For me, one of the starkest messages to contextualise the Iraq War was the juxtaposition of two images in an Adbusters issue last year. They placed, side-by-side, two photos. One was of a couple of bikini-clad girls taking in funnels of beer at Spring Break, surrounded by a tanned, cheering crowd. The other was of a group of American soliders street-side in Iraq, suffering an attack from an unidentified bomber, dwarfed by a fiery explosion.
That juxtaposition led into an article which discussed the lack of impact the Iraq War has had on the civilian American population. In past wars the home population has suffered direct consequences of their Government’s actions, whether through compulsory military recruitment or economic hardship – the Adbusters article suggested that, without these consequences, the American population was less concerned about the choices their Government made. Some commentators have suggested it would take a military draft before the war was truly critiqued en masse.
I was reminded of those images while watching the video below. It’s an account of a College Republican Convention by a somewhat undercover liberal journalist that documents both their staunch bravado in speaking out in favour of the war, and yet at the same time an unwillingness to get involved themselves.
Generation Chickenhawk via Huffington Post, powered by Vimeo