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U.S. death toll in Iraq passes 1,000
- Thread starter Doc Holliday
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evil solrac v3.0
Member
and that's in a year and a half. it's just gonna kep going and going and going....
BigJonsson
Member
And the politicization of human life continues
If today's media and telecommunications capabilities were around in the early 1940s, Normandy would have been considered the largest atrocity to occur during recorded time.
What happens when there's a war that just and noble, and beyond argument? Modern society has become so ridiculously against loss of life that it's obscene. These daily death counts are just feeding into it. I'm so sick of it. The worst part is that Americans will bitch and cry over one or two American deaths, but not bat an eye when 50 Iraqis die. Even the people who were supporting Bush and his actions in Afghanistan were going nuts over the small number of deaths occurring there. When does loss of life become justifiable? Today's society seems to think never, regardless of the situation.
I saw a blurb on CNN (I think) today talking about how the country was going to have to deal with a large number of disabled veterans after this Iraq business. Something like 7000. When the hell did 7000 people become a huge proportion of the American population? CNN was making it sound like they'd be some immense burden on society and everyone would have to deal with it.
If an army of millions was storming the west coast and was successfully defeated, Americans would bitch if only a handful of their soldiers died.
I don't even care if the war is right or wrong. I fear for when real action is absolutely necessary and half the country is too weak to consider any loss of life in exchange for a greater good to be justified.
The WWII generation was truly the greatest generation ever. They did what had to be done, and it was terrible and sad, but they accepted it and went on to continue doing what needed to be done. Now, regardless of the level of support, loss of life is some unacceptable mistake during times of war and violence. Christ, Americans have become so spoiled and selfish. Meanwhile they don't give a fuck about the atrocities committed in Africa on a daily basis. But if one young man from Anytown, USA dies, whoa there, that's going too fucking far.
Sorry for the rant. Some of the things this country does really piss me the fuck off.
What happens when there's a war that just and noble, and beyond argument? Modern society has become so ridiculously against loss of life that it's obscene. These daily death counts are just feeding into it. I'm so sick of it. The worst part is that Americans will bitch and cry over one or two American deaths, but not bat an eye when 50 Iraqis die. Even the people who were supporting Bush and his actions in Afghanistan were going nuts over the small number of deaths occurring there. When does loss of life become justifiable? Today's society seems to think never, regardless of the situation.
I saw a blurb on CNN (I think) today talking about how the country was going to have to deal with a large number of disabled veterans after this Iraq business. Something like 7000. When the hell did 7000 people become a huge proportion of the American population? CNN was making it sound like they'd be some immense burden on society and everyone would have to deal with it.
If an army of millions was storming the west coast and was successfully defeated, Americans would bitch if only a handful of their soldiers died.
I don't even care if the war is right or wrong. I fear for when real action is absolutely necessary and half the country is too weak to consider any loss of life in exchange for a greater good to be justified.
The WWII generation was truly the greatest generation ever. They did what had to be done, and it was terrible and sad, but they accepted it and went on to continue doing what needed to be done. Now, regardless of the level of support, loss of life is some unacceptable mistake during times of war and violence. Christ, Americans have become so spoiled and selfish. Meanwhile they don't give a fuck about the atrocities committed in Africa on a daily basis. But if one young man from Anytown, USA dies, whoa there, that's going too fucking far.
Sorry for the rant. Some of the things this country does really piss me the fuck off.
Bizarro Sun Yat-sen
Banned
Dan, it's because people don't think the war is necessary that they're angry about the soldiers killed. Yes, it's kind of sad when people focus only on American deaths and ignore deaths of Iraqis and others in greater numbers, but that's nationalism for you; it's the same for every country.
BigJonsson
Member
World War II had to be fought
This war was unnessecary
This war was unnessecary
I can't believe Dan just compared the Iraq War to World War II.... there's a bunch of vets still alive and dead that are now spinning.
Bionic:
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/bodycount.htm
Reported Minimum
11793
Reported Maximum
13802
Bionic:
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/bodycount.htm
Reported Minimum
11793
Reported Maximum
13802
Synbios459
Banned
You mean people care about Iraqi deaths?bionic77 said:
Bizarro Sun Yat-sen
Banned
Due to disorder it's hard for anyone to ascertain the number of Iraqi deaths, but I've seen estimates of 12,000 civilians and 5000 military.
I'm not saying it doesn't matter on a personal level. I just don't think this national fixation on single digit daily death counts is healthy or productive. I know people who have died in wars, on 9/11 or in just everyday natural stuff. And that hits me, but I don't particularly think that it serves any real purpose for the entire country and the media to get up in arms about it, not about individuals.Lil' Dice said:
I mean, sure, 1000 have no died in Iraq. That sucks, no doubt about it. But it's also way, way, way lower than past wars that the US has engaged in. The tolerance level for death is just ridiculously low in this country for everything. Shit, the one death attributed to Hurricane Francis was HEADLINE NEWS! When is death tolerable? Americans don't even consider weather disasters to be acceptable reasons.
For the sake that nowadays people bitch about death regardless of the reason or circumstance. The fact that the two wars are so different was half my point. Christ, I'm not sitting around insulting my grandfather.DarienA said:
And the pure hypocrasy of caring about single digit number of US deaths and not even caring to know numbers for deaths of other countries and ethnicities is just the kicker.
Phoenix
Member
When any one of these people die, all they are, all they could have become, and all they could have contributed to humanity comes to an end. It is something that gets lost on people I guess. I remember when the first casualties were coming through and CNN was trying to put a 'human face' on the numbers - who they were, what they did (because many of them aren't full timers), etc.
I think that it is unfortunate that people have to lose their lives in these types of conflicts. I wish we could just build some battletech arena's and decide everything. But sadly we can't, and conflict is a natural evolutionary part of humanity. Generations from now after we've gotten away from some of this due to some massive socioeconomic change in the world, people will look back at this entire time period the same way some of us look back on the days of the slave trade. These are very expensive lessons for mankind, but they are lessons that need to be learned nonetheless.
I only pray that the friends, families, and supporters are able to go on after these incidents and use this experience to effect change going forward. Its insanity to believe that killing other human beings will solve anything, but its something that I don't think 'we've' gotten out of our system yet.
I think that it is unfortunate that people have to lose their lives in these types of conflicts. I wish we could just build some battletech arena's and decide everything. But sadly we can't, and conflict is a natural evolutionary part of humanity. Generations from now after we've gotten away from some of this due to some massive socioeconomic change in the world, people will look back at this entire time period the same way some of us look back on the days of the slave trade. These are very expensive lessons for mankind, but they are lessons that need to be learned nonetheless.
I only pray that the friends, families, and supporters are able to go on after these incidents and use this experience to effect change going forward. Its insanity to believe that killing other human beings will solve anything, but its something that I don't think 'we've' gotten out of our system yet.
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