JOLLY DAYS

The War

This NYT review of Ken Burns' PBS epic The War says that Burns' sentimentality obfuscates the story of the greater issues of World War II.

By selectively telling history from below, by highlighting emotion and sketching everything else, Mr. Burns privatizes war. He takes one of the most necessary wars ever fought and leaves viewers wondering whether any public goal can be worth its price…Mr. Burns has suggested that his views of today’s American warfare affected his portrayal of the Second World War. Here too, though, he is letting feelings eclipse history.

“I'm against war” is so easy to say but leaves out so much. “I'm a pacifist” often reveals a speaker checking to see if his or her admirable character is being fully appreciated. Such statements are often a narcissist's assertion of self-goodness without regard to the serious conflict of values that leads to the tragedy of war. By ignoring those larger causes the likelihood of war is increased, the value of what is being fought for callously ignored.