March 18, 2003
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I’ve been reading a book called ‘War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning,’ by Chris Hedges.
When I went to buy it, the cashier gave me a look, and said, ‘You mind if I read the dust jacket?’ See, she thought it was a book about how great and wonderful war is, from the title.
The title is a neutral statement of the book’s thesis, which just happens to be valid. There’s a certain kind of meaning that’s difficult to get out of life without fighting (or covering as a journalist, in Hedges’ case) a war.
He talks about how all war is inhuman and awful, and how it’s tremendously exciting and intoxicating.
I finished it about a week ago. I read it in the hopes that it would somehow innoculate me for the moment when war started. I don’t think it’ll work that way.
The problem with war isn’t that it’s horrible (though that’s certainly a problem). The problem with war is that it’s so easy for the human mind to accept. It’s easier for us to think of good guys and bad guys than it is to think in terms of how everyone could benefit.
Comments (4)
I sometimes wonder if Bush’s favorite genre of movies isn’t Reagan cowboy/westerns. What a heritage we have with the ‘Ole West’.
It’s always about the good guys and bad guys. It’s never about all of us.
A horse is a horse of course of course.
diplomacy takes too much time and entirely too much effort. easier to kill!
dickcarter, potential draftee
I’d like to read that book.
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