Re: militarist
Tim O'Connor (oconnort@nyu.edu)
Wed, 19 Aug 1998 11:33:03 -0400
On Wed, Aug 19, 1998 at 10:17:38AM -0400, Daniel Mahanty wrote:
> Upon thinking about war, my youth ill-affords me much comment.
> My pacifism comes only by virtue of the complete absurdity of War itself-
> but it never exisits in a vacuum. There are always costs and benefits to
> the destruction of tyranny. It is always difficult to determine in terms of
> quantification or even qualification.
After seeing the movie, and reading that Spielberg drew upon Stephen
Ambrose's oral history, D-DAY: JUNE 6, 1944: THE CLIMACTIC BATTLE OF
WORLD WAR II, I grabbed the book and jumped in. It's nearly 600 pages
of closely observed detail about the day and the events that led to it,
the planning, the tactical thought, the psychological torment of the
leadership, the nuts-and-bolts thoughts of the soldiers who landed at
Normandy. There is no way to read this book thoughtfully without being
tearful, giddy, proud, shamed, impressed, depressed, and thoroughly
shaken. It has me so mesmerized, I've been missing my subway stops
going to and from places in the city.
Based on my reaction to what I've read, I don't think I could ever
presume to debate combat with a veteran. I never HAVE done so, but
now I know I never could do so. It would be the height of arrogance
for someone like me -- no matter what my political beliefs -- to
do anything more than listen. And learn.
And as someone who has always had peaceful tendencies, I will try to
remember Scottie's remark (and my own feelings about appeasement) that
in the avoidance of war, "much, much more terrible" things may happen.
We should only be so lucky as to reduce human conflict to matters of
simple mathematics and other business of the mind. The deeper I get
into the Ambrose book, the less I find myself trusting that there can
be some personal utopia where there is no violence, no war, no conflict.
Is this something Sergeant X came to understand? I suggest so,
and that it took form, in part, in his own handwriting on the flyleaf
of the Goebbels book he found among the possessions of a Nazi official
he had personally arrested.
--tim o'connor