Posted: Jun 03, 2016 8:06 am
Galactor wrote:crank wrote:It really is contemptible to not realize what war is, that no matter how 'valiant and noble' individual deeds may be, the bigger picture erases all of that. Wars, fighting, combat, all were a huge part of our history as a species, as we've gotten more civilized, this has abated more and more. It's time we grew up enough to realize how fucked up it is and stop. The more we glorify it, the harder that is and the longer it will take. Why do you think gung ho military types are so anxious to find and exalt 'heroes'? The reality is you get Tilmans, made a hero to hide the reality that he was killed by friendly fire and maybe even fragged. The fog of war? It's not mostly on the battlefield, it's in the bullshit propaganda of glorified patriotic war.
I am not sure how you dare enquote "valiant and noble" before "erasing" the notion. Their valiant actions and deeds get erased do they?
I am so sick to the stomach with your position and so unwilling to engage you any more on it, that I will just leave it at that.
You're sick to your stomach? How do you think, say, the Laotians feel about any honors given any US soldiers? There are still people there, mostly children, dying every year from unexploded bombs left after the insane tonnage of ordinance we dropped there 4 decades ago. It's the sick, disgusting wilful ignorance you seem to evidence that keeps the horrors going. There are still despicable aholes who try to make the Vietnam war into something other than the depraved, immoral operation it was. It's like a Brit who still looks at their imperialism and keeps telling themselves how wonderful it was, and what good it did for so many throughout the world. And those here in the US who attack anyone who tells the truth about Columbus. It's that willingness to not abide the truth, to not allow oneself to perceive reality, that is at the heart of a lot of the problems I'm trying to describe. You're sick to your stomach because you can't deal with the effort trying to keep reality out, the cognitive dissonance triggers nausea.