Having never been on YouTube.com before, it was a very surreal experience. I guess I just don't get the point of the site. Seems silly to me. As I was clicking on various videos, trying to find one that appealed to me, I found this one......
This video does not take a stand for or against the war in Iraq. Instead, its focus it to merely show and document the expression of the outpouring of feelings and emotions of the family members and friends who have attended the funeral of a loved one who died while in service to their country. I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't be affected by the video in some way - unless of course you happen to be a sociopath reading this blog post. The pictures are very powerful, and speak to you on a visceral level. Having been to a few funerals, including military funerals, this video hit me pretty hard.
We have the ability to be as voyeuristic as we choose in our use of the Web to travel the world, and in this day and age of instant gratification we are able to see and hear images and events from the war in Iraq on a daily basis - even as they happen. The ability to do this on our own computer is phenomenal, given that during World War II, the images and events of the war were available for viewing if you went to the movie theater - the pre-cursor to the "trailer" in movies now - of events that happened weeks prior to you actually seeing the clips. During the Vietnam War, our lag time for getting news and events of the war was shortened, but we still had to wait for it. Now, we can follow along with what's happening in Iraq with reporters embedded with the troops who can use satellites to transmit their reports "live".
Past wars and conflicts have been given tangible memorials of their service - the Vietnam War Memorial, the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima, the National World War II Memorial, are just a few. I think that the current war in Iraq has already started building its memorial.... the daily video images that we see.
We are inundated with things about the war in Iraq. We seldom daily see pictures or videos of those who have fallen in the line of duty.... who made the "ultimate sacrifice" for doing their job. This particular video serves to remind me that there are funerals held almost every day for those soldiers and sailors who made a choice to serve their country, who are honored one last time in a "silent" video tribute.
5 comments:
I really like the video you chose. The pictures are heart wrenching. I can feel the emotions in the pictures just by looking at them. Funerals are very intense, at least the ones I have attended. The video captures the environment of funerals and the grief that the people are experiencing. I agree that it is amazing that we as society are able to gain access to information on the war via the internet. We have instant news at our fingertips and that is very fortunate.
1) I understand why you picked this topic it is something that is talked about on a daily bases. The war in Iraq is not something that can be ignored. The war is very real despite how one feels about it. I like how you don’t pick a side in your writing. You address the reality of the situation; there is a war and people are dying. Also I think it is great that the video you have chosen makes a statement, one that is very important.
That video hit me pretty hard as well. The pictures of the families and loved ones crying made tears come to my eyes, and the pictures held up by the parents of their children did too. I don’t personally have anyone I love involved in this war, but the death toll is devastating. I agree with Jenny, and I like how you didn’t take a side, and you didn’t use this post to preach about how the war is good, or how it is bad. Instead you took a “middle ground” –I suppose- and wrote about how amazing it is we can have access to things like this. I know, for me, if I didn’t have internet access, I wouldn’t know about the death of someone I used to be very close to, and I was a wreck not being able to know how he was, the entire six months that I lost contact with him and his family. Thanks to the internet, I found out he passed on… I don’t know whether to be thankful or not about that.
I think you picked such a wonderful Youtube clip. I loved watching it; it was so sad. I’ve never been to a funeral so I don’t know how it feels, but I could only imagine how hard it was for you and the people in the clip. I loved the music used in the clip too. Your word choice was also really awesome in your post. I don’t ever go to Youtube either so I know what you mean. You also had a really catchy title, that’s why I read your post. It really had an affect on me. It was done really nicely!
Your video really touched me. It just bothers to watch how many soldiers are dying each day just so we can live peacefully. It’s them that sacrifice their time with their family just so we can spend out time being with our family. Making the others watch videos like this will truly inspire some and make others feel very thankful to the American soldiers. We should not forget of them and we should remind ourselves how lucky we are to have people like these to fight for our country, for us, the people. Your thoughts and the video were very beautifully done. Thank-you!
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