4 ms·

Ask HN: Is there honour in war/conflict?

3 points by desertraven 5y ago

My understanding is that honour in war is mainly a historic relic, or recruitment propaganda. Though having no experience with warfare myself, I can’t help but think perhaps there are far broader emotional and spiritual experiences to be had in such extreme circumstances.

simonblack 5y ago
There is no honor in war. It's a dirty, nasty, painful business that leaves even the 'winners' as badly-damaged people. Unfortunately, the world's leaders become more and more ignorant of that fact the longer a period of 'peace' lasts. Most people in the world today have no personal knowledge of war, so they aren't too fussed when somebody says 'Let's go to war with <some entity or other>'. That's why really bad wars seem to break out every 100 years or so. All the guys who have personal knowledge of how bad wars really are have died out, leaving the 'gung-ho' ones to start the next major conflict. We're coming up to the next really big one 'Real Soon Now'. If you're under about 40, you'd better start getting fit, and don't neglect to make out your Will.
n4r9 5y ago
There's honour in doing something that you truly think is right despite it being difficult, scary or miserable. Many people who go to war are psychologically scarred for a very long time.
HamburgerEmoji 5y ago
I think so, sometimes. But honor needs to be understood as something that arises in the minds of others when they appreciate some admirable thing someone did, usually a wise but painful trade (e.g. their life for some worthy principle) That's not to say it's always there. Often people just end up in conflicts, and then people are shooting at their buddies, so they fight. Maybe later they get an award for what they did, but from their perspective, they were just trying to help their friends. Like anything, once it becomes a recognized thing, it will get misused by devious people to manipulate others.

4 ms·

Ask HN: Is there honour in war/conflict?

3 points by desertraven 5y ago

simonblack 5y ago
There is no honor in war. It's a dirty, nasty, painful business that leaves even the 'winners' as badly-damaged people. Unfortunately, the world's leaders become more and more ignorant of that fact the longer a period of 'peace' lasts. Most people in the world today have no personal knowledge of war, so they aren't too fussed when somebody says 'Let's go to war with <some entity or other>'. That's why really bad wars seem to break out every 100 years or so. All the guys who have personal knowledge of how bad wars really are have died out, leaving the 'gung-ho' ones to start the next major conflict. We're coming up to the next really big one 'Real Soon Now'. If you're under about 40, you'd better start getting fit, and don't neglect to make out your Will.
n4r9 5y ago
There's honour in doing something that you truly think is right despite it being difficult, scary or miserable. Many people who go to war are psychologically scarred for a very long time.
HamburgerEmoji 5y ago
I think so, sometimes. But honor needs to be understood as something that arises in the minds of others when they appreciate some admirable thing someone did, usually a wise but painful trade (e.g. their life for some worthy principle) That's not to say it's always there. Often people just end up in conflicts, and then people are shooting at their buddies, so they fight. Maybe later they get an award for what they did, but from their perspective, they were just trying to help their friends. Like anything, once it becomes a recognized thing, it will get misused by devious people to manipulate others.