War is a Meaning Forced Upon Us

Easy read, some good insights, too quick of an end: too pat. Love is all you need doesn't work after the prurient voyeurism of violence that makes up most of the book. It did make me go find my copy "War Music" and "All Day Permanent Red" by Chistopher Logue, so that was a good thing. The Illiad is still one of the best war books going. I loaned out my copy of Hedges so I am going to just give a few general comments. Hedges spends a large amount of time cataloging the horrors of the wars he has encountered, doing little to justify his conclusion, other than God I hope Love is the answer because hate sure is nasty. I liked the differentiation of Mythic and Sensory view of war and war reporting. His idea of Mythic reminds me of the "magic' idea of glamour: a dazzling that makes others believe what is really not there. I guess it is that desire to be a part of something bigger than yourself that attracts us to the "myth" of war, because no one really wants the reality of war in their part of the neighborhood. Blood is messy.