ball falls faster than a feather; that buying a home is better than renting it; that direct current is better than alternating current; that junk bonds are bad or that homeopathy works for some ailments. Nor is common sense good for determining interest rates, defining money, operating with an open heart, or managing a large company. It is even less useful for reaching complex agreements or making laws, which require lawyers, specific terminology, long documents and courts.
To manage complexities, unfortunately, you need to work hard: you need analysis, competent specialists, knowledge and methodologies that allow you to learn from mistakes. Even so, things often go wrong, but this should not confuse us, that an economist is wrong does not make the astrologer and his horoscopes right.
All this is particularly applicable in the field of security, where caulking well is insufficient. In security matters any error or mistake can be catastrophic, there are no administrative violations, only mortal sins. In addition, the unexpected is always part of what is expected, because the enemy will always want to surprise.
In Israel, unfortunately, all this has been seen. The suicide attack perpetrated by Hamas has been operationally sophisticated and had devastating effects, applied the morality of a velociraptor and appears politically and militarily irrational. It was unexpected and contrary to common sense. It can be speculated that it was caused by a miscalculation, is part of a larger strategy, or is the product of unexpected power dynamics by a secret group that wants to see the world go up in flames.
What has happened in Israel serves to remind us of the importance and complexity of security. A country is always immersed in a cruel game of chess, International Grand Master level, in which human lives are lost. In this struggle, common sense is of little use, like the fifth wheel of a car. Perhaps it is because in some contexts common sense could mean a set of generalities learned as a teenager that seem to have universal application. In any case, I wish conflicts could be settled with that “Gentlemen, you can’t fight here, this is a war room” President Merkin Muffley from Doctor Strangelove.
