Today is Memorial Day, 2011.
Let us remember and honor the young men and women who have gone forth to war, believing they were fighting for a good cause.
Let us not honor the war profiteers and the military industrial complex. Let us not honor the media that are in bed with the war profiteers and use their own sophisticated weapons, such as propaganda, to send off generation after generation of good people to kill and be killed.
Let us honor in particular the veterans who have come back home from war to fight for peace. Among those honorable veterans, let us give thanks to:
- General Smedley Butler (1881-1940), a highly decorated major general in the U.S. Marine Corps, who tried to explain to the American people why “War is a racket.” For a powerful reenactment of his famous “War is a racket” speech, click on the video above.
- Ron Kovic, survivor of the Vietnam War, and author of Born on the Fourth of July. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaY6uK0vtGs
- David Connolly, another anti-war Vietnam vet and poet; see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLkKz03A2R8
- Ross Caputi, anti-war Iraq war veteran and activist educator regarding Fallujah; see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUsfxSJeUew
- Dr. Howard Zinn, survivor of World War II, tireless anti-war activist, and one of the dedicatees of this blog. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=subwDAZtEN0&feature=related and his essay about Memorial Day.
Let us particularly remember and honor all the war veterans living in this country today, and honor them not just by words but by activism on their behalf. Increasing numbers of veterans are committing suicide because of what they were trained to do, made to do. Thousands are homeless; thousands are drug and alcohol abusers.
If you believe the banks should not seize the homes of military men and women while they are fighting overseas or recovering in hospitals, write letters, sign petitions, call your Congressperson.
If you believe that veterans should have adequate health care, watch the Ron Kovics video mentioned above. For more information, click this link:
http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/broken_government/articles/entry/1041/
Veterans believed they were fighting for us. Now it is time for us to fight for veterans.
Finally, remember also the men and women currently in the Armed Forces who strive to educate their fellow citizens regarding the tower of lies that underlie our current wars.
Honor Bradley Manning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI1iCNn_8Qk
Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology
There is nothing more uncomfortable for me than when people come up to me and try to thank me for my service. It makes it all too clear to me that the majority of the American public has no clue what we have done to Iraq. They do not realize that they are thanking me for helping destroy Fallujah and helping force its inhabitants to become refugees–about 200,000 people. The mainstream media described what we did to Fallujah as a “liberation,” and the majority of the American population has accepted this at face value. But in reality we turned Fallujah into ruins, killed hundreds of civilians, forced hundreds-of-thousands into refugee status, and polluted the city to such an extent that birth defects and infant mortality are at incredible rates. See this special on the birth defects in Fallujah: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq1MTxXmELg&feature=player_embedded
I absolutely love this post. We can be guilty of blaming the soldiers for the faults of the government/military leaders who lead them to fight for unjust causes. The soldiers themselves are extremely courageous and put themselves in danger for what they believe is for the good of millions of Americans. We need to reach out to the vets who suffer through the trauma of war that adversely affects their lives. It sounds cliche, but they dedicated their lives to serving their country, so their country should take care of them if their service has caused them serious harm.
I appreciated this particular post a great deal. It provided me with new insight. It also reminded me of the quote by Chesterton: “It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong.”
I have always felt ambivalent about Memorial Day, and never felt like joining others who celebrate the day. While I believe it is important to remember those who sacrificed their lives for their peoples, I feel ambivalent because I can’t help but feeling ashamed of what my countries (I was born and raised in Japan and have lived in North America for more than two decades) have done during past wars, invasions, and conflicts under the justification of “patriotism,” “freeing the oppressed,” “fighting for freedom,” “fighting the terrorism,” and the like. I wonder, for example, if there were any other ways (i.e., more peaceful ways) to deal with Iraq, with Al Qaeda, or Osama bin Laden than the ways the US and the rest of the world handled the situations? I do not have answers, but I keep wondering about it and I would like to keep questioning in the spirit of Chesterton’s quote.
In my social psychology course, my students and I share ideas of how to promote helping others and altruism and how to reduce aggression and violence. A few of the most popular ideas are increasing perspective-taking, empathy for others, and increasing pro-social role models. Watching the various video clips posted under “Remember those who did not die,” I would like to add another idea to promote altruism and peace and reduce violence and war: courage to reject blind obedience and conformity.
This idea was particularly inspired by the very candid narrative of Ross Caputi and the eloquent argument by Dr. Howard Zinn. Dr. Zinn’s argument that a country needing the draft demonstrates that people don’t want wars but a handful leaders do is unforgettable. It encourages me to consider alternatives to war and aggression and to reject being a blind follower.
Etsuko Hoshino-Browne, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology, Swarthmore College
On Monday night I went to watch the Red Sox play against the Chicago White Sox, it was Memorial Day. This was the first Memorial Day that I had spent in the U.S –as could be expected I was unsure what the day would bring. To start off the game, a WWII veteran threw the first pitch. Even after taking this course for one week, I was immediately aware of how the veteran’s WWII experience seemed to be romanticized by the announcement over the speakers. They brought up the major events that he had been involved in, and perhaps the most poignant thing that struck me was the way that he had “stormed the beaches of Normandy.”
