War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning Summary
I believe that Chris Hedges book War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning is spot on how war affects a person and a society. Chris Hedges believes that war is negative and that it degrades the ones who participate in it. War changes the people that fight in it and just like a drug war becomes an addiction, once you get a taste of it is hard to stop. War brings out the nationalism of those who fight in it and at the core of nationalism is racism.
How People Change
People change during war, and not in a good way. War brings out the worst in human nature. It shows that people lose their morals just to survive or to show that they are fighting for the right cause. Hedges has seen firsthand that “it takes little in wartime to turn ordinary men into …show more content…
killers” (Hedges, 87). Another example is in Christopher Browning’s Ordinary Men when the men completely volunteer to go on “Jew Hunts” (Browning, 127). One saying that he has not ate his breakfast yet, meaning he has not killed a Jew. In Marnia Lazreg’s book Torture and the Twilight of Empire she explains that Torturers become “immune to the sight of suffering” (Lazreg, 132). Browning asks at the end of the book “if the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 could become killers under such circumstances, what group of men cannot?” (Browning, 189). If average German men that have never fired a bullet at someone before can kill 83,000 Jews by simpling saying that they were just following orders then what would trained killers with a motive be like. These sources back up Hedges claim that people are easily changed during war and they lose their morals.
War is a drug
According to Chris Hedges war is like a drug and that anyone and everyone is “are all susceptible to war’s appeal” (Hedges, 4). Just like drugs people become addicted. Making people take a “higher and higher dose to achieve any thrill. Finally, one ingests war only to remain numb” (Hedges 162). Do some of the men of Police Battalion 101 become addicted to killing or do they just keep killing to numb the pain of the first killing in Józefów where they had direct one-on-one contact with their victims (Browning, 59). When one man approaches Lieutenant Brand one morning complaining he has not had his “breakfast” Lieutenant Brand just send him away. The man that approached him was addicted to killing, he had to keep taking a higher and higher dosage each day to numb the pain. Killing Jews became a daily habit just like breakfast is. To the Police Officer it was just another day, each day that came meant that another killing would take place. Lazreg refers to torture as a “sport” (Lazreg, 134), if someone can torture others for so long that they look at it as a sport than just like Hedges says they are susceptible to war.
Nationalism
Hedges writes a whole chapter on Nationalism.
How people tend to be close-minded when a war breaks out (Hedges, 47). People become so invested in their cause that they seem to forget that someone they regarded as a neighbor and a friend before the fighting broke out is now seen as the enemy and after the fighting ends they never apologize (Hedges, 49). I find that an interesting subject because it can be looked at by two ways. One way it can be looked at is that they believed in their cause so much that they do not feel the need to apologize. Another way is that they are so ashamed that they are embarrassed to apologize. Lazreg showed that the French were the only ones that were using torture. It was always the French torturing the Algerians and never the other way around. The French seemed to believe that the Algerians should be thankful to be “French Citizens” and show their love and support for France but instead the nationalist of Algeria were sent to internment camps (Lazreg, 137). The French’s justification for the torture was that it “saves lives” (lazreg , 133). For the German’s their justification for killing the Jews was that the it was saving their women and children from the bombings in the cities as if the Jews were the ones doing the bombings (Browning,
2).
Racism
Racism is one of those things that i believe go right along with war. In Hedges he places the blame on the media and the schools (Hedges, 77). While in Lazreg it is just the plain fact that the French think they are better than the Algerians because without the French teaching the Algerians how to do things then the algerians would not know what to do(Lazreg 137). In Hedges he talks about Police Battalion 101 and he says “ There are always people willing to commit unspeakable human atrocity in exchange for a little power and privilege” (Hedges, 88), meaning that someone will do terrible things to other just because they feel like they are better than the ones on the receiving end. In browning the men had to have some sort of hate against the Jewish population of Europe to be able to do the killings even if they never admitted it. The men volunteered to go on Jew hunts and they never had a shortage of men who wanted to go (Browning, 121), the men were in charge of making their region free of Jew.
How People Change
People change during war, and not in a good way. War brings out the worst in human nature. It shows that people lose their morals just to survive or to show that they are fighting for the right cause. Hedges has seen firsthand that “it takes little in wartime to turn ordinary men into …show more content…
killers” (Hedges, 87). Another example is in Christopher Browning’s Ordinary Men when the men completely volunteer to go on “Jew Hunts” (Browning, 127). One saying that he has not ate his breakfast yet, meaning he has not killed a Jew. In Marnia Lazreg’s book Torture and the Twilight of Empire she explains that Torturers become “immune to the sight of suffering” (Lazreg, 132). Browning asks at the end of the book “if the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 could become killers under such circumstances, what group of men cannot?” (Browning, 189). If average German men that have never fired a bullet at someone before can kill 83,000 Jews by simpling saying that they were just following orders then what would trained killers with a motive be like. These sources back up Hedges claim that people are easily changed during war and they lose their morals.
War is a drug
According to Chris Hedges war is like a drug and that anyone and everyone is “are all susceptible to war’s appeal” (Hedges, 4). Just like drugs people become addicted. Making people take a “higher and higher dose to achieve any thrill. Finally, one ingests war only to remain numb” (Hedges 162). Do some of the men of Police Battalion 101 become addicted to killing or do they just keep killing to numb the pain of the first killing in Józefów where they had direct one-on-one contact with their victims (Browning, 59). When one man approaches Lieutenant Brand one morning complaining he has not had his “breakfast” Lieutenant Brand just send him away. The man that approached him was addicted to killing, he had to keep taking a higher and higher dosage each day to numb the pain. Killing Jews became a daily habit just like breakfast is. To the Police Officer it was just another day, each day that came meant that another killing would take place. Lazreg refers to torture as a “sport” (Lazreg, 134), if someone can torture others for so long that they look at it as a sport than just like Hedges says they are susceptible to war.
Nationalism
Hedges writes a whole chapter on Nationalism.
How people tend to be close-minded when a war breaks out (Hedges, 47). People become so invested in their cause that they seem to forget that someone they regarded as a neighbor and a friend before the fighting broke out is now seen as the enemy and after the fighting ends they never apologize (Hedges, 49). I find that an interesting subject because it can be looked at by two ways. One way it can be looked at is that they believed in their cause so much that they do not feel the need to apologize. Another way is that they are so ashamed that they are embarrassed to apologize. Lazreg showed that the French were the only ones that were using torture. It was always the French torturing the Algerians and never the other way around. The French seemed to believe that the Algerians should be thankful to be “French Citizens” and show their love and support for France but instead the nationalist of Algeria were sent to internment camps (Lazreg, 137). The French’s justification for the torture was that it “saves lives” (lazreg , 133). For the German’s their justification for killing the Jews was that the it was saving their women and children from the bombings in the cities as if the Jews were the ones doing the bombings (Browning,
2).
Racism
Racism is one of those things that i believe go right along with war. In Hedges he places the blame on the media and the schools (Hedges, 77). While in Lazreg it is just the plain fact that the French think they are better than the Algerians because without the French teaching the Algerians how to do things then the algerians would not know what to do(Lazreg 137). In Hedges he talks about Police Battalion 101 and he says “ There are always people willing to commit unspeakable human atrocity in exchange for a little power and privilege” (Hedges, 88), meaning that someone will do terrible things to other just because they feel like they are better than the ones on the receiving end. In browning the men had to have some sort of hate against the Jewish population of Europe to be able to do the killings even if they never admitted it. The men volunteered to go on Jew hunts and they never had a shortage of men who wanted to go (Browning, 121), the men were in charge of making their region free of Jew.