Desirable. Undesirable
I listened to an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air air with Chai Vasarhalyi and Jimmy Chin, film makers and Rick Stanton, diver, about the creation of the film Rescue which details the 18 day, June 2018 successful effort of 12 boys and their coach from an underwater cave in Thailand while being threatened with the monsoon rains which would prevent a successful rescue. I recall listening to the news at the time of the rescue and being acutely aware of the number of individuals and the resources committed to this effort. It seemed as if the hearts of the world were concerned with the lives of these 12 children and one adult. No expense or risk was too great to do all that was possible to ensure their survival. This seemed clearly the right thing to do. Yet, at the same time, I could not help but think of the fact that I often listen to news reports of the use of armed drones by the United States and other countries. In August. A drone strike “in Kabul killed as many as 10 civilians, including seven children, the U.S. military said on Friday, apologizing for why at it called a “tragic mistake.”” (Reuters, September 17, 2021.)
Unmanned aerial vehicles used by Israel, the United States and others have been in use since at least the year 2000. These UAVs are relatively inexpensive and, short term, pose little risk to military personnel. In fact, my understanding is that someone sitting in a safe office within the continental United States can order and launch drone strikes. The people who are killed as a result, whether they be military personnel or civilians, are clearly not valuable human beings.
We have a long history of dividing the human population into those whose lives are worth the effort such as was expended for the 13 trapped in the cave and those who are not only not worth saving but disposal. We call the later group by such names as: enemy, terrorist, Gooks, Japs, collateral damage, criminals, druggies, homeless, undesirable, non-humans, mentally ill, slaves, or any term which dehumanizes them and thus creates the illusion that they are very different than those who decide they are disposable. The more distance that one can create with words and with the physical distance of weapons such as planes, drones or other long range weapons the easier it is to decide they are disposals.
In so called civilian life, the body politic decides that many are also disposal. We call the disposables criminals, mentally ill, sociopaths, leaches, sexual offenders, murders, n___ers, and addicts. Sometimes, the assignment of the terms which denotes they are disposals is because it has been determined they have treated the desirables as disposables.
Although the body politic frequently decides it is not only okay but a moral deed to mark some person or group of people as disposals when a private citizen decides the same thing they become disposals. The logic of this process is taught in our school and religious bodies.
The power off this process is evident in the decision to withhold no resources from saving the desirables and in destroying the undesirables.
Obviously, many do not get the memo and, thus, we in the United States continue to have a very high rate of violence which seems to perplex and shock many. To them the distinctions between the desirable and the undesirables is very clear. I, on the other hand, along with some others, continue to lack the ability to discern the difference. It is not surprising that the radical teachings of such people as Jesus and Buddha are often covertly silenced. “rephrased” or explained as not meaning what they mean. All are not sacred. Enemy does not mean the undesirables. We are clearly capable of calling on the best of who we are for the desirables and the worst of who we are capable for the undesirables.
What happens when as Martian Niemoeller reminds us “Then they came for me, and by that time there was one left to speak up for me.”? What happens when we, too, become the undesirables?
Written October 13, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
I listened to an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air air with Chai Vasarhalyi and Jimmy Chin, film makers and Rick Stanton, diver, about the creation of the film Rescue which details the 18 day, June 2018 successful effort of 12 boys and their coach from an underwater cave in Thailand while being threatened with the monsoon rains which would prevent a successful rescue. I recall listening to the news at the time of the rescue and being acutely aware of the number of individuals and the resources committed to this effort. It seemed as if the hearts of the world were concerned with the lives of these 12 children and one adult. No expense or risk was too great to do all that was possible to ensure their survival. This seemed clearly the right thing to do. Yet, at the same time, I could not help but think of the fact that I often listen to news reports of the use of armed drones by the United States and other countries. In August. A drone strike “in Kabul killed as many as 10 civilians, including seven children, the U.S. military said on Friday, apologizing for why at it called a “tragic mistake.”” (Reuters, September 17, 2021.)
Unmanned aerial vehicles used by Israel, the United States and others have been in use since at least the year 2000. These UAVs are relatively inexpensive and, short term, pose little risk to military personnel. In fact, my understanding is that someone sitting in a safe office within the continental United States can order and launch drone strikes. The people who are killed as a result, whether they be military personnel or civilians, are clearly not valuable human beings.
We have a long history of dividing the human population into those whose lives are worth the effort such as was expended for the 13 trapped in the cave and those who are not only not worth saving but disposal. We call the later group by such names as: enemy, terrorist, Gooks, Japs, collateral damage, criminals, druggies, homeless, undesirable, non-humans, mentally ill, slaves, or any term which dehumanizes them and thus creates the illusion that they are very different than those who decide they are disposable. The more distance that one can create with words and with the physical distance of weapons such as planes, drones or other long range weapons the easier it is to decide they are disposals.
In so called civilian life, the body politic decides that many are also disposal. We call the disposables criminals, mentally ill, sociopaths, leaches, sexual offenders, murders, n___ers, and addicts. Sometimes, the assignment of the terms which denotes they are disposals is because it has been determined they have treated the desirables as disposables.
Although the body politic frequently decides it is not only okay but a moral deed to mark some person or group of people as disposals when a private citizen decides the same thing they become disposals. The logic of this process is taught in our school and religious bodies.
The power off this process is evident in the decision to withhold no resources from saving the desirables and in destroying the undesirables.
Obviously, many do not get the memo and, thus, we in the United States continue to have a very high rate of violence which seems to perplex and shock many. To them the distinctions between the desirable and the undesirables is very clear. I, on the other hand, along with some others, continue to lack the ability to discern the difference. It is not surprising that the radical teachings of such people as Jesus and Buddha are often covertly silenced. “rephrased” or explained as not meaning what they mean. All are not sacred. Enemy does not mean the undesirables. We are clearly capable of calling on the best of who we are for the desirables and the worst of who we are capable for the undesirables.
What happens when as Martian Niemoeller reminds us “Then they came for me, and by that time there was one left to speak up for me.”? What happens when we, too, become the undesirables?
Written October 13, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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