Remote control combat blurs ethics
Technology combined with the lust for war is making killing easier — virtually.
By Robert RomanoThe Guardsman
Technology combined with the lust for war is making killing easier — virtually.The modern military uses wireless technology to fly military attack drones known as unmanned aerial vehicles to destroy targets from a distance, sometimes from the other side of the world. When soldiers finish their virtual destruction duties, they simply go home to their families and loved ones. This is definitely not a happy ending. It just makes killing easier to live with. In an August 2009 Popular Science article by Eric Hagerman, U.S. Air Force Captain Adam Brockshus said what lured him into flying UAVs, “was not the ‘magic’ of bombing targets each day from afar, but being able to tuck his kids in at night.”The article also tells the story of a 19-year-old high school dropout recruited by the Army as a pilot instructor because of his high level of video game skills. This “antiseptic” killing insures no physical harm to the soldier. Conversely, it makes the reality of killing other human beings unreal. Drones dehumanize something that should never be dehumanized: the belief that life is important.UAV attacks are imprecise. According to a New York Times opinion piece by David Kilcullen, a former adviser to General David Petraeus: “Errors lead to attacks that kill more civilians than terrorists - and thus drive civilians into the arms of local militants.” Instead of the surgical removal of terrorists, UAV attacks are creating new generations of people who’s families have been killed by America.The next generation’s hate towards America will perpetuate false patriotism by fundamentalists on both sides of the world, fueling an “endless war.”Schools receiving funding from George Bush's No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 are, upon request, required to surrender students’ records to the U.S. military. This allows them the same access to personal information that employers and colleges have. This keeps the military’s database of future recruits fully loaded.To energize the war effort in 2002 the U.S Army released “America’s Army,” a free video game that simulates different aspects of being a soldier. According to the Army’s website, the game is meant “to provide civilians with insights on soldiering from the barracks to the battlefields.” In a July 2008 article from Truthout.com, Michael B. Regan explained: “Army weapons specialists worked with developers to ensure aim, fire, sound and reload functions for all of the game's weapons were as close to the real thing as possible.” “America’s Army” plants the thought that killing is, in fact, a game. The game is a free download on the Internet. It can also be picked up at recruitment centers and can be purchased for the Xbox and PSP platforms, as well as for mobile phones. The game, rated “T for Teens,” is highly accessible to everyone and is especially attractive to teens. The military has intentionally blurred the lines by recruiting and training the soldiers of the future through fun technology like video games. This gives children the wrong impression. War is real and in it, people lose their lives. When you kill someone in a video game, pressing reset is all it takes to undo the damage.
