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I find these and some other similar high-brow essays repulsive. Basically, they subtly want to encourage the status quo : the poorer classes of society join th

by _debug_ 17y ago

I find these and some other similar high-brow essays repulsive. Basically, they subtly want to encourage the status quo : the poorer classes of society join the army and get themselves killed while doing horrible things to other people because our Leader said they have WMDs, while the middle classes with a brain go to Uni, and some of them get to write beautiful essays about how one should forget the war. And I'm not even mentioning the subtle connotations in there to forget other negative associations that war has, such as torture and the robbery of the other nation's resources. The beauty of the thing is that the subtle messages are couched in an arguable parable of a soldier who chooses to look forward, not at the past. What the article actually is, is propaganda. Fuck you. I will not forget the war, the people who made us go to war unnecessarily, nor the effects it has on everyone, and definitely not the poor fuck soldier veteran who got a raw deal from educated assholes who tricked him into sacrificing his life with propaganda just like this. First they massage you with the anthem and the flag to get you to war, then they massage you with such essays to calm you down from the resulting anger.

lawfulfalafel 17y ago
Did you read the article? This is not about war per-say. It is about how the brain reacts to any emotion (horrors of war is only an example). I agree that many soldiers have been given "raw deals" in the recent wars, and that it is the duty of every american to question the logic behind all military and political moves. However, that has nothing to do with whether or not most soldiers are fully functional after the war or how psychologically scarred they are.
- swolchok 17y ago
  s/per-say/per se/ </petpeeve>
byrneseyeview 17y ago
1. Gladwell is fairly liberal. He probably hates the war as much as you do. 2. Regardless of that, if the science is right, it's right. There aren't pro-war and anti-war facts; there are just facts.

by _debug_ 17y ago

lawfulfalafel 17y ago

Did you read the article? This is not about war per-say. It is about how the brain reacts to any emotion (horrors of war is only an example). I agree that many soldiers have been given "raw deals" in the recent wars, and that it is the duty of every american to question the logic behind all military and political moves. However, that has nothing to do with whether or not most soldiers are fully functional after the war or how psychologically scarred they are.

swolchok 17y ago
s/per-say/per se/ </petpeeve>

byrneseyeview 17y ago

1. Gladwell is fairly liberal. He probably hates the war as much as you do. 2. Regardless of that, if the science is right, it's right. There aren't pro-war and anti-war facts; there are just facts.