Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Trenchmouth
Conrad wrote, "i'm not interested in reading their poems from the trenches or from their homes in Idaho after they return. there's really nothing new to learn from soldiers. " Whoa! Really? Wish I had time to delve in more, but I felt like I had to at least briefly counter your post, Conrad.
Do I endorse an army of empire? Certainly not. But I agree with Jennifer's recent post - people join up for a wide range of reasons that extend beyond bloodlust. For some folks, it's the only chance to get an education, or to get out of a backwater town; other people buy the notion that they're doing the most noble thing possible by signing up. Does this excuse their participation in a killing machine? No, not in my mind. But to lump all military personnel into one big hyperbolic heap doesn't seem productive to me as a way of thinking or as a way of arguing, and to ignore soldiers' varied stories strikes me as a strange kind of hypocrisy - we want a multitude of perspectives except when it's offensive to us, and in those cases we should just ignore those people's tales? Hmmm...
- Chris McC
Do I endorse an army of empire? Certainly not. But I agree with Jennifer's recent post - people join up for a wide range of reasons that extend beyond bloodlust. For some folks, it's the only chance to get an education, or to get out of a backwater town; other people buy the notion that they're doing the most noble thing possible by signing up. Does this excuse their participation in a killing machine? No, not in my mind. But to lump all military personnel into one big hyperbolic heap doesn't seem productive to me as a way of thinking or as a way of arguing, and to ignore soldiers' varied stories strikes me as a strange kind of hypocrisy - we want a multitude of perspectives except when it's offensive to us, and in those cases we should just ignore those people's tales? Hmmm...
- Chris McC
