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I was surprised by how much war footage and gut-wrenching videos I could find online. More people should be exposed to those documents as a form of shock therap

I was surprised by how much war footage and gut-wrenching videos I could find online. More people should be exposed to those documents as a form of shock therapy. It gives weight and meaning to words so effortlessly spoken by our leaders. It might also help young people have a little more empathy for actual individuals, as opposed to abstract demographics. The article reminds me of War against War!. It's a 1924 anti-war photobook (180 images) designed by German pacifist Ernst Friedrich. It's a sobering read. http://craigritchie.co.uk/archives/2581 http://craigritchie.co.uk/archives/2581 [WARNING: 18+ NSFL] EDIT: I added a few quotes describing the War against War! photobook. > Outraged by the unprecedented barbarism and massive destruction of the First World War, Ernst Friedrich complied and published a collection of pictures and other visual material which attempted to illustrate not only the tragic human consequences of war, but also the lies and hypocrisy of the social, political, and economic forces that produced and promoted it. Aimed at an international audience with multi-lingual supporting text and captions, it was one of the first concerted photographic expressions of protest against the barbarism of modern warfare in all its tragic folly. > Friedrich’s strategy was to present shocking images of the atrocities of war and then juxtapose the official German patriotic and military propaganda and rhetoric of the time with graphic illustrations of what this discourse actually produced. > The horrific imagery builds gradually, commencing with illustrations of children’s toys and propaganda posters, followed by photographs of the soldier’s march to war, the privilege of the elites orchestrating the violence, the devastated and then forgotten battlefields [...] and the graveyards of the dead. > The most unbearable pages are in a section called ‘The Face of War’, twenty-four close-ups of military and non-military survivors with huge facial wounds. > Never before had the people there been subjected to such horrendous images of the savagery and the senseless destruction of the First World War. During WW1, most European governments forbade the publication of war photographs and few images of the war had appeared before the publication of Friedrich’s book.

Swizec 9y ago
I went to a First World War museum near the Italian Front as a kid. I will never forget this photo of soldiers who survived the war missing half their face. https://www.tripadvisor.ie/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g319788-d276481-i73732715-Kobarid_Museum_Kobariski_muzej-Kobarid_Slovenian_Littoral_Region.html https://www.tripadvisor.ie/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g319788-d...
fractallyte 9y ago
Most of the big wars were/are ultimately started (or allowed to start) by politicians. The word 'politician' can be thought of as a portmanteau: political technician. So the responsibility is on us to enforce this distinction: who among our political technicians is actually qualified to lead? Heinlein's Starship Troopers had the right idea. I wish just one nation in the world would implement it. Maybe it would lead to a cascade of rationality, and future wars would become impossible as a result.
- afarrell 9y ago
  In a society where politicians rely on a broad coalition of supporters in order to stay in power, I think it is an error to place all of the blame for misleadership on those same politicians. I think you have to first look at what incentives those politicians operate under and then look at which ones swim with or against those incentives. As CGP Grey says, Take the throne to act, and the throne acts upon you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs
- afarrell 9y ago
  > Heinlein's Starship Troopers had the right idea. I'm pretty unconvinced that limiting voters to volunteer military veterans would prevent war. I think it would instead lead to a government which is more able to successfully pander to those with a value-system that leads them to volunteer for the military.
  - 7952 9y ago
    It is ironic how that is a mirror image of fascist beliefs about military virtue. They wanted to give power to veterans so that wars could be started and won! They wanted to suppress the influence of weak willed peacniks. It is ironic that this could be reversed to imply that rationality means peace. Heinlein had some pretty fascist ideas, and books like starship troopers project that in a comfortable form. It is easy to attach our own ideas of what is rational, but that is very subjective. To a fascist war is rational.
    - 9y ago
SolaceQuantum 9y ago
I would argue that shocking young children or even teenagers may not necessarily help empathy. Empathy is a cognitive skill whose capacity is greatly reduced in children simply because of the way the brain develops. I would argue what is instead best is to acknowledge that and have lessons be based on helping children empathize with the great tragedy that occurred, in personal ways, or even help them wrap their heads around the sheer horror of it. It is unlikely they are fully capable but if they can develop their own ideas about the horrific events that occurred and why they are bad, then as they grow older they may be able to develop empathy from there about those events. Unfortunately, I fear this is becoming more and more difficult with the recent rise of nationalism in many countries...

Swizec 9y ago

I went to a First World War museum near the Italian Front as a kid. I will never forget this photo of soldiers who survived the war missing half their face. https://www.tripadvisor.ie/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g319788-d276481-i73732715-Kobarid_Museum_Kobariski_muzej-Kobarid_Slovenian_Littoral_Region.html https://www.tripadvisor.ie/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g319788-d...

fractallyte 9y ago

Most of the big wars were/are ultimately started (or allowed to start) by politicians. The word 'politician' can be thought of as a portmanteau: political technician. So the responsibility is on us to enforce this distinction: who among our political technicians is actually qualified to lead? Heinlein's Starship Troopers had the right idea. I wish just one nation in the world would implement it. Maybe it would lead to a cascade of rationality, and future wars would become impossible as a result.

afarrell 9y ago
In a society where politicians rely on a broad coalition of supporters in order to stay in power, I think it is an error to place all of the blame for misleadership on those same politicians. I think you have to first look at what incentives those politicians operate under and then look at which ones swim with or against those incentives. As CGP Grey says, Take the throne to act, and the throne acts upon you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs
afarrell 9y ago
> Heinlein's Starship Troopers had the right idea. I'm pretty unconvinced that limiting voters to volunteer military veterans would prevent war. I think it would instead lead to a government which is more able to successfully pander to those with a value-system that leads them to volunteer for the military.
- 7952 9y ago
  It is ironic how that is a mirror image of fascist beliefs about military virtue. They wanted to give power to veterans so that wars could be started and won! They wanted to suppress the influence of weak willed peacniks. It is ironic that this could be reversed to imply that rationality means peace. Heinlein had some pretty fascist ideas, and books like starship troopers project that in a comfortable form. It is easy to attach our own ideas of what is rational, but that is very subjective. To a fascist war is rational.
  - 9y ago

SolaceQuantum 9y ago

I would argue that shocking young children or even teenagers may not necessarily help empathy. Empathy is a cognitive skill whose capacity is greatly reduced in children simply because of the way the brain develops. I would argue what is instead best is to acknowledge that and have lessons be based on helping children empathize with the great tragedy that occurred, in personal ways, or even help them wrap their heads around the sheer horror of it. It is unlikely they are fully capable but if they can develop their own ideas about the horrific events that occurred and why they are bad, then as they grow older they may be able to develop empathy from there about those events. Unfortunately, I fear this is becoming more and more difficult with the recent rise of nationalism in many countries...