Watched Dunkirk last night. It was a pretty good movie. It is not my kind of movie, because it's not pure entertainment. It depicts a side of human nature that I do not want to think about, yet cannot deny it to be true.
Through the movie, all I kept thinking was, why war. Why? Most wars have no reason to be in my opinion. But maybe I'm just naive. The despair of those people, the flesh that is nothing more than flesh, the state of shock that war puts people in. For the people fighting in the front lines, how much nerve must they have? Saving the comrades is a noble feeling, but saving yourself is also a valid point. What is wrong and what is right is blurred at the limits of human condition. Kill or to be killed, it is valid as for your enemies as for your allies. Can you really blame someone for wanting to survive? Don't we all?
The sacrifices the war demands, the conflict of feelings and emotions of those involved. It was an emotional ride, a look inside a place I never want to be. I never want to have to be confronted with two difficult choices, in which one makes sense, but is wrong, and one is self destructive but usually regarded as right? I am so glad I currently don't have to deal with that sort of life death sentence. But, I need to be reminded of such. I need to be reminded that I live in peace because of the sacrifices of those who came before me. We all need to be reminded that the place we live in, we owe it to those who came before us, good or bad.
This movie depicted the hardships of those who were in the end, the winners of that war. and yet along the way, we needed a reminder that the road to winning was not easy. It led me into thinking about the ones who lost. History is told from the winning side, because only the winning side survives to tell a story. The thing is, there is always another side of the story. What about the losing side? The soldiers on the losing side? Wasn't their despair the same or worse? We depict them as villains and often write them off as such, but black is not always black. Those fighting the losing war have their own reasons for fighting. I for one, would like to see a story told from the losing side.
History, at retrospective gives us a different angle, a different perspective. We need to be constantly reminded of the past, of our mistakes as humanity. And it doesn't just happen because our leaders made bad choices, it happens because we put our leaders where they are and they make bad choices that we consent to. Human nature pushes over and over again towards this end. We've learned a lot, a friend of mine tries to placate my angry rant. Yes, we've learned, but there is also this saying that a leopard can't change its spots. I want to deny it with all my being, but I can't help but concede that it is true. We are egocentric, selfish and self-absorbed animals, and worse than animal nature, we are greedy. They say greed is what made the best of human creations. I disagree. How about ambition?
I know the difference may not be much, but to me it still is different. It's good to be ambitious, right? To reach beyond, but to be greedy to the point of stepping on other people's way, I don't call that ambition. I'm not saying there aren't selfless people, but in general when it comes down to the bottom of it, we are still greedy bastards. That is even worse than animal.
The ancient mesopotamia region has never known much time without a war. According to history studies and tales, it was a place of beauty and plenty of resources. In an animal world, there would be peaceful cohabiting, but in the human world, war kept raging in that place. Why? The answer shouldn't be hard.
I wonder if we as humanity crave peace. I have to say, in my wild dreams, I dream of fighting a war, being a hero soldier in a war beyond frontiers for the survival of humanity. But the thing is, it is something that I want to stay there, in dreams only. Even if it was for the survival of humanity I wonder if one day it came to day it is possible without war. Without violence. The thing is, is not easy to abstract oneself from violence and wars when the media just loves it. Don't we all love game of thrones? What is it other than a bloody depiction of war? Say, Transformers, Star wars, Suicide Squad, Marvel movies, they may be science fiction but they also depict war. Even Star trek which is supposed to be explore not intervention, the movie is still full of war depictions. Plenty of action movies with depictions of war. Say it your face enough times and it becomes norm. How can you expect to crave peace when we depict our heroes in the face of war? It makes one question if there can be other kind of heroes other than the ones fighting a war?
Now not just war, but television and cinema picturing a violent conflict. I have to admit they are my favorite kind, but not because of what they mean, but because I don't have to think while watching, it's pure entertainment. But it should not be. I grew up with this being a form of entertainment, when it should shock me to no end. We give almost no regard to those who die in the story to built the hero that the main characters are. But it is something to think about isn't it? Just because it was not an important character that was sacrificed, doesn't mean it wasn't there. We tell a story from the angle we want, of course. But what is left out also should speak tons. Shouldn't our heroes be the ones who turn away from violent conflict and seek peace and not who turn to war? The win the war, there has to be a loser. How about compromise? How about truce?
We depict our villains as bad by nature, but the truth is, villains are not bad by nature, they also have their motives, we just don't give them thought and write them off as villains. There should be something to be said about that.
I'm done ranting. Think, don't think whatever. We still have a long way to go.
