Not So Heroic

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Really Seeing War

“If we really saw war, what war does to young minds and bodies, it would be impossible to embrace the myth of war. If we had to stand over the mangled corpses of schoolchildren killed in Afghanistan and listen to the wails of their parents, we would not be able to repeat clichés we use to justify war. This is why war is carefully sanitized. This is why we are given war’s perverse and dark thrill but are spared from seeing war’s consequences. The mythic visions of war keep it heroic and entertaining.” 

—Chris Hedges, journalist and author, Death of the Liberal Class, 2010

• Editorial Comment: And not entertaining.



PeezPix by Ted Pease

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