War

Tim Rice-Oxley said this about A Bad Dream: 
"A Bad Dream is the most emotional song on the record. It was based on a poem by W.B.Yeats, called 'An Irish Airman Foresees His Death', and I think it also came from visiting lots of battlefields and graveyards and so in France, which sounds very morbid, but that's the kind of thing I like to do on holiday! I've just always been really affected by... I guess still being a relatively young man, I still have a lot of empathy of people of my age and even younger, who are going off to war; and I guess the idea of going off to war has been in the air for the last couple of years, with Afghanistan and Iraq particular [sic]. Those seem like very distant things, but I think in Europe in particular the Second World War is still something that still looms quite largely in a lot of people's minds, and it certainly should. I'd also been reading a book called 'The New Confessions' by William Boyd, in where the protagonist of the book goes up in a hot air balloon to film the front line, and he gets shot down and captured. It just made me think a lot of people when they go off as young men, and when they come back - even if it's a couple of years later it's like they've become old, and all the things they left behind have changed. And it's something that you can never ever go back to being young again. And I guess it's just a very sad song."

What he said sums up the lyrics of the song fantastically. I find the line "Baby, I'm a man; I was born to hate" odd. But it's somewhat true. When a person is off to war, he (or she) is supposed to hate the enemy. But are men born to hate? It's such a cynical view, and I sincerely hope people don't believe this.

War isn't necessary, but I don't doubt for a minute that it will always exist as long as the human race is on earth.

 

"Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” 
- Hermann Goering (Despite his high ranking in the Nazi party, this quote possesses truth.)

“The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.” - General George S. Patton

“War is fear cloaked in courage.” - General William C. Westmoreland

 

 

(all photos via here)