#4

The United States of America is a pioneer. Not in democracy, or liberty, but in murdering thousands of people – from a world away. In August of 1945, two planes were sent over the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, each carrying atomic bombs. These single bombs created the devastation that several thousand conventional incendiary bombs would have created, and literally wiped the cities off of the earth. Currently, the United States are sending unmanned drones to Syria, to propel missiles into villages in the hopes of killing a few jihadists. As time goes on, the United States government is getting better and better at killing people across the world.

            The massacres at Hiroshima and Nagasaki changed the world by introducing a new type of warfare: a small group of people very far away decided the fates of thousands, and an even smaller group of people miles up in the air executed them. The distance, physical and mental, between the executors and executed just increases as time goes on and technology advances.

            Drone strikes are sent out by a soldier sitting at a computer, like a kid playing “Call of Duty.” They target “probable” locations of Islamic extremists and don’t care much for the civilians that are inevitably killed. The government hails these strikes as victories, but in reality innocent people are exploding in front of their families and friends.

            These attacks are beneficial to American interests, but at what cost? Is it more ethical to kill someone through a computer? Is it okay to rain hell on innocent people to avoid sending American troops to the front lines?