War & Peace

1970 | Soul

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"War is something that I despise. — Because it means destruction of innocent lives. — War means tears in thousands of mothers' eyes. — When their sons go out to fight and lose their lives."

Trivia

• Perhaps one of the most famous anti- vietnam war songs.
• The song was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for the Motown Records label.
• Whitfield originally produced the song with The Temptations performing it.

THE HOT TAKES

Luke Tatum

Is there a more classic anti-war song? War is good for nothing.

Sherry Voluntary

This is arguably the most epochal anti-war song of our time. It’s simple, bold, and straightforward. It laments the many terrible things about war. He says in the song, “it ain’t nothin’ but a heartbreaker.” How true that is. No one wins but those already holding power in war. Violence, Peace, and Prosperity, do not often cohabitate. If we want to really secure those things for ourselves and our children, then we need to avoid war until absolutely necessary.

Nicky P

Perhaps I have a biased opinion since I live in America, but doing a simple cost benefit analysis, I don't really see much if anything in the pros collumn. There a bunch of obvious cons, only a fraction of which Starr gets to lament in the banger. I think asking the question what is war good for is a question the military industrial complex wants you to never even think of. The worst part of Vietnam after the death is that despite its general incompetence it learned many valuable lessons in population control. The most important of which was how to keep us from paying attention. This song is a beacon in an era ripe with counterculture. An era where people payed attention. I know we joke about how the media always goes with if it bleeds it leads but it ignores a great amount of bleeding all over the world. Libertarians are generally pretty aware of the CIA coup of the newsrooms but I find the general population is less so. But perhaps that's all a digression. This song focuses on the most important cons in the list. The human damage. The ruined lives of people. Nevermind the economic toll, the destroyed families should be enough.