Questioning Our Humanity

On Friday March 15th, 2015 Pete Dolack wrote an article for CounterPunch magazine titled “The Cost of War: The Art of Becoming Human”. Dolack comments on traumas experienced by veterans, how the U.S. government’s disinterest in them once they return home, and the absurdity of the idea of patriotism as a whole.

The article is written for the common reader. It is easy to understand and written in simple English. It is broken down into three parts. An easy read for anyone willing to listen. Pete Dolack also runs a blog of his own, Systemic Disorder, and is an activist for several other groups.

In “The Cost of War: The Art of Becoming Human”, Dolack starts by informing the reader that 180,000 people enlist in the military each year, and that 22 veterans commit suicide per day. He comments on the fact that the U.S. government is eager to recruit, but easily forgets the soldiers once they return home. While the government might not provide much assistance for mentally and or physically disabled veterans, thankfully there are programs to help. For example, The Combat Paper Project helps veterans communicate and heal their philological injuries through the form of art. This project, “converts veteran’s uniforms into paper, which is then used as a canvas for art works focusing on their military experiences”. These images point out the, “not so immediately obvious”, injuries sustained by many veterans.

Dolack also points out many of the absurdities of the war and our nations patriotism. Kelly Dougherty, a veteran who served as a medic and in the military police, is quoted here saying, “‘I was angry and frustrated and couldn’t relate to my fellow veterans who voiced with pride their feelings that they were defending freedom and democracy…I also could not relate to civilians who would label me a hero…when I returned home from Iraq ten years ago, some of my most vivid memories were of watching the raw grief of a family finding that their young son had been run over and killed by a military convoy’”. Dolack questions our humanity as a nation when, “countries that are invaded are reduced to rubble and suffer casualties in the millions, and we cheer it on like a video game”.

I agree with the point the author is making. After reading that the United States military spends trillions of dollars a year, more than every other country combined, that the invasion of Iraq was to create a clean slate government in order to exploit their oil resources, and that the U.S. funded and armed the Afghan militants who became the Taliban, al-Qaida, and the Islamic State, how can one not question our governments actions? Then again, this was never something I thought about. It was not until the idea of cheering for a B-52 bomber at a football game was questioned that I began to question other ideas as well. Dolack makes several valid arguments along with the sources to back them up. While what is true is rarely popular, one can only hope more people will begin to reexamine the everyday realities they have accepted without question.