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