Thursday, June 12, 2008

U.S. Soldier Murders a Puppy

So, one of the hot topics this week on the internet was the now infamous video of a U.S. Marine throwing a cuddly, little puppy off a cliff while it yelps in fright. Said Marine has been kicked the fucked out of the Marines and the other Marines participating in the video are under disciplinary actions now.

While this is indeed disgusting and vile, why are so many people nationwide up at arms about this? Hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent men, women, and children are being killed by American soldiers every month in Iraq. The estimated total is somewhere between 84,389 to 92,067 civilian deaths.

Can we, as a populous, not wrap our heads around the massive statistics of death coming out of Iraq? The little boys and girls getting their faces blown off... do we really need to see a graphic video of that to get us upset?

I mean, the power is with us. We can all get upset about a dead puppy and we can light the internet on fire about animal cruelty.

How's about lighting the internet on fire about the gigantic clusterfuck of death going on the Middle East. You know? The War? The one with all our names attached to it?

3 comments:

sukie310 said...

You are right of course, we should be much more up on arms about the deaths in Iraq both civilian and miltary. None of these people had to die. However, their deaths remain an abstract idea. We don't have a video of an individual being tortured and murdered. When we do see specific things, there is an outcry as was witnessed by the photos of the Iraqi's being tortured while the soldiers posed seemingly inured to their prisoners situation. This is the same thing with this video. We actually get to witness a horrific cruelty being enacted on an innocent being by two of our soldiers. And the appropriate response was the outcry we saw.

... said...

So, we're like a bunch of third graders. We have to have everything played out in front of us, clear and graphic, in order for us to get angry?

No, but I understand your point.

Also, if read my review about Errol Morris' new film, photos and videos can have the opposite affect: They can divert our attention away from what's NOT on camera.

sukie310 said...

steven, if you'll recall, the white house put out an order forbidding coffins of returning soldiers from being shown on TV. There is a reason for that. The Vietnam War ended because people became up in arms by what was being broadcasted into their homes nightly at dinnertime. Notably we do not have graphic images of Iraq along with our dinner entrees and there is a very real reason for that....