Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Plastic army men

Sociological Images highlights the following take on the ubiquitous plastic army men so many of us played with as children. I'll repeat the SI's "trigger warning for those sensitive to war, suicide, domestic violence, or people suffering from war-related ptsd."


4 comments:

Beijing York said...

Very powerful art. We need more artists to step it up and make the public think.

Anonymous said...

I played with the Airfix variety of those soldiers. They never prepared me for war any more than the cowboy set prepared me for life on the range.
Defending our country from its enemies was a career and put food on our table and clothes on our backs. Full time professional soldiery is a must for any civilised independent nations, because a willingness to defend yourself is important. From that point of view socialising people into the realities of existence is not bad.
But I guess figurines of family folk in uniform and of people able to go about their days in peace are not as dramatic.
And figurines of an ungrateful bunch of civilians reducing and refusing the provision of debriefing options and or rehab facilities because it means paying a bit more in taxes, lands a bit too close to home.

Jim said...

I am very moved by this. Monday I learned of another militia soldier, dead within six months of coming home.

I am seriously concerned about the level of support given to returning soldiers.

Please call your MP today and tell him it's not good enough.

Boris said...

Jim,
I wonder if militia members face sometimes more difficult times after tour because they are sent back to their home units throughout the country and thereby lose much of the peer and program support available their regular force counterparts.