Letter: The follies of the Iran war

The blockbuster movie The Odyssey reminds us of the follies of war and the negative impact that war has on civilized society. Ironically, the movie glorifies war, while the story itself tries to teach that is wrong to glorify war. Celebratory views of war are right now impacting our federal budget. The Pentagon asked Congress this summer for an extra $67 billion to cover the Iran war, which would be in addition to the $1.5 trillion for next year's budget. Compared to their current $950 billion budget, that's an increase of more than 50%. All of this comes at a time when federal programs spent on domestic needs are being cut, and at a time when our federal deficit (and debt) have already skyrocketed. This is unsustainable. When are we going to learn that we cannot cut taxes, and increase funding for war-making, without creating a mess? Right now, the war in Iran is adding to our federal debt, weakening our supply of weapons munitions, raising our gas prices, adding to food insecurity and hurting our international reputation. However, it's hard to speak out against military intervention because of the way our culture has glorified war and violence. The previews shown before The Odyssey demonstrate that Hollywood sees no end in sight to the money to be made with movies that glorify war and violence. Our cavalier attitude about the use of deadly force is perpetuated by our movies, our commercials, our video games and other parts of our culture. Dan R. Ebener DavenportGet opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly!