The Anchorage Film Festival recently screened several war documentaries as part of its events for this year. The documentaries did a good job of presenting perspectives on war that are not typically included in the pabulum served up in the mainstream media in this country.

     One of the most thought provoking documentaries for me was “The Making of a Martyr,” directed by Brooke Goldstein and Mark Harvey. The film examined the case of a young Palestinian teenage suicide bomber whose bomb did not go off. The filmmakers interviewed the would be bomber, as well as his family members, the people who recruited him, teachers, religious leaders and others who might shed light on the motivations behind the would be bomber’s actions.

     What emerged from the film was a complex portrait of many different sources of incentives and pressures which, in combination, lead some Palestinians to become suicide bombers. Starting from a young age, Palestinian children are exposed to entertainment that glorifies the suicide bombers as “martyrs.” Their education system does the same thing. The martyrs and their families are elevated in social status, and the families may also receive some financial support.

     Some religious leaders provide theological support by promising that all martyrs will go straight to Paradise. Of course, the ongoing oppression and humiliation of Palestinians by Israel provides additional incentives. There is also a well-funded infrastructure for recruiting, training and equipping willing bombers.

     What really struck me about this portrait was the number of parallels with the incentives and pressures that lead to enlistment in the military in the United States.

     At a young age, children in the United States are exposed to cartoons, action figures, toys and other sources of entertainment which glorify military service. Our schools present a sanitized version of history which presents the United States as always being the good guys, and which leaves out all of the bad things which we have done. Our schools also emphasize patriotism and devotion to the flag, and give military recruiters almost unlimited access to the students.

     We also encourage military service by providing elevated social status to those who enlist. We call them heroes and put on parades and other ostentatious displays of adoration. We give them economic support in the form of special “veterans rates” and “military discounts.” Military service is also presented as the only possible route to higher educational opportunities and other benefits for many young people.

     We too have religious leaders who provide theological support for war. They talk about duty to God and country, bless the troops, and pray for victory over our enemies. Some of our churches also glorify and venerate military heroes as “martyrs.”

     Like the Palestinians, we have a well-funded infrastructure for recruiting, training and equipping our military men and women. In addition to the military itself, we have ROTC, JROTC, recruiters in the schools, pro-military movies, television programs and computer games, military schools, and numerous military oriented hobbies and activities. We also teach young people to blindly support their home team, and to try to defeat the other team.

     The one thing that we do not have in the United States is the ongoing oppression and humiliation of our people on a daily basis by a real or perceived enemy. So instead of actual oppression, we use the threat of another terrorist attack to encourage young people to enlist.

     The other common element is the targeting of young people. It is easier to recruit young people whose values and beliefs are still undergoing change as they develop into adults.

     It is not an accident that these parallels exist in Palestine and the United States. These are the techniques that are effective. It is not easy to convince someone to risk or even sacrifice his or her own life in order to advance the interests of other people. Experience has allowed the proponents of violence to develop persuasive methods which work, and they are pretty much the same everywhere.

     Those of us who would like to see the elimination of war and violence need to recognize the existence of these techniques, and take steps to counter them at every opportunity. We need to develop entertainment alternatives that do not glorify violence and war. We need to honestly present the bad along with the good in our history. We need to make counter-recruitment information consistently available in our schools.

     We need to show that there is honor and glory in other types of service, and that violence is not the best way to resolve disputes. We need to show that killing people and waging war are not moral, and are not consistent with the highest teachings of any religion.

     We also need to create real opportunities for young people to thrive outside of the military. We need free health care for everyone. We need accessible and affordable opportunities for education, including higher education, for children from poor families. In short, we need to dismantle the social infrastructure that feeds volunteers to the warmongers everywhere, and replace it with healthy alternatives.

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