A wide-spread idea throughout the United States is one that highlights the superiority of the United States compared to other countries. This superior mind-set applies to almost every imaginable situation. One popular focus is the application towards war. Though the strength of a nation is usually the most controversial and discussed part of war, the United States’ superior mind-set also flourishes within discussion about and debate over consequences suffered by the population due to war. It is believed that because America is seemingly the most advanced country the world, war does not harm the nation’s inhabitants in the ways that it affects other nations’ population, particularly those in the Middle East. Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, said, “I believe there are ways to solve the world’s problems. Instead of using money […],” and her intent in writing her graphic memoir was to illuminate the ways in which those problems can be resolved (Satrapi, “Why I Wrote Persepolis”). The text of Persepolis illuminates the consequences suffered by the Iranian population during wartime. Persepolis serves Satrapi’s intent by acting as the literary reference that helps to refute the superior notion of the United States in this matter. Although America is more advanced as a nation, the American ideal of superiority does not apply to all matters especially with regards to the wartime consequences undergone by the American citizens.
Recruitment officers have been taught to lure youth into joining the armed forces. Recruitment officers focus upon the lures that will be financially enticing. More financially enticing offers result in greater numbers of attained recruits. In the United States, college tuition money has become the biggest tool used to lure young people into enlistment. This enticement, however, is a false hope. The United States’ Veterans Administration recently determined that only about 35% of all veterans ever receive General Issue Bill Funds for college tuition and only about 15% of soldiers ever graduate (Murr). Hefty signing bonuses are also a tool used to gather the necessary soldiers; thus, it is no surprise that the majority of American recruits come from lower income families – usually with annual income of no more than $60,000 (Thompson). The promise of this financial stability is falsely satisfying to underprivileged recruits. The populace of the United States is beginning to show opposition towards military recruitment. This “[…] opposition to military recruitment seems, in part, a result of parents' growing realization that tax money spent for the Iraq war is money not spent on children's educations or other domestic needs,” (Paton). Essentially, promises that recruiters make are an attempt to pull the wool over the American citizens’ eyes and their checkbooks. Another technique used to gather the necessary soldiers, at times, is the government’s required conscription. Every young man in the United States is required to provide his personal information to the government in the case that during wartime it becomes a necessity for a draft scenario. In this situation, recruitment officers are no longer of any use because the government forces enlistment. These corollaries that the population bear are direct results of wartime pressures. The negative strategies used to influence enlistment during wartime in America are not superior to the effects suffered in Iran.
In Iran the same types of tactics are used to recruit the youth. Authority figures tell young boys, “[…] that in paradise there would be plenty of food, women and houses made of gold and diamonds,” as a ploy to appeal and entice them into joining the war efforts before they are legally required to do so by age (Satrapi, Persepolis 100). Food is scarce, young boys’ hormones are racing, and destruction of all structures surround them during war. Who would not be attracted to this kind of promise? The government also requires every boy at the age of nineteen to enlist in the armed forces (Pike). There are no recruiters necessary at this point because the young boys have been brainwashed to conform to enlistment from a young age or be persecuted by the government. The final tactic is the Iranian government’s target of boys from poor areas (Satrapi, Persepolis 101). The lure of a better lifestyle overwhelms young boys struggling to live comfortably and inveigles them into enlisting into the war.
In times of war a country’s need for military recruits is imperative. A country’s population is only so large, and soldiers become scarce as the death toll accumulates. The military needs young men to fight for protection and/or power. During wartime, recruitment agencies in both America and Iran disregard recruitment standards in order to meet demand. At times recruitment is not even an option due to the lack of persons willing to volunteer to join the military force. This situation results in a draft within both the United States and Iran, where all young men (the age of requirement usually varies between the two countries) are required to enlist. Both societies even use the tactic of brainwashing. Wartime recruitment lures are essentially equivalent even in two highly dissimilar cultures. Even though America is more socially advanced and free juxtaposed with Iran, the wartime tactics used to lure young men into enlisting into the armed forces are invasive and inappropriate in America just as they are in Iran. The populations of both counties are extremely influenced by the consequences of war and must suffer because of the government’s choices.
Schools have become yet another tool for the government to recruit young citizens into enlistment and negatively affect the populace. Public schools in the United States are becoming military recruiting sanctuaries because the nation is waged at war. The No Child Left Behind Act that President Bush passed now requires public schools to provide military recruiters access to facilities where they have the ability to recruit as well as present personal information for every one of its students, which includes the student’s name, age, and grade point average. This act also states that failure to comply will result in a severance of federal aid for the school (Goodman). Students are being bombarded with the “positive” aspects and outlets military service offers and the idea that any occupation or life dream is best achieved through the military. Teaching institutions are supposed to guide the youth and refuse bias, but the textbooks are filled with “positive” historical conflicts. Public schools’ textbooks subtly imply that the United States is never the problem within the war; the United States’ textbooks make American involvement in the war positive. If the teachings are biased towards the military, how are young student supposed to learn about other options? Educational institutions are supposed to prepare youth for the future and provide it with all possible knowledge about future options. The problem is that with the focus on military in schools, students are missing out on the opportunity to learn about other future lifestyle options. Children of the nation must suffer a restricted educational knowledge base because of the focus applied to armed forces within the educational system.
