[REMINDER] In the US, mass child killings are tragedies. In Pakistan, mere bug splats

“Mere words cannot match the depths of your sorrow, nor can they heal your wounded hearts … These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.” Every parent can connect with what President Barack Obama said about the murder of 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut. There can scarcely be a person on earth with access to the media who is untouched by the grief of the people of that town.

It must follow that what applies to the children murdered there by a deranged young man also applies to the children murdered in Pakistan by a sombre American president. These children are just as important, just as real, just as deserving of the world’s concern. Yet there are no presidential speeches or presidential tears for them, no pictures on the front pages of the world’s newspapers, no interviews with grieving relatives, no minute analysis of what happened and why.

If the victims of Mr Obama’s drone strikes are mentioned by the state at all, they are discussed in terms which suggest that they are less than human. The people who operate the drones, Rolling Stone magazine reports, describe their casualties as “bug splats”, “since viewing the body through a grainy-green video image gives the sense of an insect being crushed”. Or they are reduced to vegetation: justifying the drone war, Obama’s counterterrorism adviser Bruce Riedel explained that “you’ve got to mow the lawn all the time. The minute you stop mowing, the grass is going to grow back”.

[…]

In the US, mass child killings are tragedies. In Pakistan, mere bug splats | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian

46 Notes/ Hide

  1. tatrtotz reblogged this from liberally-biased-banana-stand
  2. silas216 reblogged this from america-wakiewakie
  3. chempsych reblogged this from jimmy-carrs-laugh
  4. aliceincrohnsland reblogged this from america-wakiewakie
  5. jimmy-carrs-laugh reblogged this from anonymissexpress
  6. umph reblogged this from randomactsofchaos
  7. dom72 reblogged this from anonymissexpress
  8. pfowolf reblogged this from america-wakiewakie and added:
    This is nothing but revolting, disgusting and immoral. Shame on you, President OBama. We should at least give the dead...
  9. palestiniangirl88 reblogged this from anunnakisinombre69
  10. liberally-biased-banana-stand reblogged this from randomactsofchaos
  11. anunnakisinombre69 reblogged this from america-wakiewakie
  12. randomactsofchaos reblogged this from america-wakiewakie
  13. overturnedbicycles reblogged this from america-wakiewakie
  14. m-a-y-hem reblogged this from occupyv
  15. occupyv reblogged this from america-wakiewakie
  16. yourfriendlyneighborhoodpsycho reblogged this from america-wakiewakie
  17. gilthemisandristoverlord reblogged this from america-wakiewakie
  18. america-wakiewakie reblogged this from cultureofresistance
  19. femmeviva reblogged this from skyghe
  20. mollyfamous reblogged this from skyghe
  21. oldparasitesingle reblogged this from cultureofresistance
  22. humansscareme reblogged this from cultureofresistance
  23. skyghe reblogged this from anonymissexpress
  24. cultureofresistance reblogged this from anonymissexpress and added:
    In the US, mass child killings are tragedies. In Pakistan, mere bug splats | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The...
  25. anonymissexpress posted this