dagblog - Comments for "The afghan war:collective guilt without agency. Collective punishment without proportionality. Instinctively, America recoils"

That is actually a brilliant rendering of Stalin's famous line (from memory) one dead child is a tragedy. ten thousand dead children are a statistic. One of the "tells" of our racist/imperial mindset is the way that our dead have names that demand annual repetition (Okla City, World Trade Center...) whereas the collaterally damaged never have names.

I would argue that the recent

jollyroger — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:26:36 +0000

In reply to "The flaws are built into the

I would argue that the recent massacre is merely the logical extension of the concept of "collateral damage", superimposed on a force stressed beyond all previous limits to deployment, only "functioning" via massive psychotropic medical intervention, and mobilized in pursuit of unattainable (and undesirable) results.

Sheesh!

Part owner of Murder,

A Guy Called LULU — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:23:02 +0000

In reply to "The flaws are built into the

Part owner of Murder, Incorporated is a very good metaphor, methinks. The easy acceptance of all the killing reminds me of a cynical crack a friend made years ago. We were eating lunch and reading the paper and I saw an article about famine.

Me, "Listen to this, Eddy. It says a million people died this past year in China from starvation!" [Million? Billion? I can't remember, but it was a tragically large number]
Eddy, "Oh yeah, name one."

We laughed and went on eating.

"The flaws are built into the

acanuck — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:12:39 +0000

In reply to The afghan war:collective guilt without agency. Collective punishment without proportionality. Instinctively, America recoils

"The flaws are built into the tool."

Exactly, Jolly.

And the horror is that the United States has built -- and integrated into its economy, policies, society, strategic thinking and world view -- the most perfect, state-of-the-art, ridiculously expensive version of that tool one could ever imagine.

The perfect hammer for any nail, screw, nut and bolt, cork, twist-top or moral dilemma.

So it gets repeatedly picked up, and used. Over and over.

The hammer has a mind of its own, plus it's got loads of money, so it has a vast lobbying machine to ensure that everyone else continues to think like it does.

So a docile public keeps parroting the "bad apple" explanation for atrocity. It's easier than coming to grips with being part-owner of Murder, Incorporated.

Who are the one in four who

jollyroger — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:32:03 +0000

In reply to The afghan war:collective guilt without agency. Collective punishment without proportionality. Instinctively, America recoils

Who are the one in four who thinks things are going well in Afghanistan...what are they smoking?

dagblog - Comments for "The afghan war:collective guilt without agency. Collective punishment without proportionality. Instinctively, America recoils"

?As you apply a law

New wall hanging at the

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

He didn't say it??

A great quote, and it sure

"Oh yeah, name one." ​That is

I would argue that the recent

Part owner of Murder,

"The flaws are built into the

Who are the one in four who

"Oh yeah, name one." That is