Israeli Soldiers
I wouldn't mess with these women.
I found these pictures beautiful, heroic and touching. Unfortunately, the photographer projects her own feelings of vulnerability, depression and meaninglessness onto her subjects (from her statement):
Yes, best to downplay any type of heroism and instead, decide that these women must be vulnerable, depressed and wasting their time serving.
I found these pictures beautiful, heroic and touching. Unfortunately, the photographer projects her own feelings of vulnerability, depression and meaninglessness onto her subjects (from her statement):
I decided to portray female soldiers in Israel during their mandatory military service as a way for me to revisit my own experience. I served as a photographer in the Israeli Air Force between 1988-1990. It was a period marked by continuous depression and extreme loneliness, and at the time I was too young to understand these emotions. Through a series of images showing female soldiers in army bases and outside, individually or in groups, I attempt to reveal a facet of this experience that is generally overlooked by the global community.
Rather than portraying the soldier as heroic, confident, or proud, my images disclose a complexity of emotions. The soldier is often caught in a transient moment of self-reflection, uncertainty, a break from her daily reality, as if questioning her own identity and state of contradiction. She is a soldier in uniform but at the same time she is a teenage girl who is trying to negotiate between these two extreme dimensions. She is in an army base surrounded by hundreds like her, but underneath the uniform there is an individual that wishes to be noticed.
I realized that although I was in a vulnerable emotional state during my service and thought of ways out of it, there was a certain level of acceptance involved. The girls I encountered were so immersed in this lifestyle, in their new reality, and completely divorced from the outside world. How could I explain to them that what they are doing means nothing in the outside world, yet will affect them for the rest of their lives? They have given up who they are for now; they have put their dreams on hold; their lives for the next two years have become a wistful compromise.
Yes, best to downplay any type of heroism and instead, decide that these women must be vulnerable, depressed and wasting their time serving.
posted by Helen at 7:27 AM
27 Comments:
Steve,
Yes, that seems to be the message--don't these poor girls know how bad they have it? I would be really annoyed or perhaps bemused that this photographer decided to project her own experiences onto me and portray these images to the world this way if I were one of these soldiers. Are there any artists/photographers out there who do not have this defeatist, victim, mentality? If so, I would like to view their work.
Somehow, I'd bet she didn't say any of that tripe to those women. I don't know if I like the idea of mandatory military service or not, but it does seem to work for Israel and I don't think that anything that teaches a woman to defend herself and handle firearms safely can be all bad.
If you say you want "equality" then military service goes with the deal, from boot camp to combat. It's a choice I didn't make, though I was offered scholarships to two of the military academies of our nation. I don't mind defending myself, but I wanted my future kids to be raised in a settled home, not one that picks up and moves every 24-36 months. I did that as a child and admire my brothers for continuing our family tradition of service, but it wasn't a life choice I wanted to make. Anyway, I get sick and tired of "feminists" saying that women and men are equal and then denigrating the women who choose to exercise their rights by serving in the military.
It appears the photographer continues to wallow in her self pity.
Overcoming the conflicting, complex emotions and doing the "right" thing is exactly how one develops confidence and pride and, potentially, becomes a hero. If you let your emotions control you, you might as well live your life according to the whims of the weather.
"means nothing to the outside world" The survival of Israel depends on people like these women and their male counterparts. They also serve as an inspiration to millions throughout the world.
I've never supported mandatory military service but these pictures make me want to reconsider. Imagine how different our society if everyone knew what it meant to be prepared to fight for our country rather than worry about being offended by librarians recommending books to read.
As a photographer (my photoblog is TMINK) I found these photos to be wonderful. Excellent shots, great technique, really fine work. As a psychologist, I found the photographer's projection astounding. The photos are of empowered, beautiful, heavily armed women. No insecurity, not self-pity, no confusion. Centered and confident. But it is often emotional insecurity that drives art. That is why the looney statemenst of the left leaning arts community neither surprise nore offend me. Of course they are looney, that is where the art comes from.