In Iran there is no escaping the thoughts and pressures of war and enlistment within school settings. Educators teach the boys that during wartime being a soldier is the only option. The Iranian textbooks preach participation and self-sacrifice in the war (van Orden). Instructors push the idea that war is honorable and the only occupational choice for students by praising war veterans, leading funeral marches for the deceased soldiers, providing war enticements like “keys to paradise”, and enforcing the beating of the breast (Satrapi, Persepolis 94-100). The Iranian students, thus, are being brainwashed to become war participants by those who are supposed to educate them thoroughly from an early age.
The emphasis placed upon military recruitment within schools is heavy. Recruitment takes place most often within the public schools in the United States due to government support of the public school system. In Iran, however, there is no separation between schools and the government; all schools are subject to recruitment. Both Iranian and American students face constant encounters with persons attempting to persuade the youth to enlist into the armed forces. It is also important to bring into the light the fact that America takes pride on the fact that it is not biased in education like other oppressive nations. The truth, unfortunately, is that it may not be as biased as other nations, but the education system is biased especially with reference to instructive text. If one’s education is restricted and biased, then truly it is not an education but instead a forced opinion. The similarity of the pressures placed upon students, in America and Iran with regards to military enlistment, within schools eliminates the ideal that the American people suffer less because of the country’s superior status in the world.
The life of a soldier and his or her family is difficult during war. In the United States it was found that among soldier’s wives, the rate of child neglect and abuse is almost four times as great during deployment as at other times (“War’s Side Effects”). It is understandable that a family member of a deployed soldier would find it difficult to cope with the overwhelming sense of fear associated with deployment. To wonder whether or not one’s loved one will return happy and healthy or inside of a casket is enough to cause anyone to go mad. This pressure placed upon military families is enough to cause anyone to become unstable and lash out at others. It is also difficult for the families at home to understand the changes and events that take place in a soldier's life while he or she is deployed (Troyer). This causes uncomfortable and difficult homecomings that instigate harsh feelings within soldiers. They tend to feel unappreciated, misunderstood, and unwelcome, which causes problems with reintegration. Reintegration problems are present during and after the war. Soldiers become lost and confused after being thrust back into the world where not every second is mission-oriented (Troyer). Because of the horrific consequences caused by participation in the war, “last year, soldiers committed suicide at the highest rate in 26 years. There were 99 suicides in 2006, 28 of whom were serving in either Iraq of Afghanistan,” and fighting the American war on terrorism (“War’s Side Effects”). In Iran, it is unlikely that a soldier will ever return from the battlefield, and as American soldiers spend greater amounts of time deployed, the death toll also accumulates for the American citizens (Satrapi, Persepolis 94-102, 116). Thus, in both nations the process in which a family member must cope with a loved one’s death is another burden the family must bear because of war. The strain on families’ of soldiers and the soldiers themselves is yet another atrocious consequence stomached by the people in two contrasting countries throughout the duration of war.
Human and emotional sacrifice is not the only sacrifice that must be made during wartime. Everyday necessities must also be sacrificed, and in drastic wartimes civil liberties are also open to be stripped away. America is facing multiple sacrificial situations including necessities and liberties. The prices for gasoline are consistently rising due to the lack of oil. The American War on Terror has angered many countries and, thus, severed ties with countries that are major oil suppliers. It is becoming costly to travel even short distances causing hardships for American families. The war punishes not only the soldiers required to fight but the civilians back at home as well. The civil liberties of the American citizens are also being infringed upon by wartime. The newly instilled Patriot Act is revoking the civil liberties protected by the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. It is stripping away the protection of private property due to selective and secretive searches caused by wartime threats (Belanger). The general public of America is forced to surrender a great deal of personal necessities as well as liberties when the nation is waged at war; thus, it is a misconception to say that the American people suffer less because of the country’s superiority.
Iranian people face similar restrictions on the activities and things they are allowed to do and possess during wartime. Music, parties, alcohol, articles representative of the West, and so much more are forbidden during wartimes (Satrapi, Persepolis 103-110). Civil liberties are also stripped away from the populace. The government states that in order to protect the nation during wartime it is obligatory for women to wear the veil (Satrapi, Persepolis 74). The ability to walk through life with natural, appropriate body parts exposed becomes a crime and thus the citizens’ rights are thieved away. Essentially, the Iranian population is overall oppressed due to war. The wartime effects endured by the Iranian population are parallel to those that the American residents endure.
It has been argued that because the United States is more technologically and socially advanced, the effects of war experienced by the people are not the harsh and drastic ones faced in countries such as those in the Middle East. However, this idea holds no ground when one analyzes the actual effects of war rid of the wartime hoopla. There can be no dispute about the horrific human consequences faced during wartime. The citizens within a nation suffer no matter the culture in which the war is waged. Both the Iranian and American populations are promised things that are never received. The countries’ youth is bombarded with emphasized recruitment pressures within school, and the populations undergo great sacrificial situations. So when juxtaposing American and Iranian wartime consequences to citizens, it is apparent that the only dissimilarity between the two nations is the severity of the wartime perils. The negative effects placed upon the citizens of a nation during wartime are not selective; they are equivalent within every country regardless of international superiority. Therefore, America’s superior belief with regards to suffering citizens is truly mistaken.
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