Who are we putting into power???

Tiffany Do

ASA 2 Section 2

Week 5 Blog

In response to Hamamoto’s “Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence”:

I found this article really hard to stomach, and I believe that’s the point. Violence has become increasingly normalized in our culture, but not getting disgusted or repulsed by the very gruesome details Hamamoto describes would be troubling. I had never thought about why violence is so widespread because I have grown up around images and media that only continue to get more and more explicit. I have little cousins who have games and apps that are extremely violent: Call of Duty, Modern Warfare, etc. However, for Hamamoto to make the connection between the idea of increased militarization of the United States abroad and the idea of blowback puts things in perspective. What goes around comes back around, and sanctioning violence abroad has paved the way for increased violence at home.

Like the movie we saw in class last week, Eating Welfare, refugees from Southeast Asia are not only suffering from poverty and lack of government funding, but as we've read, a number of them have been victimized by serial killers as a result of the wars in Southeast Asia. People need protection. After reading both this reading and Priest’s “From Saigon to Baghdad,” it really makes me question who are the people we are putting into power? What exactly are these people like deep deep down, when they aren’t making speeches and putting on their patriotic faces for the public? These people holding government positions and high ranks in the military have immense legal and fighting power over not just us in the United States but the world, and what good has come from that, especially in the context of the Vietnam War? It’s really frightening to read about some of the decisions these white men have made in the name of “freedom” and “liberty” and “justice.” It seems to all be a matter of ego and pride… Who cares if we are not the superpower in the world? Leaders are meant to serve the people not be blindsided by their own personal vendettas.

Question:

How can we reverse the effects of long-term societal desensitization to violence?

source: http://d35brb9zkkbdsd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Female-Military-e1333463416659.jpg

Do we feel safer when we see images of masses of soldiers bearing arms? Especially when these are the same arms that have been turned on us before?