What We Talk About When We Talk About War by Noah Richler
Written in Summer Term 2024 for Military in the Modern World - 3112 taught by Peter Denton
What We Talk About When We Talk About War by Noah Richler was a very interesting book which questions our collective perception of war, the Canadian military and how we choose to define the military in relation to Canadians generally. Richler’s focus on how war is portrayed in the media and how it affects our collective memory of war offers an interesting reinterpretation of events like remembrance day and the memorials we have to fallen soldiers from past wars.
Chapter three revolved in large part around the idea of battling enemies united not by nationality under a flag rather they are bound to one another under a collection of beliefs, ideas. These battles against ideas and massive collections of individuals creates an impossible to define enemy which also makes the portrayal of our military as the great victors over a violent conquering force a difficult one to narrate. It was very interesting to explore with Richler the importance of narrative when a nation is involved in a war. If citizens do not feel their tax-dollars should be invested in another nation’s wars there is need for a narrative that the War on Terror will surely rescue people from themselves on the other side of the world. Without a solid narrative presented by the government Canadians will only see the statistics of soldiers wounded and killed in a war they cannot understand.
All told Richler’s book was informative and interesting. The way he articulates the final chapter creates a narrative that we ought to be much more cautious than we are being when it comes to war. He refers to the great strength of memory which has allowed us to develop and evolve as a global species. He contrasts this with the great human desire to forget: to forget the atrocities which came from the last wars fought with endless rotations of young men lost to these many wars and the lasting damage each war has wrought.
His book left me with a feeling that Canada’s government has, for a long while, been unaware of whether or not we are a nation of peacekeeping or of great fighters, willing to give their lives for the nation. The tragedies of war are forgotten, Richler says, and the nation is left unsure of how we ought to align ourselves with the concept of war. How should we properly remember Afghanistan, or the draft which sent thousands overseas at the turn of the 20th century?
What stories we tell ourselves about war creates a narrative of who we are as Canadians. When we remember the great sacrifices of the Great War we create an image of sacrifice, endless pain and sacrifice. It creates a mentality of bravery when the reality is it should evoke more than that, one of a generation of young men wiped out before they had a chance to change the new nation called Canada. We have decided to use the loss of these many thousands as a moment of patriotic reflection of their Great and noble sacrifice, but it is impossible to consider these deaths without wondering the impact these men could have had back home.