Don’t get me wrong here, I am in no way taking away from the terrible experiences that he must have endured. What I am trying to do is highlight the way that society now looks at an event like the D-day landings and uses it by turning it into a lesson of good triumphing over evil and one of selfless sacrifice. Films such as Saving Private Ryan and TV miniseries such as Band of Brothers have a profound effect on the way that the Second World War is viewed today because they deal with the war from a personal point of view involving moral dilemmas. A larger and more important point people need to recognize is that WWII has two separate ideas; the principles or right to wage war and the execution of the war, which is what Michael Corgan in our Psych 372 class called “jus ad bellum” and “jus in bello”.
It is my belief that the “jus ad bellum” reasons for WWII were correct and the war can be called a “good war,” but only when addressing the reasons for getting involved. I believe that the principles for the war were right as well as just, and that the principles of the Nazis were not. Sternberg highlights in his article that Hitler was able to unite the many different groups and factions within Germany by bonding them all against a common enemy through the use of hate. Hate is something that becomes inevitable in war because you want to retaliate. Michael Corgan said, as soon as you are harmed, whether it be physically or verbally, people in war will generally respond in the same manner or worse because they want to avenge themselves or those whom they deem as part of their in-group. Prof. Kathleen Malley-Morrison (2009) brings up the point that ”Individuals whose moral judgments are based on [Kohlberg’s] Stage 3 morality can feel ethical when they hate the people their relatives hate—and may feel ethical even when engaging in genocide against those people.”
I think that when people speak of WWII being the “good war” they are referring to the reasons for the war, not the actual way that the war was fought. It is my opinion that the execution of WWII was unjust and cannot be said a “good war”-personally I believe that this term “good war” is an oxymoron itself. However, some people may argue that when a war is started or joined purely because the principles for doing so are right, then any means are necessary to achieve a positive outcome because the overall reasons for the war are just.
The Kirsch article brings up a number of points that I wish to address. Firstly, I think part of the reason that the Second World War seems like the “good war” is because the atrocities such as “Operation Gomorrah” have not been debated or even considered to be crimes. Perhaps the reason these atrocities were overlooked hinges on the German’s silent acceptance of the deaths of innocent civilians because of the guilt and shame that they felt about what certain individuals did during the duration of the Third Reich. Is it not logical to conclude that if the Germans that survived the war had tried to complain about war crimes committed on German cities, they would somehow be trying to justify their wrongdoings-by trying to show that the Allies committed crimes too-making the allies seem just as bad as them, and thus also be seen as having no remorse for what they had done?
It makes me wonder what German people felt about the film “Inglorious Basterds” where a group of American soldiers go on a Nazi killing spree. I am sure that veterans of both sides would feel some kind of anger at seeing people behave in such a way. It is strange though, that in that film, violent acts against individual Nazi soldiers are seen as some kind of feel-good type of revenge and yet people seem comfortable and even happy at seeing this kind of behavior. It is even more shocking that people think that way after the Milgram experiment where it was shown that most people are likely to obey authority figures, one can try to see the predicament that some German people were placed in when they were forced to become part of the Nazi war machine. Therefore, it is easy to see that one of the tactics used by the Allies was to dehumanize the enemy and this has continued through until today.
Part of the way that we can change how we look at the Second World War can be though understanding how the Germans and indeed all people, are capable of doing terrible things. As Bandura (1999) points out, there are a number of ways in which people can be led to commit terrible human rights violations. The attribution of blame is a big part of this. People blame others for their actions, often making their rival responsible for their actions, viewing themselves as helpless victims being forced into action. Moral disengagement is another way in which people can be coerced into action. Hitler was so successful in morally disengaging the vast majority of the German people because he was able to unite the masses and convince them that what they were doing was acceptable. He deliberately distorted the consequences of performing morally reprehensible actions so far as to change and enforce laws and social norms that punished people who were not willing to take part in these acts and beliefs. Once again the Milgram experiment helps to shed light on how easy it was to make people do things once there was a clear authority telling people what to do. The Stanford Prison experiment is another study created by Phillip Zimbardo, which also showed that people can be subconsciously influenced to behave in certain ways when a certain ideology is imposed on them.
Overall, I believe that the Second World War was fought for the right reasons, although the execution of the war was not “good.” People need to realize that anyone, when put in the right conditions, is capable of doing terrible acts against another person. I hope that one day the world will realize that there is no such thing as a “good war.” A terrible war may be fought for a “good” reason, but that will never make it “good.” All violence and destruction should be avoided. Perhaps by following what Prof. Kathleen Malley-Morrison says about the exercising the ethic of reciprocity, we shall one day achieve peace.
I have several friends who have recently commissioned and are now Lieutenants in the United States Army. This time next year, they will each be in charge of a platoon of 42 men and the lives of these men will be in their hands. I had the opportunity to interview my best friend before he left for training yesterday. The interview left me uneasy about his departure to say the least.
