Absolutely hilarious tag in reference. Personally, I find the focus on the unmanned drones strange. There is still a human 'pulling the trigger' so to speak, and in my mind it doesn't change the actual violent act at all. I would guess that there is a profound difference on how the people being attacked feel about it, but it seems hypocritical to me to care all that much about the feelings of the people you're killing. Also, Obama has done some good, and a lot of bad. I feel that he isn't held to the same standards as presidents past for a multitude of reasons, including, but/and certainly not limited to, his race, and the fact he came after 8 years of Bush. I find this absolutely agonizing. The drones are not the greatest evil of this administration, it's all the other domestic stuff, the stuff that paves the way for more authoritarian, less good looking (Because let's face it, that's a factor)/charismatic, administrations. It's too early for this, I haven't had enough stimulants and my blood sugar is low, everything is terrible.
I had a conversation on Facebook (big mistake) with a dyed in the wool liberal Obama fanboy the other day. I asked why liberals weren't upset about the drone strikes, guantanamo, NSA spying etc and instead of answering he said, "if it's true that Obama has done those things, as did Bush, then why doesn't the GOP like him? Hmmmm what's different about him?" -Implying it's because of race. My response, "the GOP doesn't like him because he's a democrat." If Obama had an "R" next to his name, he'd be one of the most popular republicans ever. It's all marketing. It's team sports. It's religion. Best version of Blue Skies:
Very, very relevant Floyd: The drone strikes are evidently not always killing the persons we want dead. Don't you think that matters? Is there no empathy possible for people you're killing alongside the ones you want dead?but it seems hypocritical to me to care all that much about the feelings of the people you're killing.
Nononononono, not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that, innocent, or 'guilty', if a mission is launched with a drone intending to kill a person at say, a big wedding, or at home surrounded by family, it shouldn't change our opinion of the act itself. Using a remotely operated drone is just a further abstraction of using force to achieve a political end. The pilot of a F-18 or whatever we'd use doesn't want to kill the guy he's bombing, his commanders do, and they want him dead because it should accomplish a political goal of someone else halfway around the world. All you're doing is shuffling pieces around, without changing their relative power structure. It's not the act, it's the idea that even if we were using manned missions to kill these people, that doesn't somehow make it more or less evil. Edit: It's not like if we were using high altitude bombers these guys would hate us any less. Dead is dead.The drone strikes are evidently not always killing the persons we want dead. Don't you think that matters? Is there no empathy possible for people you're killing alongside the ones you want dead?
A misunderstanding from my part, then. Still: from the perspective of villagers, there's definitely a difference between an F-18 which you can see and hear, and the sky attacking you. You can see nothing coming. It is causing perpetual fear which in my opinion makes the act just a bit more evil.
Maybe it's just too subjective. When I put myself in the shoes of these people, the US can kill me at any time, with no warning, and nothing I can do about it. Being able to see it coming doesn't enter into the calculation. Also, I seriously doubt that you'd hear the plane that launched a supersonic Hellfire missile before you died.
It's not just about being able to see it coming, it's about being able to know when it's happening and when it's over. When you can either see it coming or hear/see it leaving, you at least get a feeling of relief after it's over. You can package a lot of your anxiety and fear into a discrete pocket of time. If you don't see it coming and don't know when it's over, you have to carry that fear and anxiety with you at all times.