Of course mine comes from that calm centered place. Heh.
Trey
They look more like the Magnificent 7 than their burkhad Arab cousins. All kinds of undercover work would seem open to them. For now if you could just get the score to the movie to go with the pictures. The movie tells us that loneliness is existential, heroism makes for an ability to connect as peers.
"Overcoming the conflicting, complex emotions and doing the "right" thing is exactly how one develops confidence and pride and, "
Good point, and if the photographer had tried to show that struggle, that would have been great. Instead she wanted to feel superior to the women in their "false consciousness".
When we SRP people in the National Guard for possible deployment, there is a standard question I have to ask of the women about recently having givern birth (and thus being non-deployable for a period) and then there is another for everybody about being a conscientious objector - people's opinions can and do change, you know. It never fails when a woman says she has just had a baby, that she gives me the Victrola dog stare when I ask about conscientious objector status - they all wonder what I have been smoking. Some have come out and said that having a child has made them understand better what war is about.
gs,
Is that her in the middle? She looks like a complete narcissist who needs to stand out--perhaps that is how she thinks the other ladies in the military feel--since she projects that these women need to be "an individual who needs to be noticed."
I wrote a post entitled, "I love Art, it's the Artists I can't Stand here that may explain some of this narcissism:
http://drhelen.blogspot.com/2005/12/i-love-art-its-artists-i-cant-stand.html
WOW. Thanks for posting the pic. it splains a lot. (shudders)
Trey
I see little connection between what the photographer said and the first fifteen pictures. (I only looked at 15.) I'd say she did not accomplish her stated mission.
I have seen hundreds of photos of US military in similar settings. If we looked at the pictures without reading the text, would anyone find them particularly remarkable?
gs...re your comment that there is something wrong with our creative and our thinking classes, let's try a thought experiment. Person A is a highschool grad. Person B is a college grad. And person C has a Masters or PhD. In ascending order of probability, what is the likelihood of each individual reacting to these photos in the way that the photographer did? In the US, at least, I think the answer is pretty clear--A,B,C.
In C S Lewis' novel "That Hideous Strength," the principal character is captured by a sinister cabal. He is put through a process of training which is aimed at killing "all specifically human reactions" in a person. I'm increasingly concerned that this killing of "specifically human reactions" is the effect of higher education--especially graduate education--as often carried out today.
See also my post An Incident at the Movies.
With a son in the army in a special forces unit and his girlfriend in an intelligence unit I can certainly tell you that many if not most of the girls you see in the pictures are anything but lonely and depressed. Where that does exist in the Israeli (in all) army the camraderie and esprit de corps in nearly all of the units - especially those on the front lines - is still strong.
What you are reading is the Israeli version of elite, white, left-wing disgust with the the military. In Israel their frustration is that much more because deep down they ALL realize that without these brave young boys and girls we would all be massacred in less than a day.
Helen:
Glad to see you posted the link to these photos. When I read the photographer's intro I certainly noticed her statement of negative feelings from her own time in the service. I chose to give her the benefit of the doubt and not fault her for being disaffected or depressed during her own service.
Anyhoo, I sent the link to a variety of friends, including a chum of 35 years who himself spent time on a kibbutz as a young man. His comment after looking at the pics was that it made him sad to see these little girls with the big guns; that they were mere teenagers. True, I said, as are the male Israelis doing their national service. He allowed as how it was too bad ANYONE had to bear up under so terrible a thing.
Now this fellow is an old friend and I avoid any political discussions with him because I know that he (like so many other intelligent "liberal" folks) simply can't hold it in his head that there are evildoers in this world who must be fought off or killed to keep the rest of us safe.
They just don't get it. And they're surrounded by friends who mirror back only more of the same to them. It's discouraging. Thank god there actually are people who can & will fight.
Why don't you & Glenn consider setting up a tipjar with which to finance a nicely-designed "Col. Jessep was right!" T-shirt that can be distributed free to members of our military. It would be an interestingly arcane way to show respect for military culture and disrespect for Rob Reiner in one neat package.
