I think both sides have a legitimate right to use the dead. The nations' dead belong to all of us- and while I do not think anyone should put words in the mouths of the dead individually, I think it is appropriate, and even important, to mention them, and to symbolically refer to them, and to recognize that they are dead. If people are uncomfortable with deaths, they should not start wars.
When a parent gives up their child to the state to use in war, that child's death becomes part of the state, and as such is a political event. The parent, of course, can still talk about the child as the child, but the death is also a matter of politics, and as such is fair game for both sides to use (as both sides ARE using them).
That's just my opinion, of course. |
