This article is published after Memorial Day, so it may seem a little late. But now that Memorial Day has passed, it’s worth reflecting on what Memorial Day represents and why the debate around it is so important. “Debate,” you might say. “What debate?”
Yes, there is debate. On one side are those who argue that Memorial Day is, or should be, a day of remembrance. honor Honoring soldiers who fought or are fighting for freedom. This is a common opinion we hear around Memorial Day. We hear it from presidents, governors, legislators, mayors, military personnel, and military analysts. On the other hand, the purpose of Memorial Day is to: Lament Remembering those who lost their lives in war and thinking about how to prevent such things from happening in the future. This sentiment is often heard by anti-war activists and people who are generally quite skeptical of government motives and actions.
I don’t want to get into this debate, which is why I’ve been waiting. There are many Americans who have relatives and friends killed or wounded in foreign wars, and it’s painful for them to hear or read an armchair theorist like me talk about the “true meaning” of Memorial Day.
But this discussion is important because, unfortunately, one of the primary ways most Americans learn about history is through what’s told on our national holidays, especially the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, President’s Day, and Veterans Day. There’s a lot of emotion surrounding these days, so various advocates can get away with telling emotionally charged misrepresentations of history. That’s why I think they’re so desperate to argue for the meaning of Memorial Day. It’s a way to accomplish with emotion what is much harder to accomplish through rational argument.
Exhibit A for the tendency to drown arguments in emotion is a recent essay. National Review Online,Mystical chords of memoryBy Contributing Editor MacBin Thomas Owens “Mac” Owens, known to friends and colleagues as “Mac,” is the vice dean for academic affairs and professor of national security affairs at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Before I dive into my critique, I should mention that I spent a weekend with him at a conference a couple of years ago. I like and respect him. He’s a serious scholar, and he expresses important viewpoints well. But that very fact is what makes his writing unsettling.
This is a quote from David R. Henderson.The Battle for Memorial Day“, Antiwar.comMay 27, 2008.
On my Substack My work for Memorial Day 2006It covers the same subject matter but also dives deeper into Mac Owens’ discussion.
