Remembering Memorial Day

Robin Hanson asks:

[W]warriors, dead and otherwise, deserve some honor, but to me this seems all out of proportion. Not only do we overemphasize warriors of dramatic battles we won (e.g., not WWI trench doughboys), but surely many others deserve honor. How about warriors who died on other sides, or in other wars? How about civilians who died or sacrificed in wars? How about those who prevented wars?

And surely war should not be the main source of honor in our world! How about holidays to honor those who died for or sacrificed for or at least benefited the rest of us in other ways? For example, why not a day to honor volunteers? Or a day to honor all explorers, including intellectual, artistic, and business explorers? Why focus so much on our winning dead warriors?

Some good questions. Here would be my answers:

1) Cost. The first thing I would point out is that the soldiers remembered on Memorial Day are those who paid for the wars they fought in with their lives. As worthwhile as the sacrifices are of many volunteers and explorers are, a relative few paid for their endeavors with their lives. Those who did tend to be revered more than those who did not. I think soldiers are remembered more than civilians because there is the perception that they chose to put themselves in harms way. While this is not always true (such as for enlistees), it is more likely to be true for a soldier than for a civilian. (This also explains why the fire department during 9/11 is held in particular honor -- they chose to run into the building.) It is particularly likely to be true of soldiers who received military honors.

2) Victory. People certainly view themselves not only as individuals, but also as part of larger groups ranging from families to tribes to schools to nations. When our nation does something good (or bad) most citizens tend to feel some association with it. (I'm not arguing if people should or shouldn't feel this way -- just observing that they do.) When our college team wins a game we feel a certain pride in our school. The same is true for wars our countries fight. (Most Japanese I know feel shame about Japan's history during World War II despite that fact than none of them were alive at the time. Many Germans still seem to feel guilt and many Americans feel deep pride about the same war.)

3) Connection. I think wars closer in history tend to get more attention than those farther away. Vietnam is still in the minds of many people as is World War II. World War I is less so. The Civil War gets more more attention than the American Revolution. People have greater connection to the more recent past. I know for a fact I have a great-great grandfather who fought in the Civil War. (He used to tell my grandma stories about being in the war that she later told to me.) I am pretty sure I had a forefather who also fought in the Revolution, but haven't been able to verify it 100%. People who lost loved ones (either family or friends) still grieve their loss. People are much less prone to remember the soldiers of other countries because they do not have as close of a connection to them. With the exception of the Civil War, enemies are not usually honored because they tend to be remembered as part of the reason why American soldiers had to die. Having said this, I would also say one of the things that makes America special is how well we tend to get along with former enemies. (Think Japan, Germany, (increasingly) Vietnam, etc.) Contrast that with other regions of the world with centuries-old conflict.

4) Impact. The wars that led to the most dramatic outcomes tend to get much more attention than wars that do not. World War II changed the balance of power in the world dramatically into America's favor.

5) Clarity. Wars that have a clear purpose and/or a clear "good guy" and "bad guy" tend to get remembered with more intensity than those that did not. The American Revolution and World War II both had a clear purpose (the founding of a new nation and the total defeat of Germany, Japan, and Italy). World War II was probably unique in terms of how clearly people felt their enemy was truly bad. The Civil War also had clear goals (preservation of the Union vs. Southern succession), but less clarity about who was good and who was bad and is remembered as a truly tragic time for the nation. World War I, Vietnam, and other wars had much less defined goals.

6) Collective. A broad-based national war (such as World War II) is the one of the few times when the objectives of a large majority of a nation's population become strongly aligned. Hayek pointed this out in The Road to Serfdom, warning that the same conditions would not hold during peacetime. This alignment also serves to imprint the war on people's minds and give them identification of both real and perceived contribution to the war's efforts. If victory occurs, people feel connected to it and remember it more strongly.

7) Isolation. America has also been blessed with relative geographic isolation from the rest of the world, protecting her civilians from any wars being fought on her soil for nearly 150 years. American servicemen and women killed in conflict far outnumber American civilian casualties by a very wide margin, putting more focus on military deaths.

All of these effects carry over into the stories we tell ourselves about our nation and the world. They become part of the culture, recorded in our history books, and shape how we view our nation, our identities, and our place in the world. While these stories may be imperfect, they are by no means fully flawed. As human beings we use stories to help shape meaning and understanding about our world. Soldiers throughout history have played a large role in the events that shape these stories and are honored accordingly. Remembering them connects us to our past which connects us to our stories.

To paraphrase a quote from Noel Piper I had in an earlier post, despite many imperfections in America's history, government, and military, we have much to be thankful for.

Read my thoughts from last year's Memorial Day here.