A democratic responsibility
Recently I (finally) began the daunting task of reading Homer's Iliad. What a fascinating tale! I'm barely into Book 3, so since it's going to take quite some time to get through it, I've begun to think of it like watching the popular TV show "Lost": an ongoing story presented in episodes one can enjoy without being in a rush to get to the end.
My brother lent me a book a couple of years ago called Achilles in Vietnam, in which the author draws parallels between Agamemnon's abuse of the warrior's code of honor in his mistreatment of Achilles, and the abuses of our modern-day military code during the Vietnam War and their effects on our soldiers who fought that war. That book has stood on my shelf with a bookmark at chapter two for a good while, but today I recalled a point the author made in chapter one:
I quoted yesterday Robert Post's view that "collective self-governance...requires that citizens come to accept their own 'authorship' of state actions and choices". And it seems to me that we as citizens and as a nation failed to do that with regard to the Vietnam War. Regardless of our views of the war, it was our war, and we should have accepted authorship of it.
That's not to say we ought to have agreed with it. (A discussion of the war's merits is beyond our scope here.) But inasmuch as we the people comprise a nation, we engaged the war. We are a body, a unit, a nation. And we empowered our military to make war in Vietnam.
Refusal to own up to that fact freed us (so we thought) to castigate soldiers who were merely following our orders. They discharged their duties, performing valiantly as we expect our warriors to do, and deserve honor conferred upon them by their peers and the nation. If we as a nation chose to surrender the field to our foes, we owe our soldiers an explanation, not an assault on their honor. Perhaps we even owe them an apology for denying them the glory of the victory that was within their reach. We unquestionably owe them thanks for answering the call of duty at our behest.
The wars we engage are our wars, and we must own them. This is collective self-governance. This is what it means to be citizen in a democracy.
My brother lent me a book a couple of years ago called Achilles in Vietnam, in which the author draws parallels between Agamemnon's abuse of the warrior's code of honor in his mistreatment of Achilles, and the abuses of our modern-day military code during the Vietnam War and their effects on our soldiers who fought that war. That book has stood on my shelf with a bookmark at chapter two for a good while, but today I recalled a point the author made in chapter one:
Time and again (Vietnam veterans) were assailed as "losers" by World War II veterans. The pain and rage at being blamed for defeat in Vietnam was beyond bearing and resulted in many brawls.
These feelings reflect not only outrage at the heartless wrong-headedness of such remarks but also a concept of victory in war that left Vietnam veterans bewildered.
I quoted yesterday Robert Post's view that "collective self-governance...requires that citizens come to accept their own 'authorship' of state actions and choices". And it seems to me that we as citizens and as a nation failed to do that with regard to the Vietnam War. Regardless of our views of the war, it was our war, and we should have accepted authorship of it.
That's not to say we ought to have agreed with it. (A discussion of the war's merits is beyond our scope here.) But inasmuch as we the people comprise a nation, we engaged the war. We are a body, a unit, a nation. And we empowered our military to make war in Vietnam.
Refusal to own up to that fact freed us (so we thought) to castigate soldiers who were merely following our orders. They discharged their duties, performing valiantly as we expect our warriors to do, and deserve honor conferred upon them by their peers and the nation. If we as a nation chose to surrender the field to our foes, we owe our soldiers an explanation, not an assault on their honor. Perhaps we even owe them an apology for denying them the glory of the victory that was within their reach. We unquestionably owe them thanks for answering the call of duty at our behest.
The wars we engage are our wars, and we must own them. This is collective self-governance. This is what it means to be citizen in a democracy.
posted by Lear's Fool | 5:58 PM
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