On the Romanticism of War [for 9 July]

Although I hardly think anyone would venture to deem war “glamorous,” I found myself rather surprised at the portrayal of certain factions in support of war in Eric Leed’s article, “The Escape From Modernity.” The majority of the people he focuses on are youth, but he does point out that other groups, such as Jews, Marxists, and intellectuals in general, were dissatisfied with the bourgeois society they were forced to operate within.

The general consensus from these people in support of war seems to be that war will bring about the destruction of an economic order, that it will end materialism and open the door for a direct and authentic brand of experience. The introduction of modernity has rendered society an unnatural, alienated, and immoral place. War represents a means for escaping these things.

The sheer frustration that would bring about such hopes is understandable, but in my opinion, wholly unrealistic. At one point in the article there is the mention of war representing a “second world” (67). As rife with suffering and frequently boring as this life can be, it is still reality. Reality can be reshaped over time for the better, but an escape into war is not necessarily the best answer that would initially come to my mind. War might harken back to those notions of the pastoral and simple ways of life, but in reality it is destructive, and perpetual violence and destruction is impossible; it has to end somewhere, and then one is still left with a pile of debris that has to be reshaped into some semblance of life once again.

Thus war cannot offer a definite escape in and of itself. Putting aside the whole “second world” notion, it does remain that sometimes war can be a workable option that might in fact be the best option depending on the circumstances. Even if war is entered in the best interest of society and people, I still don’t understand some of what I consider to be delusions on the part of the youth that seem so idealistic. I would associate war with destruction and the economic order, flawed as it may have been, with productivity. It seems counterintuitive to me that war is preferable. Class division and simultaneous alienation and confinement may have sprung from modern society, and these things may not be the most appealing, but I don’t see how so many people could see war as the best bet at liberation from this. It seems to me that the same problems would crop up again eventually; war may erase all signs of symptoms in its capacity for annihilation, but the root of the problem is still there and will continue to creep up as societies evolve. I think I may be rambling now, but in short, in reading this article I found the attitudes toward war to be romantic and idealized, and not very close to the reality of it.