The thought that deserves being written: violence as abnormal, but the reproduction of the narratives that justify or make sense of the event expose a hierarchy of corpses.
Sometimes I will read an old blog, see a reference to something from current events that I don't even label and don't remember what I was talking about.I am referring in this blog to the multiple homicide and attempted assassination of a congresswoman that took place in Arizona.
I would first like to point out that when these acts of violence take place they are recognized almost universally as heinous and punishable. As I have stated earlier weapons to take life have become more effective at taking life over time and this trend will continue. One cost of free will is that some others will choose to use that free will to end the free will of others with violence. My criticism is located on the borders of this area where certain acts of violence are placed as universally an evil or heinous act. Certain acts of violence are not in this frame. The bombing of a wedding in Afghanistan pushed on these borders, but was not even close to reaching this zone of universal immorality and revulsion. The 500,000 deaths in Iraq between 1991 and the latest invasion because of our destruction of the electricity and water supply as well as the average once a week raids are hardly close to being seen as bad.
Since creating this blog and not finishing it another flare up in the media concerning drones took place because Pakistan is finally standing up to the country which is regularly bombing them: the United States.
Facts:
Lets step back and look at the picture here.
1.Pakistan is a country.
2.The United States is a country.
3.Both have populations they should keep happy to avoid violent uprising(lets just assume this provisionally because it is very statist and in a way justifies violence against citizens in order to "stabilize" the state[violent uprising might be good sometimes]).
4.The US has established a firm pattern of bombing Pakistan
5. Dropping bombs on Pakistan will lead to killing Pakistanis.
6.Lets look within the state/country now. Heuristic structures we can cling to in order to make this journey inside the bowels of the state quick are: families, religions, and economy. The first is a simple exercise: if one of your family members was killed by a US operated drone how would your attitude towards the US change? The second: how would you feel if a member of your local or national religious community was killed by a US operated drone...how would your attitude towards the US change? And if your resources, business, tools/machines...you know your livelihood, was destroyed by a US operated drone, etc. etc.
I'm going to say that the attitude of the person who has had their families, religion, or economy hurt by US operated drones will experience an attitude shift towards the United States. I am not claiming all people in this situation will experience a dramatic shift towards"anti-americanism" but there will certainly be some shift towards distaste with the United States. So this sixth fact of our train of logic is that US killing of Pakistanis will cause a net attitude shift towards disliking the United States by people in Pakistan.
Future World
If our current world is based on finding security within state institutions(which it is for the sake of this train of logic because we have to stay within the confines of our provisional fact number 3) then the people of Pakistan will look to their government to protect them from the drone terrorism. The Pakistani government will be put in a double bind, either they can (ONE) keep eating shit from the US and reap huge benefits from their benefactorship . OR (TWO)Pakistan can really push hard for ending drone strikes by rejecting aid from the US and refusing to cooperate with intelligence.
If the future continues along the same trajectory we will see one of these two outcomes in Pakistan.
The first outcome will make it far more likely that we will see a revolution in Pakistan. The drones constant killing of civilians is a propaganda tool for violent groups. Violent actions and actions against the government will become more widespread in this future Pakistan. Pakistan will be forced to adopt a Saudi style balance between US patronage and hardcore repression. Thusly the US will be propping up another dictatorship. Or Pakistan will not strike a balance and be taken over by extremist elements...the thing is Pakistan has a nuclear arsenal.
In the second outcome Pakistan may be able to keep its population's support, but may be making an enemy of the US. Which means they just have to hire a few more gamers to fly a few more drones and the Pakistani body count will get higher. Or worse yet Pakistan becomes the new place to occupy for the war on terror. One reason the US has had such tight relations with Pakistan over the years is intelligence and halting cooperation might be one of the only cards Pakistan can play.
My advice: Pakistan should tell the United States that next time they drop a bomb on Pakistan that they're going to receive a nuclear warhead to the face. Then hopefully they will back off, because Pakistan is a nuclear power and can kill everyone if it feels like it.
What will happen- Pakistan and the US have a shared enemy: the radicals that are using the drones as a recruiting tool, sooooooo Pakistan will most likely just call the US and say:
"AIM BETTER!.....please?"
At least we can all clearly see that this US policy creates terrorists, which is a valuable lesson that can be applied back to such events as 9/11. And without going in to such a huge topic exposes the hypocrisy of labeling political agendas as "anti-american".
