For all you rabid fans out there hanging on my every word. Here's my op-ed. i'm scared i'll fail. I'm scared everyone will disagree with me. I'm scared blahblah. whatever. I'm in love with myself and I think that what I write is wonderful. And that's the only thing that matters, doesn't it?
Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori
By Elysa Chen
They say that war is a quite subhuman form of activity. But human beings are more addicted to it than any of the lower animals. So ask me if wars are necessary, and I’ll answer yes.
Wars are necessary because of governments’ obligations to protect their citizens. Wars are necessary to uphold justice. Wars are necessary because of man’s continual search for utopia.
As St. Agustine put it, “we go to war that we may have peace.” There are circumstances in which the first and most urgent obligation in the face of evil is to stop it. There are times when waging war is morally necessary to defend the innocent and to promote the minimum conditions of international order. Owen Seaman says that there are situations in which you have to fight for honour:
England, in this great fight to which you go
Because, where Honour calls you, go you must,
Be glad, whatever comes, at least to know
You have your quarrel just.
Yes, we had to launch the atomic bomb to defeat the Axis powers in World War II, we had to bomb civilian centers in the Iraq War as our last resort, and we had no choice but to use Napalm in the Vietnam War.
In World War II, more than 50% of those who died were civilians. By the end of the century, over 75% of those killed in war were civilians. We kill or be killed. We attain victory, even if it means killing and maiming civilians.
To the mother cradling her dead baby, sitting amidst the rubble which used to be her home, I’d say: “Victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.”
To the newly-wed wife of a soldier who sacrificed himself in war, I’d put a comforting arm around her as she weeps, and gently say: “he who saves himself is lost; we have To bear in silence though our hearts may bleed; To spend ourselves, and never count the cost,
For others' greater need.”
And to the veteran mutiliated both physically and psychologically by life in the trenches; whose eyes have lost their sparkle because they have seen his comrades die one by one, I’d give a medal of bravery, and a pat on the shoulder, and tell him that it was his “finest hour.”
The just war theory states that the deaths of civilians are never permissible in a war. But what makes the deaths of soldiers permissible? Some misguided concept of honour? The fact that they are doing their duty of redressing the wrongs which others have suffered? The fact that they are defending their homes?
Edmund Burke said that “evil will always flourish when good men do nothing.” But what are good men doing when they put their guns to the temples of their fellow man and pull the triggers? What are good men doing when the whistle sounds and they clamber out of the trenches, throwing grenades at their brothers? What are good men doing when they drive the blades of their swords into the hearts of other human beings?
War is hell, and those who institute it are criminals.
Thus, in his guilt, Man has tried to sacralize war. He has used euphemisms to convince himself that what he has done, or is doing, is right. He has used the doctrine of the just war to deceive himself into thinking that because a war is just, it’s a good thing.
It’s all well in theory, but there is no such thing as a just war. Man (with the exception of Ghandi) is incapable of conducting a just war. He may possess just cause, but that is not enough to claim that the war he has waged is just.
But, wars, though unjustified, are still necessary. A just war is permissible because it’s a lesser evil, but it’s still an evil. So go ahead and fight, but do not try to mask the ugly face of war behind beautiful ideals. For we will no longer be deceived by the old lie: “dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori.”
Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori
By Elysa Chen
They say that war is a quite subhuman form of activity. But human beings are more addicted to it than any of the lower animals. So ask me if wars are necessary, and I’ll answer yes.
Wars are necessary because of governments’ obligations to protect their citizens. Wars are necessary to uphold justice. Wars are necessary because of man’s continual search for utopia.
As St. Agustine put it, “we go to war that we may have peace.” There are circumstances in which the first and most urgent obligation in the face of evil is to stop it. There are times when waging war is morally necessary to defend the innocent and to promote the minimum conditions of international order. Owen Seaman says that there are situations in which you have to fight for honour:
England, in this great fight to which you go
Because, where Honour calls you, go you must,
Be glad, whatever comes, at least to know
You have your quarrel just.
Yes, we had to launch the atomic bomb to defeat the Axis powers in World War II, we had to bomb civilian centers in the Iraq War as our last resort, and we had no choice but to use Napalm in the Vietnam War.
In World War II, more than 50% of those who died were civilians. By the end of the century, over 75% of those killed in war were civilians. We kill or be killed. We attain victory, even if it means killing and maiming civilians.
To the mother cradling her dead baby, sitting amidst the rubble which used to be her home, I’d say: “Victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.”
To the newly-wed wife of a soldier who sacrificed himself in war, I’d put a comforting arm around her as she weeps, and gently say: “he who saves himself is lost; we have To bear in silence though our hearts may bleed; To spend ourselves, and never count the cost,
For others' greater need.”
And to the veteran mutiliated both physically and psychologically by life in the trenches; whose eyes have lost their sparkle because they have seen his comrades die one by one, I’d give a medal of bravery, and a pat on the shoulder, and tell him that it was his “finest hour.”
The just war theory states that the deaths of civilians are never permissible in a war. But what makes the deaths of soldiers permissible? Some misguided concept of honour? The fact that they are doing their duty of redressing the wrongs which others have suffered? The fact that they are defending their homes?
Edmund Burke said that “evil will always flourish when good men do nothing.” But what are good men doing when they put their guns to the temples of their fellow man and pull the triggers? What are good men doing when the whistle sounds and they clamber out of the trenches, throwing grenades at their brothers? What are good men doing when they drive the blades of their swords into the hearts of other human beings?
War is hell, and those who institute it are criminals.
Thus, in his guilt, Man has tried to sacralize war. He has used euphemisms to convince himself that what he has done, or is doing, is right. He has used the doctrine of the just war to deceive himself into thinking that because a war is just, it’s a good thing.
It’s all well in theory, but there is no such thing as a just war. Man (with the exception of Ghandi) is incapable of conducting a just war. He may possess just cause, but that is not enough to claim that the war he has waged is just.
But, wars, though unjustified, are still necessary. A just war is permissible because it’s a lesser evil, but it’s still an evil. So go ahead and fight, but do not try to mask the ugly face of war behind beautiful ideals. For we will no longer be deceived by the old lie: “dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori.”
posted by elysa at 8:16 PM
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