Sunday, January 31, 2010

What's A Little Fire Between Friends?

Don't you know we got smart bombs, it's a good thing that our bombs are clever.
Don't you know that the smart bombs are so clever, they only kill bad people.

- Oingo Boingo, "War Again"
Last night in my living room, there was a war going on. Three pre-teen boys were staring intently at the TV, using their ample thumb dexterity to blast away at each other on a distant planet. There was moderately heroic music in the background, and they seemed to be taking turns at being the aggressor. This caused the other two to whine and moan about the relative fairness of the combat taking place. A sample
"Why are you always trying to kill me? That's not fair!" Or "Are you using laser guidance? That's not fair!" The relative fairness of warfare was the featured topic for discussion. The general consensus was that anything that blew you up was unfair. To you. Everyone else just laughed.
A joint U.S.-Afghan force called in an airstrike on what turned out to be an Afghan army post after taking fire from there before dawn Saturday, killing four Afghan soldiers and prompting an angry demand for punishment from the country's defense ministry. Instead of crying, "That's not fair," They had this to say: "Besides expressing heartfelt condolences to the families of the martyrs, the Afghan Defense Ministry is condemning this incident. After the investigation is completed, the Defense Ministry wants to bring those responsible to justice." The difference here is that there is no reset button, and the cries for justice come from the survivors. Meanwhile, the Taliban would be the ones across the room, snickering into their hands as NATO scrambles to mend fences with the people of Afghanistan. Just last month, the United Nations reported that most civilian casualties were caused by the Taliban.
Hey, that's not fair!
Don't you know it's Nintendo, really gets the blood flowing thru my veins now
Don't you know it's a feel-good show, electronic bliss, it's a video, video

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ah, "Friendly Fire." It's an ancient curse!