I find drone strikes emotionally unsatisfying.

[Mr Person]

While I support the drone strike today that killed the ISIS-k "planner" and I really don't like endangering our military people, I find killing our enemies with a drone strike emotionally unsatisfying.

Now that is a sociopathic post.

wtf?

 

[Cordelier]

I'm not one of those who thinks that all killing should be man to man up close and personal.

But I do think when humans kill other humans that humans should at least be in the general area with a key role in deciding when and where the "trigger is pulled".

I don't like the idea of nuclear missiles being used either besides the obvious reasons.

Are you familiar with the concept of "sin-eating"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin-eater

 

[Dayton3]

Maybe we can dress the troops as Imperial Stormtroopers from Star Wars in the next inevitable war, will that satisfy your Imperial lust for even more war?

I don't have any "lust for even more war".

Otherwise your post is an ignorant waste of time.

 

[Dayton3]

Are you familiar with the concept of "sin-eating"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin-eater

How is that relevant?

 

[notquiteright]

How is that relevant?

So I took a bit of time to try my best to create a polite post, let's see what happens...

You admit you never was a 'trigger yanker' or will ever have your ass in the grass. Much of your mindset comes from mimicking your father. I'd opine it really doesn't matter what satisfies your 'code of conduct' for a righteous kill. So little in combat is 'righteous', little 'honor' in kill or be killed and seeing who you kill doesn't make it better. We used to say the best ambush is one where every enemy weapon was still on safe when you policed them up. Nothing but brutal works and I never understood trying to create degrees of good when it comes to slaughtering people who's only fault was backing the wrong political leader and wearing the wrong uniform...

I think I missed your reply to my question- how much more information does the Fighter Driver have at oh dark 30 when he pickles off a smart bomb and flies it through an apartment window compared to a 'droney' doing the same thing with the same targeting systems???

Now I don't have a warm fuzzy for drone operators. None for video gamers who think being at a certain level makes them salty. War sucks major buttocks no matter how it's conducted. I'm 135% against awarding dronies combat medals for drone kills. Those traditionally are awarded to combatants in the same zip code as those they battle. Perhaps bronze, sliver, and gold Mario medals for the drone operators, perhaps a V clasp if they get carpal tunnel from 'flying' so many missions.

But I wouldn't stop drone attacks, just be aware every time a smart bomb kills a group of civilians the unintended consequences multiply. But that's little different from a bunch of 'contractors' (mercs) machinegunning civilians or fighters strafing a wedding party...

How was that for polite- I struggle with that sometimes...

 

[Cordelier]

How is that relevant?

All killing - even killing those who do us ill - is a sin. Killing collateral civilians is a sin. The vast majority of US civilians who have never done these things, but in whose name these things are done can absolve themselves because the men and women who actually do the killing are effectively our sin-eaters. Ask yourself how "emotionally satisfying" it is for a sniper or a drone pilot or a target designator to watch a target for hours or days - watch their every move, watch them interact with their families... get to know their schedules and routines... develop an intimacy with the target. And then kill them. Not only them, but potentially their whole families as well. You may write it off as some "academic exercise", but it isn't. It's real... and the people who do the job know how real it is.

 

[Luce]

I do not "get my rocks off" or anything like that.

Your thread title says otherwise.

 

[Dayton3]

All killing - even killing those who do us ill - is a sin.

No it isn't. In fact failing to kill some people is a far greater sin.

 

[Cordelier]

No it isn't. In fact failing to kill some people is a far greater sin.

That's a platitude, Dayton. Unless you're a sociopath, every one extracts a toll.

 

[Dayton3]

That's a platitude, Dayton. Unless you're a sociopath, every one extracts a toll.

Some tolls are worse that others.

 

[vegas giants]

Some tolls are worse that others.

I wish to be emotionally satisfied!!!!


Empty your magazines and fix bayonets only!!!!!!

 

[armycowboy]

Some tolls are worse that others.

Honestly, how would you know.

 

[Cordelier]

Some tolls are worse that others.

Be very thankful you have the luxury to indulge in such platitudes while others eat your sins.

 

[Deuce]

Well this thread is all kinds of disturbing.

 

[Manc Skipper]

The Afghan fiasco began and ended with innocent drone casua... deaths. Though perhaps casual describes the attitude of some to the litany of "collateral damage"

 

[Dayton3]

Honestly, how would you know.

I learn the way most people learn.

 

[Grand Mal]

No it isn't. In fact failing to kill some people is a far greater sin.

If there is a hell, being a willing participant in warfare is probably a good way to get there.

 

[Dayton3]

If there is a hell, being a willing participant in warfare is probably a good way to get there.

Why?

There are things worse than war.

 

[Grand Mal]

Why?

There are things worse than war.

Ever been a civilian caught up in a war? Ever spoken to someone who was?
Not many things are worse than war for causing terrible damage to innocent people. To whole populations of innocent people. Anyone who willingly participates in such things will be next in line after the ones who cause it to happen in the first place are dealt with.
If there ever actually is that kind of reckoning.

 

[Dayton3]

Ever been a civilian caught up in a war? Ever spoken to someone who was?

No. Yes.

 

[lwf]

And i don't like that. Now I don't go on about killing needing to be face to face or anything like that but I find the idea of humans killing humans thousands of miles away at the touch of a button distatefull and distinctly unsatisfying.

Distasteful or unsatisfying? Unsatisfying implies you want more. Distasteful implies you want less.

 

[swing_voter]

Ever been a civilian caught up in a war? Ever spoken to someone who was?
Not many things are worse than war for causing terrible damage to innocent people. To whole populations of innocent people. Anyone who willingly participates in such things will be next in line after the ones who cause it to happen in the first place are dealt with.
If there ever actually is that kind of reckoning.

Canada helped us build the nukes we dropped on Japan. Hundreds of thousands of innocents dead. Are Canadians going to hell?

Canada, Racism, Genocide, and the Bomb: The Legacy of C.D. Howe | The Dominion

www.dominionpaper.ca

WATCHDOG: Canada’s role in the bombing of Hiroshima

This past week marked the 70th anniversary of the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

www.toronto.com

“It is fortunate that the use of the bomb should have been upon the Japanese rather than upon the white races of Europe.”

William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canadian Secretary of War

 

[Grand Mal]

Canada helped us build the nukes we dropped on Japan. Hundreds of thousands of innocents dead. Are Canadians going to hell?

Canada, Racism, Genocide, and the Bomb: The Legacy of C.D. Howe | The Dominion

www.dominionpaper.ca

WATCHDOG: Canada’s role in the bombing of Hiroshima

This past week marked the 70th anniversary of the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

www.toronto.com

“It is fortunate that the use of the bomb should have been upon the Japanese rather than upon the white races of Europe.”

William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canadian Secretary of War

Well, this is pretty weird.
I know Canadian history probably better than you and I'm very well aware of the racism in it, personal racism and racist government policy. That's been front and centre in our news for months, actually.
If you think I think Canada is somehow absolved of guilt for the terrible consequences of warfare, racially motivated warfare or any other kind, well, all I can say is I'm perplexed where you got that idea from.

 

[Luce]

Why?

There are things worse than war.

How would you know?

 

[Dayton3]

How would you know?

I learned the way almost everyone (including you) learns.