Violence in War Encourages Violence at Home

To anyone who has doubts of a culture of war, violence  and racism in the U.S., I say read "Empire of Death". In the wake of war, violence became normalized to the public who saw it in the news and to the veterans who experienced it. For those predisposed to violence, this had dire consequences. In the words of the Oklahoma city bomber Timothy McVeigh ""what occurred in Oklahoma City was no different than what Americans rain on the heads of others all the time".The serial killers were mainly white males, who consequently had racism on their side. Victims and law enforcement were conditioned to believe that white males were trustworthy. Jeffrey Dahmer got away with the murder of Konerak Sinthasomphone because he convinced the police that he was simply having a "lover's quarrel" with a 14-year-old. This culture of racism also contributed to the racist motivations of the serial killers who killed many Asian men and women, probably out of fear and sexual perversion, respectively. My question is can we condemn violence at home and still accept violence perpetrated by the government abroad?

Laura Roser

Week 5

10/18/15

Soldiers in the Iraq war