Who wants a war?

CursedSkeptic · 03-09-2008 05:04PM

robby^5 wrote: »

It's pretty self explanatory, it's sick to actually will people to die for your own amusement.

In anyway, Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down are far more enjoyable

I want to know what you yourself mean by saying that something is sick and why you would describe my thoughts as such.

Nemesis · 03-09-2008 05:15PM

Fox news coverage of conflicts seems to be packaged like 'entertainment'

Same to maybe a lesser degree with other media companies.

Maybe its the TV thats pushing it as entertainment.

Think of Rome and Gladiators ..people are not a lot different now but like to think they are.

MOH · 03-09-2008 05:37PM

You're looking for a war? Here you are.
Get your passport, off you go.

aidan24326 wrote: »

Who will be told in an anxious voice to 'keep safe' by the studio news anchor even though the pleb in the flak jacket is probably 30 miles from where any real fighting is taking place.

I remember in the early days of the first gulf war (well, the first involving the US directly) there was a BBC report from a Saudi air base. There were reports the Iraqis had just launched Scuds, the reporter was talking into the camera when the picture just went to snow and they couldn't reestablsih contact. Cut back to the BBC anchor, who looked fairly shocked.

It turned out the military had imposed a comms blackout on the base and cut the signal.

Terry wrote: »

The original title of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" was "War, What is it good for?"

Was that Extras?

CursedSkeptic · 03-09-2008 06:01PM

MOH wrote: »

You're looking for a war? Here you are.
Get your passport, off you go.

I remember in the early days of the first gulf war (well, the first involving the US directly) there was a BBC report from a Saudi air base. There were reports the Iraqis had just launched Scuds, the reporter was talking into the camera when the picture just went to snow and they couldn't reestablsih contact. Cut back to the BBC anchor, who looked fairly shocked.

It turned out the military had imposed a comms blackout on the base and cut the signal.

Was that Extras?

You miss my point, I want to enjoy this hypothetical war from the comfort of my sitting room where the possibility of my own death is as high as it would be if I were watch a war film, but the death in this case would be real and therefore much more exciting

thelordofcheese · 03-09-2008 06:14PM

CursedSkeptic wrote: »

You miss my point, I want to enjoy this hypothetical war from the comfort of my sitting room where the possibility of my own death is as high as it would be if I were watch a war film, but the death in this case would be real and therefore much more exciting

Just rent a damn war film, you troll.

arybvtcw0eolkf · 03-09-2008 06:25PM

CursedSkeptic wrote: »

I'll tell you who, me. After viewing images from the recent Georgian conflict I think it is just about time for another epic scale war between genuine first world nations. I want full scale armor and artillery bombardments, chemical weapons, dead civilians, dead soldiers, dead everything. I want to see it played out before my eyes like some sort of soap opera each night on the news. I want images of national leaders in black suits and red ties pounding at mahogany desks as they send a thousand soldiers to their deaths without blinking, I want fighter jets strafing airfields, I want POW tortured, I want pepper red explosions to burst forth as if hell itself has shown its unbridled fury to the world, I want missiles launched into the night sky miles from those who will soon be lying torn and broken in the scorched rubble of their shattered home. I want to see a war.

Pre-Menstrual Tension (PMT) ?.

AckwelFoley · 03-09-2008 06:38PM

Mairt, i loved u in that film with van damme, universal soilder

AckwelFoley · 03-09-2008 06:41PM

Double post

anti-venom · 03-09-2008 06:45PM

pablomakaveli wrote: »

Everyone always say they hate war and are against it but when there is a big war the round the clock news coverage show that many people find it entertaining. Remember the invasion of Iraq when people were glued to their tv screens watching it on the news.

War coverage nowadays is carefully managed. I'd assume most of the coverage you view is either British or American? In that case you will definetly not get many close up images of graphic violence. The American military blamed the media public disillusionment, anti-war activity and fall-off in support for the war. Too many images of dead and maimed American boys and the public were horrified. Since then they are pretty careful about what gets broadcast. Ever wonder why the anti-war movement only gets a fraction of the airtime it recieved during the Vietnam war?

Likewise with the Falklands and the British. Much of the footage shown was weeks old, carefully edited and showed no images of any British casualties untill after the war had ended. The media, however, will inundate us with images of extreme violence of wars in which the U.S. and Britian are not involved, Sudan and Israel for instance.

To the op........You can get you ass of to Iraq if you really feel the need to see a warzone in all it's horror. You might not be so casual about this when you return.

dsmythy · 03-09-2008 06:47PM

War! huh!

You'll get your world war but you might end up involved in it given our globalising world, just like the world of the late 19th - early 20th century.

dresden8 · 03-09-2008 08:19PM

CursedSkeptic wrote: »

I'll tell you who, me. After viewing images from the recent Georgian conflict I think it is just about time for another epic scale war between genuine first world nations. I want full scale armor and artillery bombardments, chemical weapons, dead civilians, dead soldiers, dead everything. I want to see it played out before my eyes like some sort of soap opera each night on the news. I want images of national leaders in black suits and red ties pounding at mahogany desks as they send a thousand soldiers to their deaths without blinking, I want fighter jets strafing airfields, I want POW tortured, I want pepper red explosions to burst forth as if hell itself has shown its unbridled fury to the world, I want missiles launched into the night sky miles from those who will soon be lying torn and broken in the scorched rubble of their shattered home. I want to see a war.

