Fighting Talk

‘THE truth is that, despite the blanket coverage of the recent Gulf War II, most of us have got very little idea what happens in the front line.

The opposition forces were surprisingly friendly

Our image of war, unless we have experienced it ourselves, is probably conditioned more by what we have seen in the cinema than by any other influence – and life, as we know, is rarely like it appears on screen.

The first part of Channel 4’s two-part documentary, The Truth About Killing, concentrates on the psychology of killing and how, far from being murderous, humans are very much conditioned not to take another person’s life.

But it also debunks some of the more fanciful – and even glamorous – notions of war. For instance, only a mere 25% of soldiers fire their guns in anger during a conflict and then they often do it into thin air.

This is a worthwhile antidote to the usual images we are fed. If people sat through a murder trial, they would soon realise that the vast majority of murderers are nothing like The Yorkshire Ripper.

If they went to war, they would soon realise how little “fighting” is actually done.’

Posted: 8th, March 2004 | In: Big Brother TV Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink