What we die for is real
(Koenigsberg's Law of Sacrifice)
Human beings die and kill in the name of truth: to prove the reality of a sacred ideal. The nature of the entity or idea for which human beings die and kill is fungible. Among these ideas or ideologies:
  • France
  • Germany
  • The British Empire
  • The (Japanese) Emperor
  • Allah
  • Freedom and democracy
  • A Tamil homeland
  • A more perfect union
The mechanism is the same, regardless of the nature of the idea: death--and memorials erected in the name of those who have died—testify to the truth or reality of the entity or ideal. Death and memorialization perform a validation function. That for which we die...must be real.