I asked him some general questions- Could there be a world without war? Why are you in the Army? What are you fighting for? etc. He told me that he was in the Army because he’s from a military family, the Army paid for his bachelors degree (under the Bush administration, the 2011 class of Army ROTC attended BU with full tuition scholarships), he is an excellent leader, it’s the last place where chivalry exists, and because the military is a family. I asked him later about his family- he wants to be a role model for his son (due this fall). His patriotism though, besides 9/11, didn’t seem to be much of an influence. Throughout our hour long conversation, he repeatedly mentioned that if he wasn’t serving, then someone less capable would be- putting other soldiers in danger. Also, he said “I wouldn’t feel comfortable knowing there were people out there dying for me and I’m not willing to do the same for them.”
He said he’d fight no matter what the cause of the war is because, in the end, it doesn’t matter. If you don’t like what the war is about or where its going, VOTE for politicians who are on the same page as you. Soldier and war are two ideas that must be separated.
After reading this post for the first time, I felt like the soldiers were being slighted- they weren’t getting the praise they deserved. Now I understand that it’s the government and those who profit from war that are dishonorable and that is separate from our soldiers who we honor. We are blessed to 2.5 million brave men and women fighting for what they believe in whether it be their families, American citizens, or because they find it to be their civic obligation to fight for our freedom.
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS.
Blog Post Response: Elder Abuse
When I read this blog post, I realized that we undervalue the efforts of previous generations. Veterans fought for the preservation of the freedoms that we take for granted and our parents worked to provide for our families. Our veterans sacrificed so much to fight for our nation but we forget to honor and respect them appropriately. Veteran’s day or Memorial Day isn’t sufficient to provide the full recognition for their efforts. The trauma and effects of war inhibits many veterans, even until the point of extreme disability. Also, not only do we forget to honor them; we push them aside in a societal standpoint. We do this in our families as well. We forget and push aside our grandparents and our parents when they worked to provide for our generation. In Family Violence in the United States, Hines and Malley-Morrison stated that in Elder Abuse/Maltreatment cases, there was abuse in the form of abandonment in 100% of the cases and neglect in 91.5% of the cases (Hines &Malley-Morrison 249). Also, compared to other relationship maltreatments, elder maltreatment has the most varying types and forms of maltreatment. On top of physical, sexual, emotional/psychological abuse, neglect, there are other forms of maltreatment such as abandonment, financial or material exploitation and self-neglect (H&MM 243). For this reason, I believe that we as a society mistreat our elderly population more than any other group of people.
Whether it’s our elder population or veterans, both groups need support and recognition in our society. At one point, they were the ones fighting for us and providing for us. They represented a position of protection. It seems unfair and unjust that when they need to be cared for, we as a society fail to do so. Both groups fulfilled their obligations as a soldier or as a mother/father. I feel that we still believe that as adults, our elderly population should still be “self-sufficient and self-determining” (Family Violence in a Cultural Perspective, Malley-Morrison & Hines, 53). We forget all they did for us and think of them as burdens, leading us to neglect and abandon them. In elder abuse, it’s also common to see that “if their abusers were removed from the home, then there is the possibility that the elders would be isolated and no one would be there to help with transportation, finances or chores” (H&MM 256). Unfortunately, this often leads to longer, sustained abusive relationships for fear of isolation. If our elder population is willing to endure abuse because they don’t want to be abandoned, what does that say about our societal and cultural values? As Professor Malley-Morrison wrote in the blog post, these veterans are increasingly “committing suicide because of what they were trained to do, made to do. Thousands are homeless, thousands are drug and alcohol abusers.” These two groups within our society desperately need our support but after they fulfilled their duty, finished their contribution, we neglect them and forget all that they did.
In Family Violence in a Cultural Perspective, Malley-Morrison and Hines discuss the reason behind this type of maltreatment as “cultural differences in the perceptions of family obligations” (MM&H 53). As an Asian-American, one of things I value about my culture is filial piety. It stems from Buddhist and Confucian teaching which obligates “younger generations to respect, obey and care for elderly parents” (Malley-Morrison and Hines 203). As such, Asians had the lowest rate of elderly abuse of 2.1% when compared to other ethnicities; “White (84%), Blacks (8.3%), Hispanics (5.1%)” (H&MM 249). Culturally, we hold our elder population in special regard. Even in our language, we speak differently through the use of honorific speech when addressing someone older than us. Although this creates a sharp stratification of respect and authority in our society, the amount of care and respect for our older generation in our culture is valued more strongly than in American culture. Part of the reason why family systems in Asian cultures heavily involve our elder population is because we recognize the value of having their wisdom, perspective and vast experiences in the development of our younger populations. Perhaps the idea of filial piety could be applied to our veteran population as well. There is much to be learned from our veteran population. Because of their experiences in war, they truly understand the detrimental effects of violence. If we could incorporate their experiences in an educational way to our younger generations, perhaps we could increase our awareness and decrease our tolerance of violence.