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About this quote

What does it mean?
Those who suffer war see through patriotic rhetoric masking its reality.
In plain terms
War victims see past glory and honor slogans to the pain and profit behind them.
What can you take from it?
Abstract patriotic words often hide the real costs of war.

Where it applies

  • veteran support
  • anti-war activism
  • journalism

Putting it to work

  • listen to victims
  • question nationalism
  • expose profiteering

Questions to consider

  • What stories get silenced by glory narratives?
  • Who profits from war?

Another view

Some people find genuine meaning in patriotic symbols.

More from Chris Hedges

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  3. Most of these who are thrust into combat soon find it impossible to maintain the mythic perception of war.

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