Civilian Violence, Foreign Policy, and the War on Women

Reading Reflection #5

Melissa Elizalde

Section A01

April 25th, 2014

    A Response to "Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence"

by: Darrell Hamamoto

     This week's article on the "Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence" was incredibly gruesome and out of my comfort zone. Professor Darrell Hamamoto discussed various types of murder and how a significant amount of these civilian murders could be explained through increased international violence perpetrated by the U.S. military. In particular, Professor Hamamoto found a stark connection between acts of civilian violence and the "legitimization of violence during the Vietnam War." This fact was incredibly interesting to me and I found it ironic that our foreign policy decisions that encouraged violence abroad could also encourage violence domestically. Professor Hamamoto also regarded the U.S. as a nation that supports being permanently in warfare. To this I'd have to agree, seeing that we are almost constantly in warfare abroad and domestically. During his discussion on the Vietnam War, the author also introduced the rates of civilian deaths that took place in Vietnam. These rates were incredibly astounding and surprising to me because I had no previous knowledge of the amount of civilian fatalities that took place during the Vietnam War. Lastly, Professor Hamamoto discussed the "longest standing war in American history" as the military war on female civilians. This idea was crazy for me to understand and rap my head around. I would love to hear the professor's thoughts on this "war" and whether or not she believes this is a valid "war" in which violence and action would be warranted. Overall, I found this article to be eye-opening and peculiar. I find Professor Darrell Hamamoto's commentary on the Vietnam War and the military to be a bit radical but still based entirely on objective data.

Question 1: What are your opinions on the "war" on female civilians? Do you agree with Professor Hamamoto? Why or why not? 

Question 2: Do you think American foreign policy affects domestic conditions? If so, in what way?