And the mood of watching "The Pacific" is really worth recalling, because I can watch almost every episode with tears in my eyes.
The Americans who participated in World War II are known as the "greatest generation" because they were not defeated after the Great Depression, but instead went into battle and defeated the Axis powers who were doing bad things. But from a certain point of view, the greatest generation was lucky, at least it also experienced wars, and World War II was almost the most justifiable time in the United States in the past 100 years.
The First World War was the uneven distribution of spoils among the empires; the Korean War, although self-defense, had the meaning of the Cold War, and the final reconciliation was unclear; the Vietnam War was purely a product of the Cold War, and thousands of people died for no reason; although the first Gulf War was justified , but the strength is disparate; in Afghanistan, the division was famous at the beginning, but now it is procrastinating; in Iraq, it is pure evil.
The only way to fight World War II is to clearly know that the fascists who persecuted domestic people and invaded and slaughtered everywhere are evil. Even Russell, who was imprisoned in World War I for his pacifism, supported the United States in fighting World War II. Therefore, such a war is easier to do with the Homer verse quoted at the beginning of "The Pacific": Without a sign his sword the brave man draws, And asks no omen but his country's cause.
Although the war itself is great and just, this cliché of promoting patriotism and militarism is long outdated, and this is not the theme of "The Pacific". "The Pacific" is more about the destruction of human nature by war, and its realistic approach is impressive.
War is first and foremost the destruction of the body. Death and injury are the norm in themselves. In fact, not getting enough rest every day is already a serious problem. Then you will eat and sleep every day, and you may die randomly at any time. There are always unknown enemies on the opposite side who are thinking about how to kill you every day. The rear is also unreliable, either by accidental injury or by the bomb hitting the wrong place. So worried every day, not crazy.
Of course, those in power will not let ordinary people understand the harm that war does to soldiers. For example, George Carlin, a famous American talk show master, once said that those in power like to whitewash war. During the First World War, those who were scared by the war were directly called shell shock, that is, they were shocked by bombs. In World War II, the same problem was renamed battle fatigue, that is, they were tired from fighting. After the Vietnam War, it was directly renamed PTSD, Severe post-traumatic syndrome, in super-academic terms to keep you from knowing what the hell this is all about.
In "The Pacific", when Leckie enters a mental hospital, he finds groups of people destroyed by war. Later, even Gunny, a veteran who had experienced World War I, was frightened. After many American soldiers returned to the field after disarmament, they kept silent about their experiences since then. There are also many soldiers who have mental problems, and may even kill and set fire in serious cases.
And this is an American soldier, with six months of training before departure, daily canned food, and vacation. Compared with them, the Japanese soldiers are much more miserable, whether it is equipment or treatment. But compared with the Japanese soldiers, the Soviet Red Army and the Chinese soldiers were even worse. It was completely peasants who had to go into battle without training. Moreover, these strong men sometimes didn't even have weapons, so they were just targets. This kind of tragic existence is probably a hundred times more tragic than that of American soldiers. People are afraid to think about it and go crazy.
So perhaps the most powerful solution is something repeated over and over in "The Pacific," don't think about it, the more you think about it, the more insane you become. Why do people live, why do they die, why do they kill others, why do they get killed by others, these questions are completely unclear in the madness of war.
As Lord Tennyson said, these soldiers have great courage, Into the valley of Death, Rode the six hundred; however, they only know how to defend their homeland, the specific political and economic reasons, and the specific tactical strategies, they don't know either. , basically how people command, how they fight. This is of course necessary, but it is a source of tragedy in itself to be manipulated at will. For example, in Peilelu, they fought hard for 2 months, and thousands of brothers died. In the end, MacArthur did not use this island. Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die.
This is actually the destruction of people's souls by war. Although they do not know what they are doing, they face death and destruction every day, which inevitably brings out the most evil things in the human soul. Even if you know that the Japanese on the opposite side are actually defending their homeland and the country, they are faced with the fear of death every day and are physically tortured. Watching their comrades die one by one, it is inevitable that they will hate them to the core. So, even a gentleman like Sledge, there will be hatred and slaughter of the Japanese. Did the US Marines die, or did the 100,000 civilians in Nagasaki die? In war, people simply cannot think about such problems.
And that's what makes war absurd. Two groups of half-dead people who are equally frightened, suffer every day, want to kill every day and try to avoid being killed, but no one knows what they are doing. In this sense, "The Pacific" is nothing but a repeat of Eastwood's "Flag of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima." Those in power are playing a game of war chess, and it is all the common people who are really suffering.
The real horror of war is not only its destruction of human beings, but also that war will deprive everyone of their fraternity, rationality, and humanity, and bring out the ugliest nature of human beings such as murderous, discrimination, and hatred. So what we can do today is to remember the sacrifice of the greatest generation, Honor the charge they made, but try to avoid being exploited by those in power to cause the next war, refusing to be the 10,000 bones of ambition.
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