Sunday, April 27, 2014

Mirrored Killings: Imperialism's Reflection Impacts Home

Cheyne Fujimoto
ASA2

Dr. Darrell Hamamoto's chapter, "Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence", was an interesting perspective. Particularly interesting was Dr. Hamamoto's use of shocking events and descriptions to drive the idea that such terrible events could only come out of a primary cause: the embracing of militarism (which in itself according to Dr. Hamamoto is a result of imperialism) in American culture. It was quite effective, as I found it difficult to read the article mostly because of how completely grotesque it was.

I believe that the larger problem is a result of the inadequate support at the early stages of the development of serial killers and mass murderers and not as much from imperialism. However, Dr. Hamamoto does make an excellent point in highlighting society's fascination in killing in all of its forms. Clearly, the causes of such monstrous killers are not plainly black and white but Dr. Hamamoto helps to paint the connections of these events to a war-mongering society.

Question: Is America better off not involving itself with global affairs or will it breed complacency? 


Photo of American soldiers in Vietnam with a skull presumably from enemy dead.

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