Aaron B. O'Connell is an assistant professor of history at the United States Naval Academy and a Marine reserve officer. In a recent article he refers to Eisenhower's 'military industrial complex' speech, but from the point of view of the spiritual effects of permanent preparations for war.
O'Connell thinks that we are subject to almost daily tales of the bravery and valor of the military and these tales are uncritically accepted. Perhaps surprisingly it is not the military that is the prime pusher of these tales. The tales are being pushed by civilians to further their own opportunistic political and commercial agendas. How often do we hear that we must support our troops? The speaker is often a Congressman who has never served in the military. Or someone trying to sell us something.
As one indication of this country's militarization, O'Connell speaks of his students, "Uncritical support of all things martial is quickly becoming the new
normal for our youth. Hardly any of my students at the Naval Academy
remember a time when their nation wasn’t at war."
Do you think Obama and Romney would agree with him?
No comments:
Post a Comment