It is clear that media such as books, movies, art, music, television and to a larger extent video games all depict war in a way that is digestible to the public, in my opinion no matter how "realistic" something is nothing can simulate the terror, stress and overall horrific conditions of war. My question to you all is as such: Does this media depict it correctly, or should it be depicted at all (like is it really ethical to do so)? P.S: I hit enter by accident when making the title for the thread.
Well when the media was aloud to back during Vetnam War people really got to see what war was like and that changed peoples opinion aganist the war so the US government made sure that would never happen again. So no the media doesn't depicted it correctly. Also nothing can show realisticly how war is. When I was younger and tried to talk to my Grandfather about World War II he would never say much about it and he said that" the people that bragged about fighting are the men that never saw any real heavy combat." The only way to know what its like is to be in it.
No, they depect it as too destructive. They make Afghanistan sound like a giant moshpit of factions firing upon eachother. And they make every war in existance sound like a complete and total bloodbath. Think of this 2nd Gulf War. You'd think Americans are dying by the bushel when really there's been 4,483 over like 8 years now.
How can any media group making a video game truely capture the horrors of war? And you are talking about Western media, yes? In the Chinese newspapers that I recieve, they are apt to show people crushed under cars with their brains spilling out for all those reading to see. The West just doesn't put it in. The West tends not to show as gory pictures of war these days as they used to. ****, they don't even show the bodies. Just the coffins. When that first pic came out in Times Magazine during the Second World War, the people were almost completely unprepared. Oh, and Kara and Vassilli both have interesting points.
yea sure if you just ignore the aproximately 500000 irakis that got killed as a result of the war, then i guess it is no blood bath. Also Afghanistan is a giant moshpit of factions firing on eauchother. But to the op. No media does not depict a the war wrongly it is just the case that the killing is way more distant then hundreds of years ago. I mean since the beginning of human conflicts most of the battles have ben fought on battlefields where the bloodbath was visible for everybody to see. Even up to world war one. But in the last decades the killing of the enemy largely takes place by pressing butons, on ships,planes or Helikopters. Firefights, if at all, take place over larger distances. So the ground forces do less killing by their own hands, and that is how the media protraits war. I mean we see Missiles getting fired from ships but we never see the moment of impact up close, maybe distant in a large fireball but that's it. And it is just not the same to kill a man with the sword or with the bajonet then to kill someone via pressing a button and seing it happen on a screen kilometers away. Also there where no real wars in the last few years. And with real i mean a large scale conflict like ww2, where tecnologicly equaly advanced nations where fighting. I am sure if Germany and France would go to town with eachother again the fighting would be equaly gruesome with large amounts of cassualties. But in this "intervention wars" where a super power can make "clean" strikes against enemys it is just not as bloody as otherwise. Also the ways how theese wars are fought are vastly different. For instances in ww2 the terror atacks on cities (from both parties) could be considered bloodbathes but such things thankfully don't happen anymore. So no media is not over or downplaying war,it is just the realities of modern warfare.
I think that the answer is yes, the news media does depict wars as "soft" Today. In previous years, most notabably in the American Civil War and the Vietnam War, the news media depicted the war in a very 'real' light, almost to the point where they forced certain shots to make them stand up the appropriate level of gore. Today is different: the government has realized that it needs to direct media coverage for the wars to remain popular.
In related news, holy fuck this guy is a badass: Master Sergeant (then Staff Sergeant) Roy P. Benavidez United States Army, who distinguished himself by a series of daring and extremely valorous actions on 2 May 1968 while assigned to Detachment B56, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, Republic of Vietnam. On the morning of 2 May 1968, a 12-man Special Forces Reconnaissance Team was inserted by helicopters in a dense jungle area west of Loc Ninh, Vietnam to gather intelligence information about confirmed large-scale enemy activity. This area was controlled and routinely patrolled by the North Vietnamese Army. After a short period of time on the ground, the team met heavy enemy resistance, and requested emergency extraction. Three helicopters attempted extraction, but were unable to land due to intense enemy small arms and anti-aircraft fire. Sergeant Benavidez was at the Forward Operating Base in Loc Ninh monitoring the operation by radio when these helicopters returned to off-load wounded crewmembers and to assess aircraft damage. Sergeant Benavidez voluntarily boarded a returning aircraft to assist in another extraction attempt. Realizing that all the team members were either dead or wounded and unable to move to the pickup zone, he directed the aircraft to a nearby clearing where he jumped from the hovering helicopter, and ran approximately 75 meters under withering small arms fire to the crippled team. Prior to reaching the team's position he was wounded in his right leg, face, and head. Despite these painful injuries, he took charge, repositioning the team members and directing their fire to facilitate the landing of an extraction aircraft, and the loading of wounded and dead team members. He then threw smoke canisters to direct the aircraft to the team's position. Despite his severe wounds and under intense enemy fire, he carried and dragged half of the wounded team members to the awaiting aircraft. He then provided protective fire by running alongside the aircraft as it moved to pick up the remaining team members. As the enemy's fire intensified, he hurried to recover the body and classified documents on the dead team leader. When he reached the leader's body, Sergeant Benavidez was severely wounded by small arms fire in the abdomen and grenade fragments in his back. At nearly the same moment, the aircraft pilot was mortally wounded, and his helicopter crashed. Although in extremely critical condition due to his multiple wounds, Sergeant Benavidez secured the classified documents and made his way back to the wreckage, where he aided the wounded out of the overturned aircraft, and gathered the stunned survivors into a defensive perimeter. Under increasing enemy automatic weapons and grenade fire, he moved around the perimeter distributing water and ammunition to his weary men, reinstilling in them a will to live and fight. Facing a buildup of enemy opposition with a beleaguered team, Sergeant Benavidez mustered his strength, began calling in tactical air strikes and directed the fire from supporting gunships to suppress the enemy's fire and so permit another extraction attempt. He was wounded again in his thigh by small arms fire while administering first aid to a wounded team member just before another extraction helicopter was able to land. His indomitable spirit kept him going as he began to ferry his comrades to the craft. On his second trip with the wounded, he was clubbed with additional wounds to his head and arms before killing his adversary. He then continued under devastating fire to carry the wounded to the helicopter. Upon reaching the aircraft, he spotted and killed two enemy soldiers who were rushing the craft from an angle that prevented the aircraft door gunner from firing upon them. With little strength remaining, he made one last trip to the perimeter to ensure that all classified material had been collected or destroyed, and to bring in the remaining wounded. Only then, in extremely serious condition from numerous wounds and loss of blood, did he allow himself to be pulled into the extraction aircraft. Sergeant Benavidez' gallant choice to join voluntarily his comrades who were in critical straits, to expose himself constantly to withering enemy fire, and his refusal to be stopped despite numerous severe wounds, saved the lives of at least eight men. His fearless personal leadership, tenacious devotion to duty, and extremely valorous actions in the face of overwhelming odds were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, and reflect the utmost credit on him and the United States Army.
Over inflated? Are you serious? This guy was a hero. This is not some made up propaganda. Nobody could have ever thought up of a story like this.
