by seahorse » Thu 04 Aug 2005, 01:32:41
Honestpessimist?
Can death ever be oversensationalized? How can the press oversensationalize the death of anyone, especially in war? War is death, and the value of pursuing any war has to be measured by its ultimate cost, which is the amount of death it takes to pursue it, to justify it,to attain the victory. How is it we look back at other wars, or battles, like the Battle of the Somme, and think how ridiculous is was to waste all those lives. How is it okay to measure the past by weighing the human cost and yet that same measure not be allowed here?
How, though, can death in any context be oversensationalized? Isn't "death" the ultimate question anyway? Do church's oversensationlize death by preaching hell?
But, I disagree with your position that the cost of the Iraqi war, as measured in death to either side, is being oversensationlized. In fact, the evidence is just the opposite - by not showing the photos of death, the war is being desationalized. Americans have no idea what the ramnifications of the war are, for they are not allowed to know. for example, its illegal to publish photos of the coffins coming home and Nightline gets crucified for listing the names of the dead. Our government is keeping the cost of the war from the people by desationalizing the aspect of death and human cost.
How could I ever agree with you that the war deaths are being over sensationlized if you don't tell me what it is we are pursuing? In the end, all things are measured by the goal. Every day, police make the decision to conduct or not conduct a high speed pursuit based on the risk to human life, how is war any different? All things are measured by the goal and the human costs to achieve that goal. So, tell me what the goal is in Iraq, so that I may then measure the cost of the war, and then, based on that cost, form an opinion as to whether that cost is justified.
After you tell me what the goal is, then tell me how many deaths on either side are acceptable. And, what degree of force is justified? Nukes?
If you believe that any amount of American deaths in pursuit of the goal is justified, then tell me why aren't we drafting? For surely, if a nation is justified in pursuing war, all people are called upon to make the sacrifice. A nation's pursuit of war can never be justified on the basis it has a volunteer army. The pursuit of war can never be justified that the goal of killing is justified bc we can pay people enough money to do it. People kill for lots of reasons unrelated to the cause of the war. People kill for money, anger, bc they like it, so don't attempt to justify a nation's pursuit of war based on the fact there are people signing up to fight and die. This is what the mafia does, pays hitmen. Is our country to be no better than a mafia hitman? If having enough money to pay people to kill for you is all the justification needed, then America, being the richest country in the world, needs no justification to wage war. War simply cannot be justified based a countries economic ability to wage the war, this does morality a great injustice. To justify the pursuit of war, the nation, as a whole, has to be comitted to fight and die for that cause, and this means willing to draft. War is nation's sacrifice, not a "mercenary" pursuit.
Its by desationalizing this war that we keep getting volunteers for it. By not allowing our people to see the true cost of the war, to both sides, we perpetuate the myth that this war is advancing the cause of freedom and justice. Its funny how people like Cheney, Bush, Wolfowitz, Rove, none of them fought when their generation had the chance in Vietnam. Funny how none of their kids are over there in Iraq right now. Funny how easy it is to justify a war when there is no personal risk involved.
But, those volunteers are over there right now, eating shitty MREs, sweating in level four flak jackets, and pulling guard tonight trying to survive, are doing so bc they believe that what they have volunteered to do somehow advances America's cause. Yet, if one of these brave young men or women dies, you accuse the press of oversensationalizing the death by talking about it. Where does your desensitizing stop? Should we quit putting flags on the coffins? Does playing taps oversensationalize the death? Maybe, we shouldn't even have funerals, maybe, in the picture perfect world, the bodies would just be left to dry in the desert, no funeral, no hype, no sensationalization of the death. No no no. We can't quit playing taps and putting flags on the coffins, because that's not sensationalizing, that's instilling and perpetuating patriotism - those things perpetuate the myth of the cause, so we have to keep them, to keep people volunteering. In the end, we get our "warriors" to fight and die, just like the jihadest, we desationalize the death and human cost and emphasize the honor in death part.
Your fallacy is that no one volunteers to die, death comes to all of us. Your fallacy lies in the fact you want to honor death to perpetuate the myth of the cause, yet never measure the cause against its costs.
The truth is, death in Iraq is not being sensationalized, bc those pictures of the six dead marines that you can only find on the internet after hard searching don't lie, but not showing the pictures of their dead bodies, and not showing their returning coffins, and only waiving the flag is the perpetuation of a myth, that this war is about "continuing the cause of freedom and justice." How though, do we advance the cause of freedom by killing the people we are trying to free? How do we free people that don't want to be free? How do we justify the bodies of the dead and maimed by anything that we have gained or hope to attain?
So, we continue to get volunteers for this war by desationalizing the death and human cost, we offer big bonues, and perpetuate a myth, that they are dying for their country, the great American jihad. In the end, they are volunteering to die for men like Cheney and Rove that never fought for anything except personal gain, and that's not worth dying for.