Essay on War

War

Many things can be said about war, and there are many different view points. Sometimes it may seem as though war is the only option that one has to overcome suppressors, establish dominance or to solve dispute that can't be resolved with a diplomatic solution. Whatever the cause of war, the after effects are devastating to both sides. People die, economies suffer, and land gets destroyed as well as other facets of a society's infrastructure. How do we view war? Those who oppose it can become very creative in their protesting. One of the most memorable protests to war is a song called "War."

The song War was written in 1969 and released by Motown Records in 1970, and was performed by Edwin Starr. However, the song was actually written by Norman Whitfield and Barett Strong, and years later also performed by Bruce Springstein. The song had a powerful message with in the chorus itself, it says, "War, what is it good for, absolutely nothing." The song was to protest the Vietnam War, but the message reaches the argument of war in general. Many people died in that war, and Americans were at a split between war supporters and no supporters. The public for the most part didn't agree with the governments' choice to go to war and continue fighting for as long as they did.

The song means harmony of life, and the biggest thing that people notice during and after a war is the death count. Many loved ones never make it back to their families and it could even be over things that they don't agree with or even support. That doesn't equal harmony, which is why the song expresses that war is good for nothing.

I think that this tells us that people in society want and expect a change. They don't want to have their country at war and want to find more diplomatic solutions to disputes. They also want the right for their voice to be herd by our government and want their opinions to matter. We go to war and they just give us the reasons that they want us to believe, without telling us the complete story. It also tells us that our society believes in the constitution, the Bill of Rights, democracy, and a division of powers. Society is exercising it's right to freedom of speech, and that the government is for the people and by the people. We still have much faith in our system to not be so afraid that we don't try to change the things that we see as a problem to the future of our society.

I think that the song was incredibly effective in getting it's message across, because even children can understand what the song is trying to say, due to the clarity of the content. In most Vietnam movies, you can hear this song being played at some point and time. Not only was the song effective, but it more than likely influenced others to exercise their voice and freedom of speech to invoke change.