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FirmhandKY -> RE: Reeducating The Masses Through NewSpeak (5/5/2009 4:04:10 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: slvemike4u
Unfortunately there are no "clean" wars...nor it would seem "clean"strikes.The innocent often die no matter the ideology of the bomb thrower.
We in the west(well certainly in the United States)have the luxury of a modern military...so we can delude ourselves that we make every attempt to avoid the loss of innocent lives.This is nothing more than a delusion....we ,like all others involved in conflict make value judgements as a matter of course...this high value target measured against that many collateral victims.
We tend to think of these "judgements" as more civilised than those of the terrorist...and I have no doubt we are.But playing Devil's Advocate here for a minute......what if we were stripped of all our advantages....The technological advantages we enjoy stripped away in a blink of an eye.Reduced to abject poverty in an instant......what would we be capable of?
Mike,
It certainly is an interesting hypothetical, and perhaps worthy of a thread all of its own.
However, I do see some convoluted logic in your setup to the question:
Unfortunately there are no "clean" wars...nor it would seem "clean"strikes.
True, and accurate statement.
The innocent often die no matter the ideology of the bomb thrower.
True, and accurate statement.
We in the west (well certainly in the United States)have the luxury of a modern military...
True, and accurate statement.
...so we can delude ourselves that we make every attempt to avoid the loss of innocent lives. This is nothing more than a delusion....
These statements I have difficulty with.
Do you mean we do not make an honest attempt to avoid unnecessary loss of innocent life? I believe we take more measures, and risk more treasure and lives to reduce "collateral damage" more than any other society or military in the world, in history. Certainly, sometimes we screw it up, or fail to follow our best instincts. But those exceptions certainly highlight that fact that our normal procedure in this type of combat is not to be indiscriminate in our killing.
... we ,like all others involved in conflict make value judgements as a matter of course...this high value target measured against that many collateral victims.
True, and accurate statement.
We tend to think of these "judgements" as more civilised than those of the terrorist...and I have no doubt we are.
Again, a true, and accurate statement.
So why the whole "delusion" stuff? Am I missing something?
Firm
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