The new X-47B drone

After the tragedy in Tucson Americans have come together to comfort the families of the victims. All the attention on this act of violence reminds me of all the act of violence that go unnoted and families of the victims are not comforted. A few of the nearly 100 homicides victims of senseless violence get much attention in the media. The thousands and thousands of men, women and children killed in the USA wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan are just numbers, and as we know now, the numbers were underestimated.

The use of unmanned drone airplanes in the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan are a good example of how insensitive we are to killing. I have featured articles about drones that depersonalized killing. On this site there was a featured article about the human side of a drone attack in Pakistan that killed 14 women and children and two elders, Visitors and Host in Pakistan, and many mentions of this depersonalized way of killing where the people killed are just targets.

Today a friend pointed out to me an article in the paper about the next generation of drones and how they are “faster, higher and deadlier.” The article make me sick but the last line was unbelievable and reinforced how depersonalized most victims of killing are considered. They certainly are not real humans like the victims in Tucson. The General Manager of a company building one of these new drones said: “The X-47 B represents game-changing technology that will allow American forces to project combat power from longer distances without putting humans in harm’s way.” What is he saying? All the woman, children and elders in the Pakistan village, the many killed in war and by gun violence on the street are human beings. Drones and guns kill human beings.

Many comfort the victims and families in Tucson. Who will comfort the rest?

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