By Frank Erickson
It is chilling that the powers that be would use children from Sandy Hook Elementary School to promote Americanism. It is pure exploitation to wrap these students in the American flag at the Super Bowl, where they sang “America the Beautiful” with Jennifer Hudson.
What is the connection”¦between murdering of their classmates and the song “America the Beautiful”””just how is their surviving a mass murder attempt connected to the song “America the Beautiful”? The parents of these children should realize and see that their children are being taken advantage of. As if these children have not been traumatized enough, now the U.S. is going to use them to promote itself.
To lead us to believe the U.S. is about peace and love, and the safety of children. To soften the appearance of the “wars”, of :enhanced interrogation techniques”, of world domination, drone killings, and the oppression of Native people. Their post-traumatic stress, their horrible experience should be off limits to anyone who wants to exploit it.
Things always have been disturbing around here. “Super sniper” Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL, killed over 160, people in Iraq, his marksmanship got him two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars, and a huge book deal. But when a retired corporal from the Marines, Eddie Ray Routh, shot and killed Chris Kyle at a Texas shooting range, he only got murder charges.
What the is the difference between Kyle having the freedom to endlessly shoot people in Iraq, but then back in the States no one has the freedom to shoot him? It appears to be the “in war” factor. And why was he keeping count, why keep count of how many people you have killed? “One, two,”¦123, 124”¦wait, did I kill that guy, back to 123.”
How does Kyle get all those people he killed “in war” with him with him where I he is free to kill them; as far as I can tell, from nothing more than shooting at them. But Routh does not get the freedom to kill Kyle from only shooting at him””confusing.
What is also confusing is to give Kyle awards for his effective killing within a moral “war”. That the fighting of it can transcend the criminality of it, that you can become a hero at killing in “war” regardless of whether it is right or wrong. That doing “war” good is separate from the wrongness of starting it. This is evidence of people seeing “war” as its own separate entity, existing as only armed conflict, and having nothing to do with what the conflict is about.
Yet “war” cannot exist by itself as only “armed conflict”, as it does in the dictionary, because “war” is the freedom to kill while attacking someone, or engaging them in armed conflict””and all the armed conflict in the world cannot give you the freedom to kill while doing it.
To give Kyle awards for his killing, and then say the “war” was wrong, as most have, including Obama, must be very, very confusing for people in Iraq who were attacked. “They say, ”˜the ”˜war”' is wrong”', but then they make heroes out of the soldiers who killed the most of my fellow Iraq citizens, what am I to believe?” The only way the “Iraq War” could last for seven years, is by people seeing “war” as its own entity as armed conflict, above and beyond the reasons for fighting it.
