Tag Archives: war

The crazy-making premise of Veterans Day

The recent Veterans Day got more media notice than usual as the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, its earlier form, created to commemorate the ending of World War One. That war was demoted to just another world war from the “Great War” when it turned out not to be the “war to end all wars.” […]

The brave aren’t necessarily heroes

The discussion of the meaning of the Confederate flag has called attention to the crucial distinction between bravery and heroism. Confederate soldiers were famously brave fighters; but it was bravery in the service of racism and slavery. If it was heroism, it was heroism to those who wanted to continue that racist slavery- based way […]

The Declining Reputation of War [op-ed CCT 13 November 2012]

Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day; it marked the end of what was known as the World War, when it was the only one, or the Great War. The verdict is in: the Great War wasn’t worth it. At least so you’d have to conclude from its treatment in popular culture. “Downton Abbey,” the […]

[op-ed] Resolving our Afghanistan contradiction

The Academy Award- nominated documentary “Restrepo” is on the frontline of our thinking about Afghanistan. There will be a showing of it on June 20 at 7:30 at WHAT theater as part of Wellfleet Library’s “One Book, One Community” series. I spent some time looking up reviews online and was surprised to discover that there […]