War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning
"Drawing on the literature of combat, from Homer and Shakespeare to Erich Maria Remarque and Michael Herr, Hedges shows how human beings are conditioned to embrace what he calls "the myth of war" - the idea that combat is noble, selfless, and glorious. And yet if human history is any guide, nations and imperiums have stumbled and even fallen when they believed the myths peddled about war and about themselves. The reality of war, which Hedges knows first-hand, is about the destruction of culture, the perversion of human desire, and the embrace, ultimately, of death over life."--BOOK JACKET.
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- All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (1929)
War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges (2002)
- Your comment, from the paradoxical longing part on, has a strong vibe of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning [1]. I think that you might like it.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Is_a_Force_That_Gives_Us...
- I can strongly recommend Fussel's (the author of this essay) book "The Boys' Crusade", which provides a very eye opening account to WWII. It is most likely a longer version of this essay (I haven't read this essay).
I can also recommend his book Poetic Meter & Poetic Form, but for different reasons.
Other books in the same vein:
- The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle by J Glenn Gray (Gray was a philosophy PhD and a 2nd Lieutenant in the war)
- War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges (Hedges was a war correspondent during the balkans and numerous other conflicts, this is much more interested in the psychological build up to war in common society, and its effects on society)
These books make me very pessimistic about human nature, but Nicholas Wade's Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors provides a nice antidote: the total number of people killed by warfare in the 20th Century, if we followed similar patterns to our prehistoric ancestors, would have dwarfed what actually happened. We are becoming less warlike, even if its not cured.
- I had an acquaintance in Russia. He got chronic stomach problems since he couldnt afford a diverse diet due to the sanctions on food imports (the Russian sanctions on the EU aimed at making the Russian economy more resilient). Last time i heard from him he manage to move a nestegg into Dollar taking a hefty cut due to devaluations. I lost contact when Russia blacklisted the site we knew each other from and he didnt want to risk getting a VPN. Also talked to somebody from Belarus who saw the protests and cleanups happening. I am really curious about what you would tell them what they should have done to not become a target for you.
Would recommend a sober look in the mirror as well as maybe getting a copy of Chris Hedges "War is a force that gives us meaning". The "there are no innocence in war" is a textbook warcry right out of conflicts like Yugoslav one. Its the tactical dehumanization of the enemy. To have a one dimensional caricature to rally people against. Its what makes it logical to escalate the conflict to ethnic cleansing. Its great for polarization after all and you get people to join you who would never associated with you in the first place. It even works in prisons. And its absolutely horrible. And has the additional benefit of whitewashing yourself, after all, nobody is innocent.
Lets call your post for what it is, its warmongering. And the fact that you are rightfully outraged doesnt change that. What you are doing is creating and perpetuating a narrative that sets the stage for atrocities against the civilian population. They are all guilty after all, so you get to be as well.
I am honestly shocked that people dont get that there is a whole lot of room to escalate from where we are now. And i am very much afraid that people dont grasp that. Or worse, they do but prefer to embrace their emotional reaction on the topic. Or take it out of a strategic calculation. But at the end the malice or stupidity spetrum is completely irrelevant. It all has the same result.
- An interesting take on war from a semi-modern perspective is _War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning_ by Chris Hedges.
- This. Chris Hedges has a whole book about this called War Is A Force that Gives Us Meaning.
It's shouldn't be that difficult to understand, considering we spend all day every day interacting with these institutions, so it's disappointing to see so many otherwise intelligent people here who don't seem to grok what he's talking about.