Jack
Thinking class? Is this the class which can do nothing besides tell each other how smart they are?
Great post! I just linked to it on my blog with some of my thoughts. It brought up a good thought from one of my Pakistani friends in my comments section. Hope to get into some good discussions from this.
"Some have come out and said that having a child has made them understand better what war is about."
- - - - - - - - - - -
Indeed.
Here's an Israeli-American woman's somewhat different perspective on, uh, bearing arms:
http://westbankblog.blogspot.com/2006/04/on-holocaust-remembrance-day-m16s-and.html
I linked the pics to a bunch of my Women's College friends and the comments i got were all along the lines of how incredibly beautiful and REAL these young women are.
The artist's words just don't hold up to the truth conveyed by her prints.
being an outsider I would never be able to understand why those girls are drafted or how heroic they are or not. but after knowing the fact that universal drafting is actually practiced and widely accepted, and that young girls at 18 - an age that should be full of joy and exploration into the beauty of peaceful life - are simply taken out of school and put into some crowded tyrany-style training place and learning how to kill people, I totally understand why Israelies nowaways are neither ashamed of killing and war-making nor scared of war and fighting. it's their way of education. I had considered going to a place that highly honors education and religious morals, now I understand what price that had to be paid. the pictures are nontheless great and they portrait these young and energetic girls with an intense tone of youth, ignorance, and anxiety. obviously those girls are just barely educated that they have no nation but this one, and no choice but serve and fight for their own country. but doubtlessly, they are like the young girls of anywhere else in the world, looking innocent and beauty even in muddy uniforms and bloody wars.
being an outsider I would never be able to understand why those girls are drafted or how heroic they are or not. but after knowing the fact that universal drafting is actually practiced and widely accepted, and that young girls at 18 - an age that should be full of joy and exploration into the beauty of peaceful life - are simply taken out of school and put into some crowded tyrany-style training place and learning how to kill people, I totally understand why Israelies nowaways are neither ashamed of killing and war-making nor scared of war and fighting. it's their way of education. I had considered going to a place that highly honors education and religious morals, now I understand what price that had to be paid. the pictures are nontheless great and they portrait these young and energetic girls with an intense tone of youth, ignorance, and anxiety. obviously those girls are just barely educated that they have no nation but this one, and no choice but serve and fight for their own country. but doubtlessly, they are like the young girls of anywhere else in the world, looking innocent and beauty even in muddy uniforms and bloody wars.
Anonymous,
If the Israelis don't conscript their 18-year-olds and teach them to war, the same thing will happen to Israel's Jews as happened to their relatives under the Nazis: they will be killed by genocidal murderers. The Israelis can fight or they can die as pathetic victims of genocidal murder. They choose to fight.
There are a lot of people in the world who it seems can't stand Jews except, after the fact of murder, as pathetic victims. The prospect of armed Jews defending themselves against genocide seems to alarm many people, even drives them to hysteria. I can only wonder why.
To Michael Lonie, perhaps they have been reading Judges, and realize they don't want to meet a Deborah in real life.
I think she actually just showed them as everyday people, doing their bit for King and Country.
"If the Israelis don't conscript their 18-year-olds and teach them to war, the same thing will happen to Israel's Jews as happened to their relatives under the Nazis: they will be killed by genocidal murderers. The Israelis can fight or they can die as pathetic victims of genocidal murder. They choose to fight."
Are you people completely insane? Or are you just totally not in touch with reality. The Holocaust happened a long time ago; too long ago to justify the killing, torture, and overall denial of human rights to a group of already marginalized people. These women soldiers are depressed for a reason; they have consciences and they don't feel right about being forced into beating and killing innocent people in the name of "security". As though poor little Israel, which has the largest nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, has so much to fear from a backlash of stones and a few soviet-era rockets that have less than a 3rd of the payload of Israeli missiles used in response.
Separation walls, torture, propaganda campaigns, checkpoints, ghettos, secret police....sound familiar? I guess Hitler taught them everything they needed to know about "survival".
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