There have been many questions during the years whether the Soldiers of any war actually shot their weapons. If they actually killed the men that were just as them defending their country. The truth is that they did and didn't. Around 45,000 rounds of ammunition were fired to kill one enemy soldier during WWII. In the American Civil War, there were 27,000+ (loaded) muskets found and it was predicted that there would be less at 95% of the muskets empty. There seem to be a reluctance to actually shoot any human being. Many didn't even want to shoot over their heads. Battles when Soldiers were at a distance of 30 yards they should have had casualties of 480 if they shoot good, but in reality, they had very few. Such occasion like these was dealt with stimulations to desensitize the soldiers to killing.
Men Against Fire a book by S.L.A Marshall concluded that the restraint that the soldiers faced when it came to killing a human being comes from the civilization back at home. The thought of killing someone and being aggressive towards someone is unacceptable and illegal. This is so deep in the men's mind that it holds him back whether he knows it or not.
I believe that in today's society this is a very different story. Even as murder is illegal they still occur. I believe that it starts with the younger population and what they see growing up. Teen are exposed to violence from video games to violent movies to other aggressive teens. Now the thought of killing someone has been thought of less and feared both more and less. More because there is now more violence and even teens are going into school and shooting their classmates. As well as less because these events are occurring more frequently. I also believe that sometimes things don't make you any way, you are just the way that you are whether its good or bad but no one can change you in that way if you really aren't like that.
Killing instinct
I think that this is a very interesting point to bring up, as it is an often unmentioned psychological aspect of war. However, I also think that the violent murders that occur in today's society which you mention are far from anything new. In today's society, information is spread far more quickly through internet, which makes it far more easy for us to find lasting information on all of these events occurring among us. However, each individual one of these exaggerated pieces of news will certainly not be remembered as any historically significant aspect of 2018 in the future - they are only emphasized so much because this is the present.
ReplyDeleteWe as students can only perceive World War II as just another part of history. Even in this highly detailed class, we are really only scratching the surface of all of the minor details of that time period. We simply cannot know what it was like to live in the 1940s, and all the little news stories comparable to today's school shootings would be lost in time.
I'm not at all saying that the shootings you mention are insignificant. I just wanted to remark that the shootings of the present are far more immediate and thus significant to us than whatever events happened during World War II, so comparing out perceptions of current events and the state of the past is unfair, as current events will always seem more significant to us.
I myself do not really know the minor details so World War II, so you may be completely correct that murders are occurring more frequently now than in the past. If so, I would like to also see some evidence to support these assertions.