(...)
What’s striking about this languid approach to the human toll is the apparent and sustained indifference to the colossal scale of suffering Iraqis have endured as a result of the U.S. invasion and occupation. Very little attention is paid to the displaced (still more than three million people) or the health effects of war (a spike in birth defects, for example). Google “health effects of Iraq war” and you will see predominantly the health effects for U.S. soldiers—PTSD, suicides, respiratory problems from “burn pits”— a perfect reflection of how American society reacts to all its wars. American soldiers are valorized and the native populations are forgotten, sometimes even blamed for the misfortunes besetting the U.S. intervention.
Keep in mind that these are populations—Iraqi, Afghan, Vietnamese, Korean—which we went in to ‘save’ in some fashion or another. Yet once there, once the grueling experience of combat has taken its toll on public enthusiasm, the American public is quickly ready to turn away from the whole mess. There are few, if any charities for Iraqi orphans or widows, no television documentaries about Iraqis and the war, no films or novels ingrained into the American consciousness. President Obama, speaking at the end of U.S. military deployments in Iraq in late 2011, did not mention the cost of war to Iraqis, their sacrifices or their misery. More importantly, virtually no one pointed out his lack of sympathy. That is indifference.
(...)
Teju Cole’s comment (given to Mother Jones) that the use of drones in Yemen and Pakistan and other faraway places has revealed an “empathy gap” among the American people is striking; it’s an excellent, shorthand way of describing this repeated phenomenon of not caring about people on whom we are spending billions of dollars to save or liberate or make into good consumers. It does not explain the why of the empathy gap, this vast carelessness and callousness, but it does at least point it out. I explain the empathy gap as a combination of racism, American exceptionalism, and the instinct to turn away from unpleasant truths. Drone warfare fits these categories neatly. Full story...
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What’s striking about this languid approach to the human toll is the apparent and sustained indifference to the colossal scale of suffering Iraqis have endured as a result of the U.S. invasion and occupation. Very little attention is paid to the displaced (still more than three million people) or the health effects of war (a spike in birth defects, for example). Google “health effects of Iraq war” and you will see predominantly the health effects for U.S. soldiers—PTSD, suicides, respiratory problems from “burn pits”— a perfect reflection of how American society reacts to all its wars. American soldiers are valorized and the native populations are forgotten, sometimes even blamed for the misfortunes besetting the U.S. intervention.
Keep in mind that these are populations—Iraqi, Afghan, Vietnamese, Korean—which we went in to ‘save’ in some fashion or another. Yet once there, once the grueling experience of combat has taken its toll on public enthusiasm, the American public is quickly ready to turn away from the whole mess. There are few, if any charities for Iraqi orphans or widows, no television documentaries about Iraqis and the war, no films or novels ingrained into the American consciousness. President Obama, speaking at the end of U.S. military deployments in Iraq in late 2011, did not mention the cost of war to Iraqis, their sacrifices or their misery. More importantly, virtually no one pointed out his lack of sympathy. That is indifference.
(...)
Teju Cole’s comment (given to Mother Jones) that the use of drones in Yemen and Pakistan and other faraway places has revealed an “empathy gap” among the American people is striking; it’s an excellent, shorthand way of describing this repeated phenomenon of not caring about people on whom we are spending billions of dollars to save or liberate or make into good consumers. It does not explain the why of the empathy gap, this vast carelessness and callousness, but it does at least point it out. I explain the empathy gap as a combination of racism, American exceptionalism, and the instinct to turn away from unpleasant truths. Drone warfare fits these categories neatly. Full story...
Related posts:
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