Quote:
Originally Posted by non sequitur
You're correct. Every war is brutal. And we should be reminded of that fact constantly. It shouldn't be sanitized. It shouldn't be abstracted. And it shouldn't be sloganized. It is unconsionable that politicians would minimize the devastation of this war for the sake of political expediency. It's also unconsionable that support for this war should be framed by some as a benchmark of one's patriotism. That's political pandering at its worst.
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Are these statements also true of all wars? Can no war be a benchmark of patriotism? DO we have an obligation ot have a all Iraq, all Afghanistan news channels where we can see shots of all the beheadings and car bonmbs and body parts all dat long, so as to avoid sanitizing the results? Perhaps we could add a few Kens Burns type shows on some of the historical atrocisites to give it context. Would it be pandering to show deaths in afghnistan followed by shots of people jumping from the world trade towers?
Some of this is hyperbole, obviously, but the underlying questions are real and I don't pretend to know the naswers. It is a tough question. I do think you are going a bit far in saying that it is uncionscionable to try to minimize the impact of the war, as everybody is biased to some extent when they present any idea about which they have a prior belief, but I suppose that is a quibble and may just be your own hyperbolic endeavor. .