Ethics/Nonkilling/Discussions

Please expand this page. For more information, please see nonkilling (Wikipedia) and Wikiversity's School of nonkilling studies.

Killjoy, killjoy revulsion and nonkilling: July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike controversy

On April 5, 2010, Wikileaks released a video "Collateral Murder" (see short version: Collateral Murder - Wikileaks - Iraq (Warning: Graphic violence; 17 mins) about the July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike controversy which is shot from an Apache helicopter gunsight and shows some men in a Baghdad street. The pilots mistakenly interpret journalists' cameras for guns or a rocket-propelled grenade. The helicopters gain permission to open fire, resulting in the death of several people, including the two Reuters news staffers. The helicopter operators can be heard saying "Hahaha. I hit 'em" and wishing for the man to reach for a gun,so he has the pretext for opening fire: "All you gotta do is pick up a weapon." Minutes later, an unmarked van with several apparently unarmed men and two children inside it pulled up and the men tried to help a survivor. After this the van (and the men) were fired upon, leaving two children wounded and all the men dead. See Wikileaks' Baghadad airstrike video for more information. One of the issues that arises for me, quite aside from "is it right?" "is it murder?" etc. is why do I get such a revolting feeling towards the apparent killjoy experienced by those involved in pulling the trigger? I also saw this revulsion in my 9-year son last night when he withdrew in protest as the rest of the family enjoyed feeding a grub to a pet frog. What is killjoy and what is revulsion towards killjoy? And how are these feelings related to nonkilling? And what about the work in obtaining, decoding and releasing it by Wikileaks? How might it be or become a contribution towards nonkilling? You might first just want to share your reactions. -- Jtneill - Talk - c 23:49, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

My reaction to that video, when I saw it years ago, was grief. It is easy to judge and blame those pilots. But my stand is that each of us is responsible for what we, as humans, do. We will not transform this as long as we stand outside, pointing fingers and blaming, that maintains the separation and disempowerment that afflict us. The pilots were placed in a situation where the horrific and unthinkable became routine. They were trained to kill. Were they trained to care? Who is responsible for the training they receive? Hey, let's blame them. Yeah, get rid of the politicians, then everything will be fine. And so the cycle is maintained, we keep thinking the problem is them, certainly not us, i.e., the good people. --Abd (discuss • contribs) 17:02, 4 October 2014 (UTC)