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Americans are simply not interested in the victims of their wars. It runs counter to every iota of American culture, to acknowledge the failures of their warri
by mmjaa 8y ago
Americans are simply not interested in the victims of their wars. It runs counter to every iota of American culture, to acknowledge the failures of their warrior-classes, alas.
But, you should know, the article did mention the casualties, at least glibly. "Many more Afghani's have died than were lost in the 9/11 attacks", is the only context the author can find, to appeal to his readers.
Its a sad state of affairs when the worlds greatest nation is populated with its worst cowards. Americans should have a War Channel that shows them what their military-industrial-pharmaceutical masters are doing around the world, 24-hours a day. Only then would the honour and pride demanded of American servants of its military be placed in the proper context.
- skrebbel 8y ago> Its a sad state of affairs when the worlds greatest nation is populated with its worst cowards. To be honest I don't see any evidence of Americans being bigger cowards than anybody else. Also eg European media does exactly the same sort of thing. I suspect it's pretty much a global phenomenon. I had just hoped that, of all outlets, NYT could at some point grow past it's navel gazing self, given how relatively balanced their reporting is in many other fields.
- mmjaa 8y agoNobody wants to be confronted with their nations' real crimes, its true. But Americans have gone far beyond the point where they are able to confront the results of their out-of-control military-industrial-complex. Still, I suppose you're right - its not as bad as the Australians, for example.
- roenxi 8y agoCrickey. I am onboard with your actual point, but consider painting the picture without such broad strokes. There are something like 320 million Americans, and their culture is an impressive mishmash of every other culture that the world has ever produced, held together by string and elbow grease. Give it a little respect, even if you do want to lay out a little of the realpolitik. "Not supporting the troops" is a conversation ender up there with accusations of racism and sexism. But the issues there are much more complicated than no-one being interested.
- mmjaa 8y agoI care not a fig for the constitution of a culture which allows the wanton and wilful destruction of civilisation without any recourse, responsibility, or indeed care in the world. Americans, willing recipients of its treasures, have nevertheless let their military-industrial-pharmaceutical complex run rampant over the worlds "lesser nations" for far too long, and the mechanism by which they fail, as a culture, to take any responsibility for any of it is exactly as you describe. There is no respect due to a people who allow innocents to be murdered in their name with no recourse, no justice. Zero respect deserved.
- zepto 8y agoWhat culture hasn’t allowed for that?
- mmjaa 8y agoThe list of countries that are not invading others and destroying their civilisation is pretty long. You should educate yourself about the world.
- zepto 8y agoWe’re talking about cultures that allow innocents to be murdered in their name. All cultures allow this. No culture has yet transcended it. It’s fine not to respect humanity at its current level of development, but nationalism is hardly the solution.
- mmjaa 8y agoAmerica and its allies are wantonly killing innocents in the name of their war economy. This does not make for a strong moral position...
- BLKNSLVR 8y agoThere are between zero and very few that would be left to cast the first stone. I'm definitely not trying to defend the stereotype of the standard wilfully ignorant US citizen, but I think the stereotype would be representative of most cultures who have had enough 'victories' (or been told they've had enough victories) that they feel they're deserving of their prizes. To rearrange your wording slightly: I care not a fig for the constitution of a species which allows the wanton and wilful destruction of it's sustaining environment without any recourse, responsibility, or indeed care in the world. Nighty night humanity.
- Joakal 8y agoWhy did USA get so up in arms with Korea, Vietnam War, etc but not USA's ongoing Afghanistan/(Iraq?) war?
- krylon 8y agoPresumably because of the military draft, which was abolished in the aftermath of the Vietnam war, IIRC.
- HedgeSparrow 8y agoI also suspect fatigue. For a lot of US citizens, the war has taken place a for a majority of their (our) life.
- mmjaa 8y agoBecause after Vietnam, Americans were not allowed to see the results of their warfare on television. Were it possible to publish war-crimes evidence freely and without military oversight, Americans would have much less lust for the wars they have been conned into paying for ..
- ataturk 8y agoBecause communism was a very real and very dangerous threat to a lot of people and that we at least tried to contain/stop it and thereby save the lives of millions of ungrateful people. At least that is what I want to believe because otherwise the answer is that the US war machine has a will of its own. Note: Afghanistan was in response to 9/11, but one day we will all know who was really behind 9/11 and I will wager that the intelligence community is itself to blame for aiding and abetting and bringing to life that event for their own devious purposes, up to and including a bailout of the broken financial system. Look at who benefitted the most and then work back to who controls that system and you will know who really did the deed. The bullshit conspiracy theories exist only to confuse people and force them to believe the media narrative of how the event took place. You are not supposed to remember that George HW Bush led the CIA, or that the Bush family itself has very long roots with not only the CIA but also the Nazi regime and that Prescott Bush once considered a coup against FDR. No, you're not supposed to remember all that, or that these men all come from Yale, in particular one fraternity at that school. Those are all just conspiracy theories you see?