Why do Americans hate beheadings but love drone killings? What accounts for our irrational response to these two very different forms of illegal execution, one very profitable and high-tech, usually resulting in many collateral deaths and injuries, and the other very low-tech, but provoking fear and righteous condemnation from the citizens whose country prefers the high-tech?
The answer lies in human psychology. And probably like the old observation about history, people who refuse to understand human psychology are doomed to be victims of psychological manipulation. How is it that even members of peace groups have now come to support U.S. bombing?
One woman framed the issue like this: “I request that we discuss and examine why the videotaped beheading of a human being is understood to be more egregious than the explosion (almost totally invisible to the public) of a human being by a missile or bomb fired from a drone.”
H/t Terry Eaton.
Eric Holder, civil libertarian that he is, told all of us that Obama wasn’t violating the US Constitution by killing American citizens without due process. Holder also told us that bombing Syria was not an act of war, therefore Obama was not violating the US Constitution when he dropped bombs on Syrian territory. Eric Holder is absolutely wrong on both counts. Holder is either lying through his teeth to cover Obama’s ass or he’s completely clueless about international and Constitutional law. It really doesn’t matter which. Because it can be proven in a court of law that Obama has violated both the US Constitution and international law. For Obama, the constitutional lawyer, to defend himself by claiming ignorance of the law is laughable. The oligarchy keeps the people in a permanent state of confusion. Beginning in kindergarten.
Being in love means never having to say you’re sorry.
Just like American exceptionalism.
Let’s cleanse AP US history of these nattering nabobs of negativism.
“almost totally invisible to the public”
Isn’t that the answer right there? If the US made videos of the actual deaths in explicit detail, there’d be more public awareness.
Another similar situation: the gruesome deaths of women lynched by various local customs. No video on the evening news/Twitter/whatever. No awareness.
(I’m NOT suggesting horrible videos be more visible. What I want is a better world where the subject matter doesn’t exist!)