>>2326297>The problem with the US isn't because they walked but because their movement isn't uniform, their formations nearly breaks at some point.>>2326273>This was almost certainly a deliberate choice. Perhaps they thought marching in formation would be too intimidating or something. I bet it was thrown together at the last minute.
I'm going to be contrarian. I was out of pocket but watched a few minutes of it and it did come across as very American to me. I think it reflects a different philosophy that's rooted in Pragmatism in the William James sense. This is the American philosophy if we have one. Function takes priority over form, and Americans don't really care if something conforms to some abstract aesthetic standard. It's like, "whatever works." If it's more practical and functional to be super ~ a e s t h e t i c ~ then that's what we'll do, but it's usually not.
You see this everywhere really including the designs of our vehicles compared to European or Japanese cars. (Our cars are "built to do things" not necessarily look beautiful… sometimes they can be downright ugly.) Or, like, Battletech as an American sci-fi franchise. (Bear with me here.) Look at our mechas compared to Japanese mechas! You see the difference.
I think it's also different in China where the parade (which they do every 10 years) also reflects a certain philosophy. We don't need to get into that though. But there's an element in Confucian philosophy of how the truly "ren" person is one who performs their social role in a way that is both perfectly rehearsed and also spontaneous (an interesting dialectic). Think of traditional Chinese tea ceremonies. There's also the political ritual. And I think that contributes to a style of parade in which the soldiers are perfectly rehearsed but appear totally natural, and that creates a performance which is also aesthetically beautiful. I'm not sure it's better or worse. It's different. It's also a profound insight.
>>2327293>Like I said elsewhere in this thread, I think this was a deliberate stylistic choice … The American military absolutely still trains soldiers to march in formation. They made the deliberate choice not to for this parade.Well I think people who assume a military's performance is dependent on its style of marching drill are probably wrong. It was also an Army parade. Not the Marines. You have been posting videos of the Marines who have a very different culture, and they would appear a lot more disciplined in their march because they do that a lot. Or like Marine "battle color" detachments. But I think the Marines make a whole cult out of that stuff and because they became fascinated with Prussian drill in the 19th century.
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BTW, I think this has implications in politics. I think it partly explains Trump's appeal. But to the extent that socialists have made progress here, when they have, it has been something similar like Bernie, AOC, and now Mamdani (if he wins). Mamdani is promoting a kind of "sewer socialism" which took its name from socialist mayors in the early 20th century who focused on improving public health by building sewers (Mamdani: freeze the rent, build more homes).
I'm not saying this is a preference but it just generally seems to "work that way."