GLH10302-Thesis Statement 2

George Lewis Hughes

English 103: Accelerated Composition – Visual Rhetoric Assignment; Thesis Statement

Daniel Richards

October 20, 2008

Visual Rhetoric Thesis Two: Shellshock as a Bridge between Nihilism and Society

War is Hell, basically; but the inherent problem, however, resides in the detail that this phrase is almost always overlooked regarding the full value of its poignancy for malice. In other words, the majority of Americans – which specifically comprises the naïve coalition of pampered, sheltered civilians – fails to acknowledge the degree of accuracy to this saying; for it is, indeed, fact. The optimists will say that war is a grand opportunity for the nation to pull itself back on its feet, economically speaking. For instance, without the technological innovation the Vietnam War had reaped of its fodder, the state of economic welfare in the United States as most middle-class American citizens know and take it for granted today would be nowhere near as close to par as it is in reality, thanks – of course – all to the fruits of late-twentieth-century carnage. Meanwhile, the veterans of such dark times lurk in the shadows during these more frequent synapses of peaceful respite and blind splendor, forever wracked by the ceaseless torments of their very own sub-consciences: memories – of the heat of combat – is what ails them so. Thus, it should soon come to surface the due justice of the question surrounding the ultimate value of combative engagements, “Where the metal meets the meat,” as Vietnam-era Colonel Hal Moore would say. Should we sacrifice the sanity of our bravest, most patriotic heroes – who oftentimes happen to be the so-called “best and the brightest” – for the sake of the greater, less conceptually acute good? Should its full force of bravado and gung-ho on the level of the human element continue to make its mark on the method of conducting aggressive foreign

Hughes 2

policy, regardless of the technological advancements? For is it not the overwhelmingly psychological, neurological trauma of jacked-up weaponry that most effectively plunges the soldier into a conducive state of posttraumatic stress disorder, more casually referred to as shellshock? If so, then the reported cases – as well as their frequency – should only sensibly escalate as rapidly and as exponentially as the very rate in itself by which the American nation’s technology makes its inexorable climb toward military supremacy. Shellshock – as a contagious pandemic that spreads dangerously not only amongst the veterans coming home, but also amongst their civilian affiliates – will eventually outstrip the common sentiment in favor of the United States’ imperialistic role in the world for the sake of economic pragmatism.

Research Questions

· How prevalent are the reported cases of posttraumatic stress disorder in today’s combative arena with respect to those of yester-wars?

· Can the intense fighting environment wreaked by technological upgrades in the military weaponry of either conflicting side truly be proven to be a clinical precursor to the human symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in the common soldier?

· What are actually the viable, defining properties for determining whether or not a veteran is diagnostic for having posttraumatic stress disorder?

· What are the best historic precedents set by modern events which can point towards the civilian population’s angst concerning the personality tweaks of their veterans returning from service in heated deployments?

· Is it altogether feasible for potentially modifying the debriefing process for combat servicemen in the military so as to accommodate the more sensitive, mental scarring that they will inevitably encounter after their contract requirements have been duly fulfilled?