[lbo-talk] Memorial Day

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Mon May 28 15:32:58 PDT 2007


As Kenneth Burke argued 70 years ago photos like this should be considered pro-war propaganda.

But actually, the phrases "pro-war" and "anti-war" are misleading. Leaving aside the rather small number of really hard-nosed pacifists, no one is for or against war in general. They are for or against a particular war at a particular time. The photo supports the Iraq war because it will feed into what will increasingly become the main ideological support for "staying in Iraq for just a few more months" (which turn into years) until we have a few things sorted out -- that is, something like, "After all we have sacrificed we can't leave until order is established. It would make all those deaths meaningless." Etc etc.

Incidentally, I think there is only about a 20-25% support in the polls for IMMEDIATE withdrawal, and that is the anti-war sentiment that counts.

Carrol



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