{"id":3891,"date":"2012-07-16T20:51:39","date_gmt":"2012-07-17T00:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=3891"},"modified":"2012-07-16T20:51:39","modified_gmt":"2012-07-17T00:51:39","slug":"what-can-you-do-in-the-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/what-can-you-do-in-the-war.html","title":{"rendered":"What Can You Do in the War?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Given the way our discussion of pacifism<\/a> has meandered over to a debate about martyrdom<\/a>, what you want to \u201caccomplish\u201d with your death<\/a> (and whether that\u2019s a coherent question), I\u2019d like to recommend something for your summer reading list: Drew Gilpin Faust\u2019s This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0It\u2019s a fabulous book. \u00a0It doesn\u2019t presuppose that you\u2019re a Civil War buff, so casual readers have no barrier to entry, and it delves into a strange, tightly-circumscribed \u00a0topic, so even people who already know a lot will probably still find new data and analysis.<\/p>\n

I struggled a little with my choice of adjective above, since death isn\u2019t really a strange subject; it\u2019s the one we\u2019re all guaranteed to encounter. \u00a0But our experience with it is almost always as something\u00a0unnatural<\/em>. \u00a0Gilpin Faust ends up focusing a lot on how nurses and chaplains ended up scripting a good death for their charges. \u00a0Because soldiers were dying en masse far from home, letters describing their deathbed scenes ended up mapping out what the cultural expectations were for a successful death. \u00a0Go put a hold on the book at your local library.<\/p>\n

One topic from a later chapter is more directly\u00a0relevant\u00a0to where we started: the ethics of being a soldier. \u00a0According the Gilpin Faust\u2019s sources, the Civil War was the first American war to rely heavily on sharpshooters and snipers, and people struggled to fit their actions into the killing-but-not-murder paradigm:<\/p>\n

To shoot a man as he defecated, or slept, or sat cooking or eating, or even as he was \u201csitting under a tree reading Dickens,\u201d could not easily be rationalized as an act of self defense. \u00a0Soldiers in camp wanted to think of themselves off duty as targets as well as killers, and they found the intentionality and personalism involved in picking out and picking off a single man highly disturbing. \u00a0Union sharpshooting units customarily wore green uniforms to serve a camoflage and Confederates came to refer to these marksmen as \u201csnakes in the grass.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cool calculation, the purposefulness, and the\u00a0asymmetry\u00a0of risk \u00a0involved in sharpshooting rendered it even more threatening to basic principles of humanity than the frenzied excesses of heated battle. \u00a0When twelve soldiers from a regiment of Union sharpshooters were taken prisoner in Virginia in 1864, a local Petersburg newspaper argued for their execution: \u201cin our estimation they are nothing but murderers creeping up & shooting men in cold blood & should\u00a0receive\u00a0the fate of murderers.\u201d \u00a0After \u00a0enduring twenty-four days of steady and debilitating sniper fire between Union and Confederate troops near Port Hudson, Louisiana, John De Forest confessed \u201cI could never bring myself to what seemed like taking human life in pure gayety.\u201d \u00a0Men who had displayed great courage in battle had broken down \u201cunder the monotonous worry\u201d generated by sniper fire. \u00a0De Forest judged it a \u201csickening, murderous, unnatural, uncivilized way of being.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0Men who could kill others in this way were not men as De Forest before the war had understood them to be; they violated his assumptions about both human nature and human civilization; he believed they undermined what defined their human selves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I didn\u2019t expect the text to be such a perfect echo of the debate over drone warfare today. \u00a0But what\u2019s really jarring is that it\u2019s not an echo of debates over sniping and general long-range killing. \u00a0In the hundred fifty years since the Civil War, what struck soldiers as inhuman has become part of our baseline expectations for war. \u00a0It\u2019s a ratchet effect.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to be writing more about drone warfare and how much distance it places between us and our actions later this week, but, in the mean time, I\u2019d really like to hear from you guys on what heuristic<\/em>\u00a0you would use to decide that a certain way of killing people is unacceptable. \u00a0I\u2019ll assume we all agree you should minimize the suffering of your victim, \u00a0but is there anything besides that and efficacy that you need to keep in mind?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Given the way our discussion of pacifism has meandered over to a debate about martyrdom, what you want to \u201caccomplish\u201d with your death (and whether that\u2019s a coherent question), I\u2019d like to recommend something for your summer reading list: Drew Gilpin Faust\u2019s This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War. \u00a0It\u2019s a fabulous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,8],"tags":[184,181,43],"class_list":["post-3891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-morality-in-practice","category-reviewsrecommendations","tag-just-war","tag-offering-resistance","tag-sin-eatersdirty-hands"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Can You Do in the War?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Given the way our discussion of pacifism has meandered over to a debate about martyrdom, what you want to "accomplish" with your death (and whether that's\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/what-can-you-do-in-the-war.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Can You Do in the War?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Given the way our discussion of pacifism has meandered over to a debate about martyrdom, what you want to "accomplish" with your death (and whether that's\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/what-can-you-do-in-the-war.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Unequally Yoked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-17T00:51:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/files\/2012\/07\/this-republic-of-suffering.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/what-can-you-do-in-the-war.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/what-can-you-do-in-the-war.html\",\"name\":\"What Can You Do in the War?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-17T00:51:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-07-17T00:51:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\"},\"description\":\"Given the way our discussion of pacifism has meandered over to a debate about martyrdom, what you want to \\\"accomplish\\\" with your death (and whether that's\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/what-can-you-do-in-the-war.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/what-can-you-do-in-the-war.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/what-can-you-do-in-the-war.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Can You Do in the War?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/\",\"name\":\"Unequally Yoked\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\",\"name\":\"Leah Libresco\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Leah Libresco\"},\"description\":\"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. Her further writing can be found at leahlibresco.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/author\/leahlibresco\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Can You Do in the War?","description":"Given the way our discussion of pacifism has meandered over to a debate about martyrdom, what you want to \"accomplish\" with your death (and whether that's","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/what-can-you-do-in-the-war.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Can You Do in the War?","og_description":"Given the way our discussion of pacifism has meandered over to a debate about martyrdom, what you want to \"accomplish\" with your death (and whether that's","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/what-can-you-do-in-the-war.html","og_site_name":"Unequally Yoked","article_published_time":"2012-07-17T00:51:39+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/files\/2012\/07\/this-republic-of-suffering.jpg"}],"author":"Leah Libresco","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Leah Libresco","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/what-can-you-do-in-the-war.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/what-can-you-do-in-the-war.html","name":"What Can You Do in the War?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-07-17T00:51:39+00:00","dateModified":"2012-07-17T00:51:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464"},"description":"Given the way our discussion of pacifism has meandered over to a debate about martyrdom, what you want to \"accomplish\" with your death (and whether that's","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/what-can-you-do-in-the-war.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/what-can-you-do-in-the-war.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/what-can-you-do-in-the-war.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Can You Do in the War?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/","name":"Unequally Yoked","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464","name":"Leah Libresco","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Leah Libresco"},"description":"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. Her further writing can be found at leahlibresco.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/author\/leahlibresco"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3891\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}