NCJ Number
219304
Journal
Security Journal Volume: 20 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2007 Pages: 146-157
Date Published
July 2007
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article analyzes perceptions of how barbaric an act or episode of warfare may be and the perception relying largely upon one’s ability to frame this act within an appropriate cultural context and instill it with meaning.
Abstract
The barbarization of warfare is a symptom not a cause. The perception of warfare as barbaric points to the growing disconnect between social elites and those who have to carry out their actions or live with their consequences. The solution to this is to challenge war itself which requires an examination and critique of society. In any objective sense of the word, war is always barbaric. However, while war is objectively barbaric, our subjective sense of how barbaric it is, is inevitably mediated and interpreted through the prism of our understanding as to the purpose and meaning of particular conflicts or events. When aims and objectives are clear, societies permit and tolerate the most remarkable acts of barbarism with little doubt or regret, such as the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan. At the time, these acts were tolerated by political leaders and their citizens. There was a greater sense of clarity and support as to the purpose of the bombing. The key to understanding the perception of how barbaric a particular act or episode might be, relies in large part upon the ability to frame this, or not, within an appropriate cultural context and instill it with meaning. This situates events socially, and helps act as an explanation as to why what was done, was done. References