| 04 April 2011
When I was a kid, every movie, every sports game, every social event was brought down to that one question: who`s the bad guys, who`s the good guys. Who has to win? I`m sure plenty of research exists as to what this says, but it`s probably common behavior. I guess it narrows it down, makes life`s complexity understandable to a child.
Once I knew who the bad guys were, it was easier to focus and follow. There was a purpose, there was a common goal and more importantly, and perhaps subconsciously in the case of movies, it meant that I knew who was going to win in the end. There was no other way, blockbuster movies and action heroes always win! If a good guy ever died in a movie, I remember actually becoming very confused. Did that mean he was bad? Why else would he die! It wasn`t fair, this wasn`t how things should go!
A couple of days ago, I found myself suddenly interested in World War II, more specifically on the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. I tried to picture in what social context was it ever ok to drop such terrible destruction, to instantly kill thousands of innocent people, civilians who had nothing to do with the war taking place. I`m not a historian, but I`m fascinated by history. My friends all know I`m a sucker for medieval films, ancient wars and conquerors, but it`s mainly the history behind it that I find impressive and amazing. As gruesome as they often are, it seems ok because oh well, we were uncivilized, we didn`t know better back then. But the closer those events are to today, the bigger my discomfort. We did that..then? But..my grandpa was alive!
So, reading on about the events, and what led to that decision, I uncovered some quite shocking mentalities which unfortunately are most likely still perpetrated today. One anonymous person wrote on a forum that essentially, it was ok to use such drastic measures because it was a lesser evil then the only alternative, the planned ground invasion of Japan which was to take place a few months later. Estimates tell us that over a million American soldiers would have been killed in the process, and thus killing 200 000 civilians of the enemy camp was a much better option. The bad guys.
There are countless protests today against the war in Iraq. Bush's administration is widely criticized for starting it for the wrong reasons, but the truth is, that war wouldn't have happened had it not been approved by Congress. People voted, and in the end, it was the same mentality that allowed this war to take place. There are bad guys, America's the good guy, we need to stop them and win.
It's cute when a kid wonders about the bad guy in a sports game, the simplicity of the question is disarming, but when this same mentality is what guides an entire nation to war, we've got much bigger issues. 60 years ago, posters were put up (very derogatory, I apologize), plastered all over the nation that described Japanese as a common enemy, the evil bad guy that was going to kill the oh-so-important American mother and child. This mental pollution is what allowed Truman to kill thousands, in the name of peace, in the name of America, and in the name of God.
Even today, as I read accounts of Brandon Neely's time as a guard in Guantanamo and in the U.S. army, serving in Iraq, the same thought-process seems to be in place, both in the soldier's minds and in the recruiting process itself.
--we were told everyday. "These guys are the worst of the worst. They're going to kill you. And, these guys were planning 9/11. And, these are the guys we caught on the battlefield, you know, fighting and killing Americans. And then, it was like, "Okay, so maybe they're getting what they kinda deserve."
See what I mean? As long as we are able to separate ourselves from others, to really view them as different, as bad, to blindly swallow the idea that there even is such a thing as bad guy vs good guy, we're still in the stone age if you ask me. There is no way a civilization can endure when it has the same thought process, globally, as that of a child. And as technology brings us bigger and more powerful toys all the time, it might only be a matter of time before accidents happen.
