Bayonets

 I would like to make a point, which has nothing to do with the point of bayonets but does have to do with bayonets.  If you consider the function of a bayonet, one may say it seems archaic and is a stark juxtaposition to the more advanced weaponry to which it is affixed, that is, a rifle.  Swords, and pragmatically bayonets, are millennia old; guns, at least in the sense of directional rifles are mere centuries old, though certainly the Chinese had conceived more ancient versions of such previously.  It is easy to have chronological snobbery, especially when we have intercontinental ballistic missiles at our disposal – or someone’s disposal, not mine, not really – it is easy to view with disdain the objects that were the pinnacle of technological advancement mere centuries ago.  But unless you are a blacksmith or work in a weapons production facility, could you forge a sword, much less a gun?  That requires metallurgy skills, material science skills, thermodynamics knowledge and a plethora of other skill sets which we think we know how the work and instinctively tell ourselves “we know how that’s done since it’s so old”, but in actuality we don’t…just like many Americans tell themselves they know about the intricacies of Russia and its socio-political dynamics because they know it’s cold, has bears, Putin lives there and rides bears, shirtless, and it borders both Norway and North Korea.  But that tells one very little about the reality that inhabits the same land as the former Soviet Union, and it is assuredly more of a bear than that.  The point is that it is easy to convince ourselves that we know something in totality when we actually know very little about it.  Just because your great-great-granddaddy used a bayonet doesn’t mean you could.  Just because you know how to shoot a gun doesn’t mean you could manufacture the ammo, let alone the gun.  Just because you know what an ICBM is doesn’t mean you could build one…something we should very presciently be thankful for, at least for now.  Just because you know what a believer believes doesn’t mean you are one.