By Ron Horn
Recall that I posted an article by Christopher Black, a noted international human rights attorney, on yesterday's recommended reading list. He condemned the film as a whitewash of Nazi crimes. Last night I viewed the film "My Honour Was My Glory" (Black is Canadian and what he saw via Neflix in Canada is for Americans "My Honor Was Loyalty"). My reaction was quite different which I will share with you. The difference is quite revealing about numerous differences that people who have been influenced by years of Marxist literature (like myself) they have acquired though independent study and those who have been thoroughly indoctrinated in schools where they received a bourgeois (capitalist) education. The latter is what the overwhelming majority of citizens of the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire receive particularly, but not exclusively, in schools of "higher" education. The latter students are exceptionally favored by such schools (and the ruling capitalist class) and often go on to attain advanced degrees and well-paying jobs in universities, government, and corporations.
My take (def. #43 singular noun) on the film shows it to be highly representative of the consciousness of ordinary soldiers regardless of their national affiliation, and as such it is a very interesting film. Marxists have down through many decades have revealed the class
nature of societies, and have illuminated how one's thinking is strongly
influenced by the kind of ruling class currently in power, with
particular emphasis on capitalist ruling classes. Thus, higher education schools throughout the Empire intentionally teach ideas and concepts that will prepare them
to serve the capitalist ruling class. Likewise, education in capitalist countries obsessively exclude any serious Marxist studies from their curricula other than superficial and largely biased references to them. Although I majored in courses in political sociology, my "education" at a state university did precisely this. However unlike my fellow students, I read a prodigious amount of Marxist literature and perspectives on various subjects (obviously the early Marxists were wrong some things: example--the working class inevitably rising up against the capitalist class) that was available in the school's well stocked library. (To explain my different attitude is another long story and for another time.)
The characters in the film illustrate how the German soldiers naturally want to protect their families and loved ones, but were obviously indoctrinated in ideas of obedience, loyalty to authorities and country. In the film German soldiers were dimly aware that they were being used as "pawns", but because of this thorough indoctrination they committed all sorts of crimes during combat. But once combat soldiers see their adversaries as human beings like themselves, they experience a crisis of consciousness much like we see today among returning US veterans from combat as having some sort of mental disorder diagnosed by government authorities as post-traumatic stress disorder.