now this is what I'd call protest

[Worbah]

Here's some background info for the story: Finlands independence day is the 6th of December, and every year the armed forces arranges parades around the country in order to honor the veterans of Winter War (took place in 1939, began when Russia bombarded [no longer allegedly, it's been proven and admitted in the last few years] one of it's one towns that was near the border to justify a war with Finland). Civilians come to watch these parades and they are televised. Right, on to the actual story.

During the independence day parade in a finnish town called Jyväskylä, the local war veterans gathered to watch the parade. Among them was a 89 year old man that had rarely taken part in any activity with the other veterans. They watched the parade, talked about the less-than-good old times, and suddenly the man rises up, says to the old lady next to him as tanks begin top pass them by, "things like these should never have been made". He then approaches a tank from a blind angle, and lies down on the street in front of them. needless to say, he was mangled beyond help.

What does this tell us about war?

This has shaken the nation, and the illusion of the winter war being being a heroic struggle that was played fair has been shattered with the publishing of photos that were previously censored. these pictures show what comes with actual warfare, executions, rape, cannibalism, forcing POWs to stamp minefields, etc. Many relatives of the soldiers who fhought during that time have spoken out demanding that these photos to be destroyd or locked in a vault, because they don't want their relatives to be seen doing "dishonourable things" such as stated above. What puzzles me is what is honourable about warfare? I've always thought that war was doing any dirty trick needed in order to win and survive.

[stingray]

What puzzles me is what is honourable about warfare? I've always thought that war was doing any dirty trick needed in order to win and survive.

When you are down in the trenches there is nothing honorable about warfare. If I had to guess I'd say it's a matter of marketing, making war attractive to the masses, a way to justify military action against an ennemy and getting people to sign up. I would place it on the same level as religion as far as mass manipulation is concerned.

Another example of image abuse are the airline pilots who are shown to be glamorous knights of the sky with their fancy white shirts and their golden trims and badges, but what are they really other than glorified bus or truck drivers? They haul people and goods around the globe? Where is the glory in that?

You don't see surgeons walk around hospitals like they were some knights in shining armor, do you?

It's a matter of perception too, people who aren't part of the profession and look at it from the outside have a different view and opinion about things they don't know.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing dishonorable about serving your country, but everything needs to placed into the right perspective, and a little truth goes a long way.

Every day you have soldiers dying in Iraq, where is the honor in that? Life is too precious to waste it like that, yet it's happening every single day.

That war veteran probably died in vain too. His death will add nothing to the equation. So the people are shocked, they'll get over it in time, business as usual. There'll be wars and there'll be people profiting from wars and people dying because of wars.

It's the sad truth.
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[AlphaMoose]

Sure took Russia a while to try and take you guys back.

[Evilpenguin]

Life is too precious to waste it like that, yet it's happening every single day.
the worlds population is over 6 billion with more being born every minute than dying
what the hell makes you think life is precious?
the biggest wars in the world hardly even put a dent in that, hell, after WWII the worlds population exploded in many places
like it or not, lives are little more than a nearly inextinguishable resource to be used and discarded

and as far as honor in war, there is as much honor in it as there is in anything else, really, take a good look at the world around you before you try to blame anything on something as trivial as a war
everything that happens during the bloodiest of wars happens on a smaller (or grander) scale every day in our cities and towns, but you don't see people marching in the streets protesting those now do you?

and to be honest, i think there is more honor in killing and being killed by bullet, bomb, and flame than there is in killing and being killed by starvation, drugs, and indifference

[Worbah]

Sure took Russia a while to try and take you guys back.

yeah, we basically asked for independence, and Russia had way too many other things to worry about. In the beginning of World War 2 they saw that if Germany invaded Finland, they'd have a whole lot of common border.

and as for war not being evil, what about the drain of resources that it brings? IIRC the war in Iraq costs US thousands every second. I think there's too much poverty in the world to allow something like that.

[stingray]

the worlds population is over 6 billion with more being born every minute than dying
what the hell makes you think life is precious?
the biggest wars in the world hardly even put a dent in that, hell, after WWII the worlds population exploded in many places
like it or not, lives are little more than a nearly inextinguishable resource to be used and discarded

On the universal scale, life is rare. Just because we are 6 billion people on this rock, doesn't make us a product that should be wasted. Like it or not, in this area of the galaxy, we are pretty much alone.

On the global scale, you are right, we are treated as expendable. We see examples of that every day. There are more people that die every day in traffic accidents and hunger or diseases than through war.

and as far as honor in war, there is as much honor in it as there is in anything else, really, take a good look at the world around you before you try to blame anything on something as trivial as a war
everything that happens during the bloodiest of wars happens on a smaller (or grander) scale every day in our cities and towns, but you don't see people marching in the streets protesting those now do you?

and to be honest, i think there is more honor in killing and being killed by bullet, bomb, and flame than there is in killing and being killed by starvation, drugs, and indifferenceHow do you measure honor? Is it measured in pounds of flesh? Is it more honorable to take a life than it is to save one?

War is trivial? Since the US has been waging wars abroad for quite some time now, I can imagine that a war can seem trivial to you when the bombs explode on a different soil than your own. Katrina was a good example of what war-like effects look like after it took place. It was not a pretty sight. I must confess, I didn't see anything trivial about that.

By the way, no punctuation symbols were harmed in the creation of this message.