The Morality of Killing Iraqis

[Andrew Fletcher]

A friend of mine recently told me that one of our classmates has peculiar hobby. He downloads videos of U.S. soldiers killing Iraqis and watches them for fun. Apparently there are several websites that offer such videos, allegedly filmed by soldiers themselves and uploaded to an independent website.

I can’t vouch for the authenticity of the films. For all I know, they are nothing more than home movies with low-budget special effects sold to stupid college kids. Still, the fact that this guy downloads this stuff for enjoyment is really scary.

This guy is the type of person who would be outraged by Iraqi college students watching movies of American soldiers being killed. He clearly has some kind of mental block that allows to him to apply different standards to Iraqis than to people who happen to have been born in the United States.

I guess my question is: what is to stop this logic from allowing people to accept the mass murder of people who live in the United States? Couldn’t someone simply “other” an ethnic group (like Jews, for example) and kill them for entertainment?

There is something very scary about certain streams of philosophy and standards that run through U.S. culture.

[RJT]

Slow down. You seem to be saying that there are some footages of U.S. soldiers in Iraq who killed what they think or in fact are (I am presuming) I guess I can use the word the “enemy”. And that some folk here are watching these footages, like some watch porn. Is this what you are saying to begin with?

If that is what you are saying, I don’t see how the rest of your post makes any sense. It certainly doesn’t seem to be relevant to the videos at any rate.

[Andrew Fletcher]

To me, there is something extremely problematic about the idea that someone downloads movies of people getting killed and watches them for fun.

It's even more scary that these videos might be being viewed by large audiences for enjoyment. There are dozens of sites that offer this material for a small charge. There is a market for this stuff.

[RJT]

Waxie,

We all agree that it is wacko to enjoy this stuff. Perhaps you have never heard of (what I think have been confirmed as urban legend, thus my initial response) porn flicks where the guy ends up killing the woman. These flicks whether real themselves or real flicks but concocted killings ( think the flicks exists but are fake killings) when/if viewed are viewed by the same type of folk like Tom. What can I say. Welcome, to the real world I guess. Life is often stranger than fiction.

RJT

p.s. Welcome to the forum, too.

[Andrew Fletcher]

I've been poking around the poker forum for a while but this is my first SMP post.

I know that this stuff exists, but it's still very scary to me.

[RJT]

[ QUOTE ]
I've been poking around the poker forum for a while but this is my first SMP post.

I know that this stuff exists, but it's still very scary to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Icarus, (btw, I often change the actual screen name of the poster when I respond. Just for levity. I trust you get the reference?)

I thought is was your first post here (thus my welcome to you).

Well kid, I'll better advise you this: If you think that stuff is scary, wait until you read some of our posts. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

RJT

[theweatherman]

probably due to the systematic media blitz telling the public we are the good guys fighting evil. Dehumanizing the enemy is the greatest tool to recruit an army.

[Andrew Fletcher]

This kid, who I'm now going to refer to as Tom, is not going to join the army. He just likes watching people die for kicks.

[RJT]

Icarus,

This whole thing smacks of Urban Legend. I suggest some links or ignore it. And if the links are pay sites, I suggest you have credible evidence that they are what they portend.

RJT

[ QUOTE ]
Icarus,

This whole thing smacks of Urban Legend. I suggest some links or ignore it. And if the links are pay sites, I suggest you have credible evidence that they are what they portend.

RJT

[/ QUOTE ]

Do a search. There are plenty of videos online.