Sometimes I will read an old blog, see a reference to something from current events that I don't even label and don't remember what I was talking about.I am referring in this blog to the multiple homicide and attempted assassination of a congresswoman that took place in Arizona.
I would first like to point out that when these acts of violence take place they are recognized almost universally as heinous and punishable. As I have stated earlier weapons to take life have become more effective at taking life over time and this trend will continue. One cost of free will is that some others will choose to use that free will to end the free will of others with violence. My criticism is located on the borders of this area where certain acts of violence are placed as universally an evil or heinous act. Certain acts of violence are not in this frame. The bombing of a wedding in Afghanistan pushed on these borders, but was not even close to reaching this zone of universal immorality and revulsion. The 500,000 deaths in Iraq between 1991 and the latest invasion because of our destruction of the electricity and water supply as well as the average once a week raids are hardly close to being seen as bad.
Since creating this blog and not finishing it another flare up in the media concerning drones took place because Pakistan is finally standing up to the country which is regularly bombing them: the United States.
Facts:
Lets step back and look at the picture here.
1.Pakistan is a country.
2.The United States is a country.
3.Both have populations they should keep happy to avoid violent uprising(lets just assume this provisionally because it is very statist and in a way justifies violence against citizens in order to "stabilize" the state[violent uprising might be good sometimes]).
4.The US has established a firm pattern of bombing Pakistan
5. Dropping bombs on Pakistan will lead to killing Pakistanis.
6.Lets look within the state/country now. Heuristic structures we can cling to in order to make this journey inside the bowels of the state quick are: families, religions, and economy. The first is a simple exercise: if one of your family members was killed by a US operated drone how would your attitude towards the US change? The second: how would you feel if a member of your local or national religious community was killed by a US operated drone...how would your attitude towards the US change? And if your resources, business, tools/machines...you know your livelihood, was destroyed by a US operated drone, etc. etc.
I'm going to say that the attitude of the person who has had their families, religion, or economy hurt by US operated drones will experience an attitude shift towards the United States. I am not claiming all people in this situation will experience a dramatic shift towards
Future World
If our current world is based on finding security within state institutions(which it is for the sake of this train of logic because we have to stay within the confines of our provisional fact number 3) then the people of Pakistan will look to their government to protect them from the drone terrorism. The Pakistani government will be put in a double bind, either they can (ONE) keep eating shit from the US and reap huge benefits from their benefactorship . OR (TWO)Pakistan can really push hard for ending drone strikes by rejecting aid from the US and refusing to cooperate with intelligence.
If the future continues along the same trajectory we will see one of these two outcomes in Pakistan.
The first outcome will make it far more likely that we will see a revolution in Pakistan. The drones constant killing of civilians is a propaganda tool for violent groups. Violent actions and actions against the government will become more widespread in this future Pakistan. Pakistan will be forced to adopt a Saudi style balance between US patronage and hardcore repression. Thusly the US will be propping up another dictatorship. Or Pakistan will not strike a balance and be taken over by extremist elements...the thing is Pakistan has a nuclear arsenal.
In the second outcome Pakistan may be able to keep its population's support, but may be making an enemy of the US. Which means they just have to hire a few more gamers to fly a few more drones and the Pakistani body count will get higher. Or worse yet Pakistan becomes the new place to occupy for the war on terror. One reason the US has had such tight relations with Pakistan over the years is intelligence and halting cooperation might be one of the only cards Pakistan can play.
My advice: Pakistan should tell the United States that next time they drop a bomb on Pakistan that they're going to receive a nuclear warhead to the face. Then hopefully they will back off, because Pakistan is a nuclear power and can kill everyone if it feels like it.
What will happen- Pakistan and the US have a shared enemy: the radicals that are using the drones as a recruiting tool, sooooooo Pakistan will most likely just call the US and say:
"AIM BETTER!.....please?"
At least we can all clearly see that this US policy creates terrorists, which is a valuable lesson that can be applied back to such events as 9/11. And without going in to such a huge topic exposes the hypocrisy of labeling political agendas as "anti-american".
2 comments:
bin laden's death will be a boon to US-Pakistan relations, but may have devastating consequences for Pakistan's internal politics.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/nato-attack-allegedly-kills-24-pakistani-troops-prompting-islamabad-to-retaliate/2011/11/26/gIQAth8M0N_story.html
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