CELEBRATING VIOLENCE

US vs THEM
Johann Wagener 4-20-13

When the "drone" squads blow away countless women, children, and anything else that might be in the target zone, we call it "collateral damage." Ooops, sorry. Can't be helped when you're fighting the enemy. We hand out medals, praise the shooters as "heroes" hold parades and big coming home parties  to celebrate a job well done.

When a "home grown" terrorists slaughters a room full of children we call him a "disturbed individual" and encourage people to buy more guns ad "stand their ground."  We wave flags and scream about "rights" and the 2nd Ammendment, as if either are related to the issue; protecting our children from people who's rights to allow them easy access to weapons of mass destruction we defend.

When a couple of men with funny sounding last names blow up a home made bomb in the middle of a marathon; killing 3 and maiming others we call it the "worse attack on American soil since 9/11" and I'm sure the call to buy more guns will soon follow. We shutdown  a major city and send an army of armed squads to take down 1 wounded 19 year old kid, and then have parties in the streets celebrating his capture as almost an extension of the festivities interrupted when the bombs exploded. It went from celebration, to fear and pain, and back to celebration before the bodies of the victims are even in the ground.

When the enemy celebrates our destruction we call it despicable, inhumane, unconscionable, barbaric. When the roles are reversed and the enemy is destroyed we celebrate just as hard except we refer to it as patriotic, courageous, victorious, justice, and even going so far as invoking the name of God, proclaiming it to be a divine intervention of sorts.

What we fail to see and acknowledge is that, even though the circumstances may be different, the reaction is the same. It just depends on what end of the gun or bomb you are.

In either case violence is a "cause celebre'.


Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s capture touched off raucous celebrations in and around Boston, with chants of “USA! USA!” Residents flooded the streets in relief and jubilation four days after the twin explosions ripped through the marathon crowd at the finish line, killing three people and wounding more than 180.

Read more: BOSTON CELEBRATES