I know that I said I wouldn't argue about it and I won't, but you're right about dehumanization. I can't bear to watch the news. I won't watch it because it feels like a football game and all of the battlefield layouts are played up like varsity game plans. It's disgusting. It's Entertainment Weekly. It's staying informed so you can keep up with the conversation around the water cooler. It's pop culture to quote the latest stats and triumphant visceral anecdotes.
War is terrible, ugly, vile, painful and grotesque to everyone involved, regardless of side. Any war is a failure, a failure as humans to evolve past our basest territorial instincts, a failure to recognize that we share far more in common than not, and a failure to respect the very things we claim to protect. It's never heroic or proud. War is blood and brain matter and watching other human beings die in front of your eyes, from your hands. How the media can elevate that to the level of heroism, I can't even fathom. The media candy coats death and nobody wants to mention the truly hellish nature of combat unless it suits their propaganda. Any victory through war is a phyrric one.
War is terrible, ugly, vile, painful and grotesque to everyone involved, regardless of side. Any war is a failure, a failure as humans to evolve past our basest territorial instincts, a failure to recognize that we share far more in common than not, and a failure to respect the very things we claim to protect. It's never heroic or proud. War is blood and brain matter and watching other human beings die in front of your eyes, from your hands. How the media can elevate that to the level of heroism, I can't even fathom. The media candy coats death and nobody wants to mention the truly hellish nature of combat unless it suits their propaganda. Any victory through war is a phyrric one.
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