Savaş, Propaganda ve Aydın: Bernard Shaw’un “Savaş Hakkında Ortak Akıl”’ına Gramscici Bir Yaklaşım

Yıl 2017, Cilt: 16 Sayı: 2, 438 - 451, 27.04.2017

Atalay Gündüz

https://doi.org/10.21547/jss.292342

Öz

Bu makale Shaw’un “Savaş Hakkında Ortak Akıl” (1914)
başlıklı kitapçığını İngiliz ve Alman entelektüellerinin savaş ile ilgili
yayınladıkları bildirilerin ışığında okumayı amaçlamaktadır. Hen İngiliz hem de
Alman hükümetleri daha savaşın başlangıcında aydınlardan başlattıkları savaşı
savunacak bildiriler yayınlamaları talebinde bulundu. Her iki ülkenin de önde
gelen yazarları, sanatçıları ve bilimcileri tarafından yayımlanan bu
bildirilerin hemen hepsi siyasi yapının anlatısını doğrular ve destekler ve onunla
uyumlu nitelikteydi. Bu makale Gramsci’nin entelektüeller üzerine gözlemlerini
başlangıç noktası olarak kabul eden Gramscici bir okumadır. Gramsci
entelektüellerin rolü üzerine şöyle bir saptamada bulunuyor: “entelektüeller
egemenlik mücadelesinde büyük bir rol oynarlar.” Bernard Shaw’un “Savaş
Hakkında Ortak Akıl”’ı da işte bu “hegemonya mücadelesinde” böylesine önemli
bir rol oynamayı hedefleyen bir metindir. Döneminin “ortak akıl” sayılan
fikirlerini sorgulamaya açan Shaw, savaş gibi en hayati bir konuda yurtsever ve
etnik merkezli pozisyonları konusunda, halkı çok daha sorgulayıcı ve eleştirel
olmaya davet etmektedir. Gramscici bir anlatımla Shaw halkı pek sorgulanmadan
kabul edilen “ortak akıl” (“common sense”) yerine “aklıselim” (“good sense”)
kullanmaya davet eder. Shaw “Savaş Hakkında Ortak Akıl” başlıklı eserinde işte
bu çok sorgulanmayan ortak akıla müdahele ederek onun sorgulanmasına kapı
aralamaya çalışır. İnsanlara savaş ve savaşın başlangıcı hakkındaki romantik,
yüceleştirilmiş görüşlerini bir kenara bırakmaları çağrısında bulunur.
İdeolojik farklılıklarına rağmen İngiltere’de Kipling, Bennett, Wells,
Pankhurst ve Doyle gibi bir çok ünlü siyasetçi, yazar ve aydın yurtseverlik
şemsiyesinin altında buluşmuştur. Shaw’un çıkışı bu ortak akla meydan okuyan ve
onu tartışmaya açan önemli bir metindir.       

Anahtar Kelimeler

“Savaş Hakkında Ortak Akıl”, Bernard Shaw, Birinci Dünya Savaşı, Gramsci, Propaganda

War, Propaganda and the Intellectual: A Gramscian Approach to Bernard Shaw’s “Common Sense About the War” (1914)

Öz

This essay aims to read Shaw’s
“Common Sense About the War” (1914) within the context of the British and
German intellectual’s public declarations on the war. Both British and German
governments demanded their intellectuals to defend their war to the public and
to the world. Declarations made by significant figures of both nations affirm
the narrative told by the political body. This is a Gramscian reading which
takes Gramsci’s observation on the role of intellectuals: “intellectuals play a
major role in the struggle for hegemony”. Shaw’s “Common Sense About the War”
was just that act “in the struggle for hegemony.” Challenging the “common
sense” views of his times, Shaw attempted to urge the public to be more
critical and questioning about their patriotic and ethnocentric positions on
most vital issues such as war. In Gramscian terms, he invites the public to use
“good sense” rather than the taken for granted “common sense”. Shaw uses the phrase “common sense” in his title to
invite the public to “common sense” leaving aside their romantic, idealised
views on the war and its causes. Despite their ideological differences, British public figures such as Kipling, Bennett, Wells,
Christabel Pankhurst and Doyle among others seemed all to be united at that
time of war under the banner of patriotism. Shaw’s text in this sense contests
the hegemonic discourse of the time.

Keywords: “Common Sense About the War”, Bernard Shaw, First
World War, Propaganda, Gramsci

Anahtar Kelimeler

Bernard Shaw, Gramsci, “Common Sense About the War”, First World War, Propaganda, Gramsci

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