Pictures of Torture
May. 4th, 2004 02:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khaosworksYes, I've been hearing about the torture pictures. How could one not?
No, I'm not surprised, nor should anyone who knows about United States military history overseas. The Philippines. Haiti. Korea. Vietnam.
Imperialistic, paternalistic motives produce imperialistic attitudes. Great white hunter go tame natives, make monkeys dance.
To be fair, of course, I'm not saying that every American soldier in Iraq is doing this - the vast majority are probably fine, decent people. The roots, however, of this are cultural, and structural, and are built into the American psychological landscape. Most people simply aren't aware of it, or have conveniently forgotten. If you don't keep an eye on those demons, they're going to sneak up and sucker punch you.
No, I'm not surprised, nor should anyone who knows about United States military history overseas. The Philippines. Haiti. Korea. Vietnam.
Imperialistic, paternalistic motives produce imperialistic attitudes. Great white hunter go tame natives, make monkeys dance.
To be fair, of course, I'm not saying that every American soldier in Iraq is doing this - the vast majority are probably fine, decent people. The roots, however, of this are cultural, and structural, and are built into the American psychological landscape. Most people simply aren't aware of it, or have conveniently forgotten. If you don't keep an eye on those demons, they're going to sneak up and sucker punch you.
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Date: 2004-05-04 08:29 am (UTC)