“If we really saw war, what war does to young minds and bodies,
it would be impossible to embrace the myth of war. If we had to stand
over the mangled corpses of schoolchildren killed in Afghanistan and
listen to the wails of their parents, we would not be able to repeat
clichés we use to justify war. This is why war is carefully
sanitized. This is why we are given war's perverse and dark thrill
but are spared from seeing war's consequences. The mythic visions of
war keep it heroic and entertaining…
The wounded, the crippled, and the dead are, in this great
charade, swiftly carted offstage. They are war's refuse. We do not
see them. We do not hear them. They are doomed, like wandering
spirits, to float around the edges of our consciousness, ignored,
even reviled. The message they tell is too painful for us to hear. We
prefer to celebrate ourselves and our nation by imbibing the myths of
glory, honor, patriotism, and heroism, words that in combat become
empty and meaningless.”
― Chris Hedges, Death of the Liberal Class
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