If we fetishize trauma as incommunicable, then survivors are trapped - unable to feel truly known by their nonmilitary friends and family.
Phil KlayRead
After the fighting is done, and even when it's still happening, apologies are often needed for the recounting of bare facts. Sometimes bare facts feel unpatriotic.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Apologies are important, even in conflict, as they acknowledge the emotional weight of harsh truths.
Phil Klay emphasizes the importance of apologies in the context of war and conflict. Even when discussing the factual outcomes of battles, the emotions and consequences tied to these facts necessitate recognition and remorse, as some might perceive these truths as unpatriotic, highlighting the tension between reality and national pride.
Themes
ApologiesFactsConflictTruthWar
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about historical conflicts, one might reference this quote to highlight the need for empathy when recounting events.
More from Phil Klay
All quotes βIt's very strange getting out of the military, when you've lived in Iraq, and people you know are going overseas again and again. Some of them are getting injured.
Phil KlayRead
We have a tendency to think of war as this quasi-mystical thing, and that interpretation flattens the experience - by using different perspectives, I wanted to open a place for readers to compare and contrast, to make judgments, to engage.
Phil KlayRead
Going to war is a rare experience in American culture, so it's easy for simple notions to gain a lot of weight. The reality is always more complex.
Phil KlayRead
Pity sidesteps complexity in favor of narratives that we're comfortable with, reducing the nuances of a person's experience to a sound bite.
Phil KlayRead
Even if torture works, what is the point of 'defending' America using a tactic that is a fundamental violation of what America ought to mean?
Phil KlayRead
Similar quotes
It is true that classical libertarian thought is opposed to state intervention in social life, as a consequence of deeper assumptions about the human need for liberty, diversity, and free association.
Noam ChomskyRead
To be desired is perhaps the closest anybody in this life can reach to feeling immortal.
John BergerRead
But the most horrible spot .... lies....immediately south west of Oxford Road and is known as Little Ireland. The race that lives in these ruinous cottages, behind broken windows, mended with oilskin, sprung doors, and rotten door-posts, or in dark, wet cellars, in measureless filth and stench....must surely have reached the lowest stage of humanity.
Friedrich EngelsRead
Detainees were not allowed to talk to each other, but we enjoyed looking at each other. The punishment for talking was hanging the detainee by his hands with the feet barely touching the ground.
Mohamedou Ould SlahiRead
The Scripture abounds in commands and cautions for our utmost diligence in our search and inquiry as to whether we are made partakers of Christ or not, or whether His Spirit dwells in us or not-which argue both the difficulty of attaining an assured confidence herein, as also the danger of our being mistaken, and yet the certainty of a good issue upon the diligent and regular use of means to that purpose.
John OwenRead
When you step further into the story you came to live, not only does the mythic territory open, but the deep self moves and the world of imagination and meaning comes towards you.
Michael MeadeRead