the science of creating killers discusses how the human desire not to kill can be trained and conditioned out of the soldier, by a method called 'killology'. During the heat of battle, normal responses and decision making has changed and a more animal instinct takes over. The basic animal instinct is not to kill another - animals in the wild will rarely kill another animal they are in a confrontation with - disputes are usually resolved by displays intended to intimidate the opponent so he will back down. Fighting can be very costly to both parties, so actual fights to the death are extremely rare. Exact figures are difficult to calculate, but the amount of combatants who actually shoot to kill are low, during the second world war, men would consistently 'shoot to miss' and the number of soldiers who shoot to kill was thought to be very low, with a low percentage of soldiers doing a majority of the killing.
so just when your faith in humanity has started to be restored, some files on abu ghrarib are published, with a collection of images collected from the cameras of soldiers posted at the infamous prison. Some of the image require a strong stomach
wired article about the abuse and torture of prisoners, and what turns ordinary people to commit acts of evil. Psychologist Philip Zimardo conducted an experiment for the Stanford University in 1971, which involved students who posed as prisoners and guards. The experiment was was stopped after five days when the student guards began abusing the prisoners, forcing them to strip naked and simulate sex acts.
43% of soldiers questioned say bullying is a problem in the army in this article Battling Bullying in the British Army 1987 – 2004 which shows incidents of bullying are not isolated cases, but that there is an extreme culture of bullying,casual violence and sexual harassment, epically with newer recruits. figures of the number of victims could be wildly underestimated from the reluctance of victims to report incidents.
Another article in the telegraph about the suicide rate of returning servicemen after conflict. Many cannot cope afterwards from all the experiences of violence, and life in a constant state of alertness. Here is an official report into suicide rates of those in the forces
1 comment:
Thought this could be of interest to you.
Louis Theroux
The Most Hated Family in America, which aired on April 1, 2007, he followed members of the highly controversial Westboro Baptist Church, a small family community infamous for strong anti-homosexual beliefs and the picketing of funerals of US soldiers.
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