WAR & SOCIAL ENGINEERING

Are Collective Forms Of War Remembrance Nothing More than Top-Down Exercises In Social Engineering?



Are Collective Forms Of War Remembrance Nothing More than Top-Down Exercises In Social Engineering?

Introduction

People think that war commemorating is an upside down strategy of social engineering. Before we can answer this question we should have knowledge about the basics of War remembrance. As discussed by Ashplant et al, (2004), in last two decades the trend of war remembrance and commemoration has increased among the masses. People are paying tribute to the war survivors and showing their affection to war victims in various forms. Among these some are making of such documentaries which focus on the victims of war and on the people who were part of those wars. In addition to this museums had been established in the memory of the victims of war. These consist of different memoirs, journals, autobiographies and also the weapons used in the war. The reason of forming these museums and making such fiction films and documentaries is to increase the public visibility of the devastation and destruction caused by the war. Another reason which was given by the author was to recover the Nazi Gold and property back to the Jewish families. Mostly these commemorations focus on bringing the justice to the criminals of Nazi war. Due to these ceremonies there had been great impact to countries like Israel, USA and Germany. But this effect does not limit to these three countries only, this strategy of commemorating has impacted every place where there is Jewish community living. (p.3)

Furthermore the author stated that another reason of these remembrance and commemoration is that people who have suffered from war wants recognition in different forms. The recognition can be in the form of material compensation or public acknowledgment for their sacrifices. Another thing that is discussed by the author is that due to media coverage and increasing hype of appreciating the people who have been a part of war, these remembrance ceremonies are increasing with the passage of time (Ashplant et al, 2004, p. 4).

Culture and war remembrance

People are really curious about the events of war and they want to know about the happenings during war. These remembrance exercises help the mass public to get information about the war and what disadvantages and loss it has brought to the people and civilizations. Different nations have different ways to celebrate these memories of wars. Celebrating these wars help them to keep their people intact with the people who have been a part of previous wars. It also helps the government to motivate their people to part in any kind of warfare that is planned in future (Hutchinson. 2009, p. 402). Here a question arises that:

Why government want their citizen to be intact with the people who were part of war? This is also known as identity analysis.

What is identity?

It is a shared feeling that different citizens have with their nation and with the people of their ...