{"id":402,"date":"2004-04-02T20:14:16","date_gmt":"2004-04-02T20:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"0"},"modified":"2006-09-28T12:08:33","modified_gmt":"2006-09-28T12:08:33","slug":"kos_explains_it_all_to_us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/?p=402","title":{"rendered":"Kos Explains It All To Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kos said something quick and stupid yesterday<\/a>…<\/p>\n

[Update:<\/b> And has now, in act of true courage, pulled it off his site without explanation. Here’s<\/a> a screenshot of it, in case you need to be reminded. Which side is it again that’s fighting against Oceania? ]<\/b><\/p>\n

…and followed it up today with something longer, more honeyed in tone, and saying exactly the same thing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There’s been much ado about my indifference to the Mercenary deaths in Falluja a couple days ago. I wrote in some diary comments somewhere that “I felt nothing” and “screw them”.<\/p>\n

My language was harsh, and, in reality, not true. Fact is, I did feel something. That’s why I was so angry.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, it’s good that he did feel something …it’s just not clear he felt anything for the four people killed and brutalized; so from his point of view, the operative point isn’t the “screw them,” it’s the “I felt nothing.” It’s a characteristic of the people I oppose in this whole Bad Philosophy<\/a> thing that feelings are what matters – that one’s emotional state is all-important; it’s how it makes you feel that matters, and whether your feelings are genuine. <\/p>\n

I was angry that five soldiers — the real heroes in my mind — were killed the same day and got far lower billing in the newscasts. I was angry that 51 American soldiers paid the ultimate price for Bush’s folly in Iraq in March alone. I was angry that these mercenaries make more in a day than our brave men and women in uniform make in an entire month. I was angry that the US is funding private armies, paying them $30,000 per soldier, per month, while the Bush administration tries to cut our soldiers’ hazard pay. I was angry that these mercenaries would leave their wives and children behind to enter a war zone on their own violition. <\/p>\n

So I struck back. <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So by attacking – striking back at – the dead civilians, he somehow felt he could remedy an injustice – the disregard by the media of the soldiers who were killed that day.<\/p>\n

Unlike the vast majority of people in this country, I actually grew up in a war zone. I witnessed communist guerillas execute students accused of being government collaborators. I was 8 years old, and I remember stepping over a dead body, warm blood flowing from a fresh wound. Dodging bullets while at market. I lived in the midsts of hate the likes of which most of you will never understand (Clinton and Bush hatred is nothing compared to that generated when people kill each other for politics or race or nationality). There’s no way I could ever describe the ways this experience colors my worldview.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And, by extension, there’s no way any one of us who hasn’t shared his experiences can judge <\/p>\n

Here he wraps himself in the accusation-proof flag of victimhood, spins, and bows to the audience.<\/p>\n

Back to Iraq, our men and women in uniform are there under orders, trying to make the best of an impossible situation. The war is not their fault, and I will always defend their honor and bravery to the end of my days. But the mercenary is a whole different deal. They willingly enter a war zone, and do so because of the paycheck. They’re not there for humanitarian reasons (I doubt they’d donate half their paycheck to the Red Cross or whatever). They’re there because the money is DAMN good. They answer to no one except their CEO. They are dangerous, hence international efforts (however fruitless they may be) to ban their use.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’ll skip over the whole “we have a volunteer army” argument as too obvious, and point out that the motivation of the contractors – like the motivation of the soldiers, or the motivation of the private contractors charging hazard pay to work in Iraq – is probably a little more complex than that. And that – as with the overarching importance of his feelings above, the fact that he besmirches the dead by challenging their motivations – rather than their actions – speaks volumes. <\/p>\n

So not only was I wrong to say I felt nothing over their deaths, I was lying. I felt way too much. Nobody deserves to die. But in the greater scheme of things, there are a lot of greater tragedies going on in Iraq (51 last month, plus countless civilians and Iraqi police). That those tragedies are essentially ignored these days is, ultimately, the greatest tragedy of all.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s funny; many of us are debating the issues around the war and around what to do. I certainly don’t feel that I am ignoring the deaths that happen in Iraq every day (I do, however, believe it is important to put them into context, so that we are able to make intelligent judgments about where we are and what to do).<\/p>\n

The reverence for life of the antiwar movement would be funny if it were not so wrapped up in the issues of Bad Philosophy. What matters isn’t whether the world as a whole or even the set of people we’re taking about is better or worse off – what matters is whether you can make sure you are morally isolated from any taint of blame<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I don’t think you can live in the world and be isolated that way. Kos does. And, of course, that attitude helps as he takes money<\/a> from Jim Moran, friend of the Jews (and MBNA)<\/a> to help run his campaign. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kos said something quick and stupid yesterday about Fallujah. And has now, in act of true courage, pulled it off his site without explanation. And followed it up today with something longer, more honeyed in tone, and saying exactly the same thing. The reverence for life of the antiwar movement would be funny if it were not so wrapped up in the issues of Bad Philosophy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}