George? Is that you George?

No wait, it's Tony isn't it?

Tony?

Tony?

aidan24326 · 05-09-2008 06:52PM

robby^5 wrote: »

In all fairness, it is true we are entertained by the war coverage by the media, remember when iraq began? I think I stayed up all night watching missles blow up building all around baghdad when it began...

People are only entertained because what they're shown on Sky News and Fox and the BBC gives only a very selective snapshot of what's actually going on. At times it can be sickeningly jingoistic. We're not shown much of the real horrors, it's all nicely packaged to suit the agenda. If people were shown what was really happening their attitudes might be different, and it would be more difficult for a government to drum up support for war among the masses.

Silenceisbliss wrote: »

simplesam has become serioussam......:eek:

fact is sam, it happens ALL the time. with a big world war, somebody will stand up for these people with force. war is as natural as anything else. you just have to get past moral issues first to see the benefits

The benefits to who? Hardly to the people losing limbs and heads. Would you be prepared to see your own family blown to pieces to bring about these benefits you speak of?

Silenceisbliss wrote: »

so death in a war only seems exceptionally bad because its circumstantial

No. It's murder plain and simple. The US can talk about 'collateral damage' all they like but the fact remains that when they drop a cluster bomb knowing they will kill x number of civilians in the process that's murder. You can dress it up any way you like after that.

war is natural, like it or not. its the basis of society, its part of culture, part of our world that has been here since the very beginning. greed is natural. violence is natural. 2+2=4

you may not agree with war, many people dont. but like it or not, its always been and always will be

Not necessarily. Some things that were commonplace in the past are totally unacceptable now in any civilised country.

'Ol Jack Chance · 05-09-2008 07:23PM

as Robert E. Lee once said:

"it is well that war is so terrible, else we may grow accustomed to it"

I say if it wasnt good 1000 years ago, 100 years ago or even 10 years ago war is never gonna be good.

question is when will we learn...

also wont someone think of the children:pac:

Insect Overlord · 05-09-2008 07:49PM

thelordofcheese wrote: »

Just rent a damn war film, you troll.

+1000000

OP, you think watching the physical brutality of war is entertaining? Try reading some of Wilfred Owen's work. Oh, and get a life while doing so.

Agent Smith · 05-09-2008 07:53PM

**** it....

Lets Invade wales.

Manic Moran · 08-09-2008 08:53AM

There is nothing natural about war, thats why soldiers need to be specially trained to kill people. One of the biggest problem facing generals in world war one was that many soldiers literally refused to shoot. It goes completely against the grain to kill your own species, except in certain circumstances.

I believe you're referring to the SLA Marshall study on WWII, which has since been discredited. However, he may still have been right in certain principles, even if his method is unsupportable.

I submit that people have been killing other people without any special training for centuries. Unless you are going to contend that the various murder cases in the courts today are because of criminals who are receiving some specialised training to overcome their natural reluctance to kill, I think the murder rates rather put a hole in that argument.

It is more accurate, I think, to say that we are formed by our society and upbringing. "Good" people, the vast majority of us, are brought up to believe that killing is bad. It's not a genetic thing, it's a societal thing. As a result, we need to overcome nearly twenty years of such upbringing before we can get a soldier to reliably pull the trigger. But unless you count the development of society as natural, I don't think you can call killing 'un-natural' in the strict meaning of the word.

At any rate, the definitive work on the subject is "On Killing" by Grossman. I think he's a little off-base on some of his conclusions, but the basic precepts he outlines on how to get someone to kill who wouldn't otherwise be inclined to do so (and the effects on them afterwards) are, I think, beyond reproach.

NTM

Trev M · 08-09-2008 12:42PM

The wrongness off war cannot be over estimated , tell a friend.

I remember hearing a story about a lad who watched the beheadings a while back on the net and he got totally freaked out and depressed in a serious requiring medication type way.

The reality of our capacity as humans to commit whacked out stuff is alarming when you confront it or witness it. This **** is real, its disgusting and disturbing. Having a casual attitude to war is possibly an example of how aneaseathised people have become, how dull and brainless we are, imagine the horror visited on your loved ones or whatever, you'd be traumatised to say the least. Im all for defending yourself your country against an agreessor but given a choice Id rather it wasnt neccessary. Unfortunately as someone has pointed out war seems to be in the natural order of things.

We are a generation of overfed consuming self indulgent self important brats who have never had to experience hardship or horror, we dont know how lucky we are. Personally I think the original post is repulsive when ya actually think about it, maybe its internet irony ?? I dunno Im **** at the internet:p. Whatever your views on the wars fought or are being fought the Americans and Brittish are doing it with their own young men, sitting on the side line watching it as entertainment here in Ireland is pretty horrible.

Ok I'l stop know ,...thats was a lot of waffle better go do some work:(

Who wants a war?

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