Confronting the Civilian-Military Disconnect

Confronting the Civilian-Military Disconnect

Confronting the Civilian-Military Disconnect

We have a society that on the one hand has become comfortable with war, and on the other hand wants to distance itself from it as much as possible.

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

On last Sunday’s episode of Up, Chris Hayes engaged in an in-depth conversation about our culture’s use of the word “hero” to describe fallen servicemen and women. His comments set off a round of discussions on the nature of our wars, who’s fighting them and whether a TV pundit should even be empowered to deny or even confer such designations. On today’s show, Hayes confronted the heated debate he set off, saying that the responses he received after the episode illustrate a key point he was attempting to make with his comments: “We have a society that on the one hand has become comfortable with war, and on the other hand wants to distance itself from it as much as possible: to outsource it to contractors, to robots and to the 2.3 million volunteer men and women who have been asked to serve for longer durations than at any time in recent history.” Watch this clip for the full discussion.

Disobey authoritarians, support The Nation

Over the past year you’ve read Nation writers like Elie Mystal, Kaveh Akbar, John Nichols, Joan Walsh, Bryce Covert, Dave Zirin, Jeet Heer, Michael T. Klare, Katha Pollitt, Amy Littlefield, Gregg Gonsalves, and Sasha Abramsky take on the Trump family’s corruption, set the record straight about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s catastrophic Make America Healthy Again movement, survey the fallout and human cost of the DOGE wrecking ball, anticipate the Supreme Court’s dangerous antidemocratic rulings, and amplify successful tactics of resistance on the streets and in Congress.

We publish these stories because when members of our communities are being abducted, household debt is climbing, and AI data centers are causing water and electricity shortages, we have a duty as journalists to do all we can to inform the public.

In 2026, our aim is to do more than ever before—but we need your support to make that happen. 

Through December 31, a generous donor will match all donations up to $75,000. That means that your contribution will be doubled, dollar for dollar. If we hit the full match, we’ll be starting 2026 with $150,000 to invest in the stories that impact real people’s lives—the kinds of stories that billionaire-owned, corporate-backed outlets aren’t covering. 

With your support, our team will publish major stories that the president and his allies won’t want you to read. We’ll cover the emerging military-tech industrial complex and matters of war, peace, and surveillance, as well as the affordability crisis, hunger, housing, healthcare, the environment, attacks on reproductive rights, and much more. At the same time, we’ll imagine alternatives to Trumpian rule and uplift efforts to create a better world, here and now. 

While your gift has twice the impact, I’m asking you to support The Nation with a donation today. You’ll empower the journalists, editors, and fact-checkers best equipped to hold this authoritarian administration to account. 

I hope you won’t miss this moment—donate to The Nation today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Heuvel 

Editor and publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x