4 ms·

"The public was scandalized by their own violence; the government embarrassed." One wonders, if there was better coverage of drone strikes and police brutality

"The public was scandalized by their own violence; the government embarrassed." One wonders, if there was better coverage of drone strikes and police brutality and everything else, if the American public might lose taste for their current regime.

a3n 12y ago
Probably. http://life.time.com/history/faces-of-the-american-dead-in-vietnam-life-magazine-june-1969/ http://life.time.com/history/faces-of-the-american-dead-in-v...
- angersock 12y ago
  That's hard to look at, even now.
senorprogrammer 12y ago
Yes, I think so. The current language around drone strikes is one of precision, sanitation, and infallibility. It's a one-way message that's easy to swallow. Faced with widely-reported counter information, such as actual photographs of "collateral damage", that spin must surely crumble. This is obviously well-known to the military, having learned from their abject failure to control reporters during Vietnam. And is why reporters are now "embedded" within the military rather than be allowed to roam free (the spin for that, of course, being "safety").
- brudgers 12y ago
  The language describing the guillotine was also scientific and technical. Likewise it was the politics of its employment that had to cope with violent currents in human emotion.
vacri 12y ago
Absolutely. The media access to the Vietnam War taught the American military to keep journalists away from the business end of things.
jeffpetes 12y ago
I'm not sure if people would lose their taste for drone strikes. The reason people were upset about Vietnam had nothing to do with how many NVA or VC were killed (despite the fact that more than 10 times as many North Vietnamese soldiers died as did Americans, and often in much less palatable ways) but everything to do with the number of Americans slaughtered in living color for what seemed like no good reason. With drone strikes, the harm only happens to the other guy (and yes, civilians can be "other guys"), and currently the other guy is pretty widely reviled in the US. There is already widespread guncam footage of drone strikes, as well as helicopter rocket attacks, gunship strafing, and bombing runs which give you pretty much the best seat in the house to view them. The aftermath can frequently be seen in mainstream news sources. I think the American public likes drone strikes just as much as "the current regime" and more videos won't really change that.
- srean 12y ago
  Could not agree with this more. American establishment has so successfully managed to utterly caricaturize the victims that they dont register as people to the average populace. And excuse my awkward historical observation: USA has had no trouble bombing the crap out of a non-white populations. Its only when some of that killing comes near home that it becomes an issue for debate. I dont think it would be drastically different this time. Just the other day I was in a cab, the driver was American. He suggested one should carve up a nuke in the shape of Iran and Iraq and then set it off there, end of problem. Of course this is an extreme position and just an anecdote, but just that its not as fringe a belief as I think it should be. Such a view enjoys more sympathy than it should.
enraged_camel 12y ago
Yes, of course. Don't you remember the massive controversy surrounding the Wikileaks video titled "Collateral Murder" that was released back in 2010?

a3n 12y ago

Probably. http://life.time.com/history/faces-of-the-american-dead-in-vietnam-life-magazine-june-1969/ http://life.time.com/history/faces-of-the-american-dead-in-v...

angersock 12y ago
That's hard to look at, even now.

senorprogrammer 12y ago

Yes, I think so. The current language around drone strikes is one of precision, sanitation, and infallibility. It's a one-way message that's easy to swallow. Faced with widely-reported counter information, such as actual photographs of "collateral damage", that spin must surely crumble. This is obviously well-known to the military, having learned from their abject failure to control reporters during Vietnam. And is why reporters are now "embedded" within the military rather than be allowed to roam free (the spin for that, of course, being "safety").

brudgers 12y ago
The language describing the guillotine was also scientific and technical. Likewise it was the politics of its employment that had to cope with violent currents in human emotion.

vacri 12y ago

Absolutely. The media access to the Vietnam War taught the American military to keep journalists away from the business end of things.

jeffpetes 12y ago

I'm not sure if people would lose their taste for drone strikes. The reason people were upset about Vietnam had nothing to do with how many NVA or VC were killed (despite the fact that more than 10 times as many North Vietnamese soldiers died as did Americans, and often in much less palatable ways) but everything to do with the number of Americans slaughtered in living color for what seemed like no good reason. With drone strikes, the harm only happens to the other guy (and yes, civilians can be "other guys"), and currently the other guy is pretty widely reviled in the US. There is already widespread guncam footage of drone strikes, as well as helicopter rocket attacks, gunship strafing, and bombing runs which give you pretty much the best seat in the house to view them. The aftermath can frequently be seen in mainstream news sources. I think the American public likes drone strikes just as much as "the current regime" and more videos won't really change that.

srean 12y ago
Could not agree with this more. American establishment has so successfully managed to utterly caricaturize the victims that they dont register as people to the average populace. And excuse my awkward historical observation: USA has had no trouble bombing the crap out of a non-white populations. Its only when some of that killing comes near home that it becomes an issue for debate. I dont think it would be drastically different this time. Just the other day I was in a cab, the driver was American. He suggested one should carve up a nuke in the shape of Iran and Iraq and then set it off there, end of problem. Of course this is an extreme position and just an anecdote, but just that its not as fringe a belief as I think it should be. Such a view enjoys more sympathy than it should.

enraged_camel 12y ago

Yes, of course. Don't you remember the massive controversy surrounding the Wikileaks video titled "Collateral Murder" that was released back in 2010?