War is murder. And the military preparations now being made for a potential major confrontation are aimed at collective murder. In a nuclear age the victims would be numbered by the millions. This naked truth must be faced.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the brutality of war and warns about the catastrophic consequences of military conflict in the nuclear age.
Alva Myrdal's quote confronts the grim reality of war, equating it to murder on a massive scale. She argues that military preparations not only threaten lives but could lead to unimaginable casualties, particularly in an age where nuclear weapons exist. By calling for acknowledgment of this truth, Myrdal seeks to provoke deeper consideration of the moral implications of war and the potential for widespread destruction.
In practice
During a peace rally, this quote could highlight the moral implications of military conflict.
Because war and preparations for war have acquired legitimacy, and because of the tremendous proliferation of arms through production and export, so that they are now available more or less to all and sundry, right down to handguns and stilettos, the cult of violence has by now so permeated relations between people that we are compelled to witness as well an increase in everyday violence.
There is a cultural factor promoting violence which nowadays undoubtedly is highly effective is the mass media. And particularly everything that enters our minds through pictorial media.
The longing for peace is rooted in the hearts of all men. But the striving, which at present has become so insistent, cannot lay claim to such an ambition as leading the way to eternal peace, or solving all disputes among nations.
It is however a disgrace to pray! Not for all, but for you, and me, and whoever has his a conscience.
To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it.
Well, you split your soul, you see, and hide part of it in an object outside the body. Then, even if one’s body is attacked or destroyed, one cannot die, for part of the soul remains earthbound and undamaged. But of course, existence in such a form . . .
The word of man is the most durable of all material.
Once you see that everything is unreal, you can't see why you should bother to prove it.
At the time I could no more believe my eyes than now I can trust my memory.
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