Remembering Heroes: Memorial Day 2012

“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse…”
— John Stuart Mill, “The Contest in America,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, April 1862, 683–84.

Today as those in the United States remember the men and women who have died to preserve American freedom and defend others from tyranny, I’d like to offer the following collection of blog posts, articles, and podcasts. Each one reflects on the reality of war, its purpose, or the ways we’ve depicted it in film.

Walking the Streets of London

Walking the streets of London last night I envisioned the German bombers above London during the blitz campaigns of World War II. I thought of C. S. Lewis on the BBC radio, broadcasting his talks that would become his book Mere Christianity. And I remembered prime minister Winston Churchill giving his “We Shall Never Surrender” speech. I also thought of the Beatles during their early days.

All the things I enjoy (history, theology, music). There’s no city I would rather visit than London.

Quote of the Week: Albert Speer

My decision to enter Hitler’s party was no less frivolous. Why, for example, was I willing to abide by the almost hypnotic impression Hitler’s speech had made upon me? Why did I not undertake a thorough, systematic investigation of, say, the value or worthlessness of the ideologies of all the parties? Why did I not read the various party programs, or at least Hitler’s Mein Kampf and Rosenberg’s Myth of the Twentieth Century? As an intellectual I might have been expected to collect documentation with the same thoroughness and to examine various points of view with the same lack of bias that I had learned to apply to my preliminary architectural studies…. As a result, I remained uncritical…

Top Ten Patriotic Actors List

If you’re new to my blog, then be forewarned that I love top ten lists. This particular list combines my interest in World War II and American actors whose performances I have enjoyed and appreciated over the years.

Quote of the Week: John Keegan

The Second World War is the largest single event in human history, fought across six of the world’s seven continents and all its oceans. It killed fifty million human beings, left hundreds of millions of others wounded in mind or body and materially devastated much of the heartland of civilisation.

– John Keegan, The Second World War (New York: Penguin, 1989), 5.

Captain America and Superhero Worldviews, Part 1

In elementary school I was known in class as Kenny Samples, a quiet and mild-mannered child. But during recess I transformed into my alter ego: Marvel comics superhero Captain America. On the playground of Carver Elementary School I battled daily my archnemesis The Red Skull (believed to be Adolf Hitler’s alter ego).

With my “mighty shield” (Captain America’s most powerful weapon), I vanquished the Nazi forces that threatened freedom and democracy. When the forces of Axis evil congregated against me, I called upon my childhood friends Peter Falcioni (a.k.a. Thor) and Paul Goff (a.k.a. Iron Man) to help me win the climactic battle.  (My mother always commented that for a reserved child I had a powerful imagination!)

My father’s participation in World War II as a combat soldier clearly influenced my childhood attachment to Captain America, a WWII era superhero. I’ll never forget as a child seeing the three medals my father received for his service in the bloodiest war in human history. In fact, as a kid I viewed my dad as a real-life Captain America.

Looking back I realize that reading Captain America comic books helped inculcate in me a type of worldview thinking. As a child, my coalescing world-and-life view was more profoundly influenced by my family’s commitment to Catholic Christianity and by our family’s deep respect for what thinker Dennis Prager calls “the trinity of American values” as expressed on American currency: Liberty, E Pluribus Unum (“out of many, one”), and In God We Trust. And the fictional Captain America embodied all those values in a super-human way.

Superheroes and Ethics
In exploring the moral dimension of life, philosophers discuss what is known as “The Five Problems of Ethics.” These powerful interrogatives seek to unveil that which anchors life’s deepest ethical commitments. For what is good (ethics) cannot exist in a metaphysical (relating to reality) and epistemological (relating to truth) vacuum. One’s view of appropriate human conduct has a lot to do with what one thinks about reality and truth. In other words, one’s ethical views are greatly impacted by one’s broader and more comprehensive worldview.

The Five Problems of Ethics:

1. What characterizes human nature?
2. What is the greatest good?
3. How is the greatest good known?
4. What motivates and restrains moral choices?
5. Do human beings possess the freedom of the will?

In part 2 of this series, I will attempt to provide answers drawn from the newest superhero movie, Captain America: The First Avenger (released July 22, 2011). And we’ll see how the latest big-screen version of Captain America corresponds with how I fondly remember him from childhood.

Resources:
For more on how comic book superheroes are understood in light of Christian worldview thinking, see The Gospel According to Superheroes: Religion and Popular Culture written by my friend and former Christian Research Institute colleague B. J. Oropeza.

For more on Christian worldview analysis, see my book A World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test.

Ken’s Top 50 WWII Films, Part 2

In honor of the anniversary of D-Day (June 6), I’m presenting my favorite World War II feature films and made-for-TV movies. See part 1 for the first 25 films.

My favorite movies about World War II are those that reveal insights into the human condition of the brave men who fought this catastrophic war. Realistic fighting scenes and historic military technology also warrant my steadfast attention.

Ken’s Top 50 World War II Films, Part 1

June 6 marked the 67th anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Normandy, France that resulted in a decisive victory for Allied forces during World War II. In honor of that war, in which my own father fought, I present my top 50 WWII feature films and made-for-TV movies (in two parts). (Be advised that some of these films contain material that may be objectionable to some viewers.)

War, What Is It Good For? Sometimes It’s Absolutely Necessary!

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things:  the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. . . . A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.      —John Stuart Mill¹