NOTE: The Moderate Voice from time to time runs special Guest Voice columns written by writers or readers who do not normally contribute to this site. Guest Voice columns reflect the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of The Moderate Voice. The following is by veteran journalist Mark Monday who, like TMV himself, worked for the San Diego Union-Tribune company for many years.
Silence of War
By Mark Monday
Do you hear the sounds of war? Our nation is at war, I am told, yet I strain to hear the sounds that are not there.
On CNN, Fox or other networks I will hear the pop of gunfire or the shattering rumbles of bombs. Those are the sounds of combat, but those are not the sounds of war. War’s sounds reach beyond the eardrum; they touch the soul. They come in many forms and travel on many wavelengths.
Where, for example, is the music of war, the shared sounds that keep a people fighting?
Over There, The White Cliffs of Dover and tens of tunes that resonate even today buoyed Americans when war – and our troops – spread across the world. Coming In On A Wing And A Prayer told the story of hope, and the danger of loss. White Christmas summed up a past that never existed for many, but promised a future “after we get through ‘over here’.�
War songs and music do not need to originate on our side – the music of war seems universal and can be adapted and adopted. Lili Marlene was adopted – language and all – by us. Our countrymen turned Yankee Doodle, a British put-down of the American revolutionists, into a hymn of victory. Even in America-the-divided, we have had our songs of war – The Battle Hymn of the Republic and Dixie both have a place in America’s songbook. Vietnam had its music too – Ballad of the Green Berets, Okie From Muskogee and – on the other side – Universal Soldier and Where Have All The Flowers Gone? We have always gone to war with a song in our hearts and lyrics on our lips.
But where are there any songs of the “War on Terrorism?�
God Bless America was retreaded for use in the short days and long nights after 9/11. Even that hymn fell out of style – perhaps because no Kate Smith emerged to project the strength and conviction that that songstress packed into every word.
No, there is no music to bind Americans together. The sound of war cannot be played on the radio or compact disc. Nor are there words that touch us.
Ours is a generation that — supposedly — only responds to sound bites. Yet where can you hear the sound of slick slogans like “Remember the Maine!â€?? “Remember Pearl Harbor!â€? kept Americans fighting through more than 3 ½ years of war to victory. When was the last time anyone said “Remember the Pentagon,â€? “Remember the World Trade Centerâ€? or “Remember the Cole?â€? Now you even wonder how many people remember what the U.S S. Cole incident was.
“Making the World Safe for Democracy� was slogan that energized a generation. Today people say in a scared voice, “I want them to make the world safe for me.� That is their whispered hope, a plea, but hardly a memorable slogan.
Americans have been told, for years now, that we are at war. But where are those sounds of that war? Where can you hear the stentorian oratory of “four score and seven years ago� or “a day that will live in infamy.�
“Dead or alive� and “Bring ‘em on� are not quotes to challenge the Gettysburg Address. “Let’s roll,� not an original comment by any means, came as close to a slogan of this war as any. But the man who uttered that fearless phrase had a clear idea in mind. He knew where he was going and what he was going to do. Moreover he, and those with him, knew what price they would likely pay.
In the years since he uttered those brave words, no leader has revealed the same clear plan, the same understanding of the danger, the same knowledge of the probable cost or end-game. Somewhere in the bowels of the Pentagon there is a highly classified 30-year plan for conducting this putative “war� on terrorism. But our leaders are not going to tell us – their followers – where we are going, what we are going to do, whether we are on schedule or what it will cost in treasure and blood. No, we hear no concrete plans. There is a silence as deep as the grave from our leaders.
Still, I keep listening for the sounds of war.
I do not even hear the sonorous echoes of Taps. Nor do I hear the proudly-sad shuffle of military pallbearers, nor the ear-shattering, heart-rending sound of a rifle salute to the dead. I cannot hear the sobs of the families of our war dead, nor the whimpers of their children. Americans cannot utter sincere — though totally inadequate — words of condolence, for we are denied participation in those sadly heroic homecomings – by order of the President.
America is left with the sanitized, homogenized and pasteurized electronic televised imitation of the sounds of war – the crack of gunshots that are as common on the streets of Los Angeles and Baltimore as they are in the alleyways of Baghdad.
Yet those are the sounds of crime and criminals. Those are not the sounds of war.
© Mark Monday; Scottsdale, Ariz.; 2005
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.