For this week\u2019s readings, we read three different articles that all depicted different forms of the body and how it is used to understand ideas of war through rhetoric. In comparison to other weeks, these articles did not share a common connection, but rather took looked at the physical aspect of the body through three different lenses.<\/p>\n
In Jesse Paul Crane-Seeber\u2019s article, he researches and examines contemporary US culture\u2019s view on the sexualized aspects of war. Seeber establishes the critical relationship between gender, war, desire and agency through his research and provides the soldiers body as verification. In addition, he analyzes societies\u2019 fetishism of militarization by identifying with the \u201ckink\u201d community, and how the military is depicted in their culture. The soldiers body is used frequently in Seeber\u2019s research, reiterating the symbolization of the \u201csex appeal\u201d that society has created for them. With the common phrase, \u201cI love a man in uniform\u201d, the narrative of a uniform sends the message of masculinity and heroism, which visually generates a sense of desire from our community. This article<\/a> provides context behind why women generally are attracted to a man in uniform, which adds depth to Crane-Seeber\u2019s article. Personally, I have heard this expression many times before, and have never considered the objectification it imposes on soldiers. According to Seeber, Society dwells on the sexualized aspect of the militarized male body, introducing them to society as an object, rather than a subject, and completely ignoring the female body. This cultural view of militarization can be in result from the media\u2019s influence and representation of soldiers.<\/p>\n I found this article to be interesting because it focuses on the narrative of a \u201cwarriors body\u201d<\/a>. Seeber introduces the notion of this feeling of desire, in which our society creates in response to male soldiers\u2019 bodies. Through this specific form of emotion, I realized how majority of individuals, including myself, unintentionally swoon at military men because of this societal norm created in objectifying their bodies, and the common expression of \u201cloving a man in uniform\u201d.<\/p>\n In Dr. Achter\u2019s article, he analyzes public discourses in three dominant strategies regarding their visual and rhetorical representation of Afghanistan and Iraq injured war veterans. The first dominant strategy is the focus on the portrayal of veterans\u2019 bodies as a \u201cmetonymy of the nation-state at war\u201d. The second dominant strategy is the contextual discourse that strategically place veterans in scenarios that make them look like they\u2019re overcoming any limitations created by war. The last dominant strategy is the shift in visual discourse that construct veterans from a war setting into a setting of normalcy. Through these three strategies, Dr. Achter constructs a discussion about the narrative of a war veteran\u2019s bodily injury, and the contextual misrepresentation that public discourse emit within their visuals and rhetoric.<\/p>\n With the media being extremely significant in our society, our perception of war is extremely influenced and manipulated through the news and other types of media. In this article, Dr. Achter points out the extensive strategical tactics in the ways the media can frame a certain situation. Personally, I found the example of Marissa Strock to be extremely eye opening because of the alarming and upsetting visual of her that was published on the cover of Newsweek<\/a>, <\/em>exposing her horrifying war injuries. Strock\u2019s publication was in reaction to the inadequate medical care she had received from the army, leaving her with prolonged suffering and pain. Nonetheless, most publications about injured war veterans lack this honesty and sensitivity within their rhetorical and visual context, and naturally skew the public\u2019s perception into thinking these veterans have overcome all their obstacles.<\/p>\n Lisa Silvestri\u2019s article, analyzes and explores the performance of American\u2019s citizenship through the civil participation of \u201csurprise military homecomings\u201d YouTube videos and their perpetuation by the media. \u00a0In this article, Silverstri watched a total of 40 YouTube<\/a> homecoming clips from 2007 and 2009. She then made notes regarding \u201c(1) the primary subject(s) in the clip; (2) upload date; (3) number of views; (4) viewer commentary; (5) miscellaneous observations\u201d (Silverstri, 2013, pp. 103). From this content analysis, Silverstri was able to support her argument that the homecoming videos place spectatorship as a \u201ccivic duty\u201d that engages civic participation, which she coins as \u201cvicarious sacrifice\u201d (Silverstri, 2013, pp. 101).<\/p>\n