Social Media: War’s Window of… Happiness?

War, the fight for rights, power, standing up for one’s country. The concept of war is basic, fight until one side wins, defeating other countries. When war comes along men are drafted to war to fight for their country, making a difference. Every now and then we are told news about the war through newspapers, TV, the news, and social media keeping us updated. The stories are about how brave our men are, when we win a battle or make progress it gets reported to the public. From the perspective of the everyday person it seems like there is nothing to worry about war and that they are currently in a winning position with headlines related to “Long Battle Won”, or “Advancing Towards the Enemy”. It seems like war is a simple every task through social media, something to be happy about. How can something as gruesome as war be seen as happy? Social media sugarcoats the truth, only telling us the good news; what about the bad news?

          In the book “All Quiet on the Western Front” we are exposed to the thoughts of a soldier and his life during the war. We follow our main character “Paul Baumer” as he realizes the reality of war and the true horror of war. When he first joins the army he is sent to train and lives a scheduled life, everyday the same thing. Wake up on time, make his bed, eat, and do drills throughout the day. Occasionally things will stir up and will add to the story, for instance an example of this is when Paul and his friends beat up Himmelstoss (commander) to get revenge for what he did to Tjaden during their training. There are noteworthy moments to mention to describe the peaceful life during the training, but then the front lines need recruits. Paul is sent to the front lines on the battlefield and learns the dark truth. Here are a few passages about the gruesome images Paul witnessed, “His [fellow soldier] body drops clean away and only his hands with the stumps of his arms, shot off, now hang in the wire”(page 112-113), this disturbing image is just a quick glance from Paul’s perspective and what can be seen in mere seconds. Another grim quote is “We see men living with their skulls blown open; we see soldiers run with their two feet cut off….we see men without mouths, without jaws, without faces,” (page 134), the war has but soldiers through unimaginable pain and torture. This quote is the least terrifying,  “Beside me a lance-corporal has his head torn off,  He runs a few steps more while the blood spouts from his neck like a fountain,” (page 115) just by standing around, traumatizing experiences are happening and knowing this is the least frightful piece from the text, just imagine what war could really be like. When Paul is away from the front lines, he is now happy because he survived the slaughter of men before him, living another day. Before war, people were happy on a daily basis but after a quick encounter on the battlefield the only thing that can bring happiness is surviving. The war caused soldiers to change what is brings them happiness; they lose enjoyment in everyday activities because they are traumatized by the war. The only thing the soldiers can benefit from this is that they know that everyday they live shall be a happy day.

         Here we can see that war is a traumatizing experience and yet; social media makes it look so innocent. Why is social media sugarcoating war so much? They’ve done it so much we barely bat an eye towards war because it seems like such a small event with the way it’s presented to us. The way I see it, the reason social media is sugarcoating war is to help protect us from it. If they gave us a description similar to one of Paul’s many descriptions, the reader will be disturbed and that image will now be in their mind. This will not only upset the reader but it will create fear for the public about war. If the public fears war, then nobody will be willing to join the army after a small sample of the things you’ll experience there and that’s only the beginning. This book brings a new perspective on war, the viewpoint of the common soldier and his experience. In the end it’s better off if the public doesn’t know all the details but only what they want and need to hear, a positive main outcome of each event.