The value of life vs the value of a corpse
Arguably, the provocative story of the week was about the four marines urinating on the dead bodies of Taliban. The story had legs of moral outrage. Piers Morgan, among others, declared that he was horrified by the video footage. Really?
Homer tells us in graphic detail the horrors and brutality of war. When Achilles kills Hector, his soldiers gather round Hector’s dead body to gloat and stab Hector’s body themselves.
The Biblical story of David and Goliath show David desecrating the slain Goliath by cutting off Goliath’s head and holding it up to the Philistines in a show of defiance. After the Philistines ran off, David took Goliath’s head back to Jerusalem. For his efforts, Yahweh made David King of Israel.
Obviously Piers Morgan has never read Homer or the Bible. Nor should he. He would be horrified.
When we ask people to kill for our country, we ask them to give up their humanity.
We take law-abiding citizens and transform them into soldiers with a license to kill the enemy. This requires the soldier to dehumanize another human so that they can kill them with a clear conscience. Once dead, the residual body is nothing more than a potential health hazard that must be discarded quickly.
A related story this week was Chris Kyle, the former Navy SEAL who had been labeled by insurgents as “the Devil of Rahmadi.” Chris made an appearance January 14, and signed copies of his new book, “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History.” Chris has more than 150 kills to his name, and is the recipient of several medals for bravery, including two Silver Stars, and five Bronze Stars.
Why is Chris Kyle a hero for murder, while the four hapless marines urinating on dead Taliban may be facing charges?
How can we claim a dead body is more sacred than a live one?
What is the ideal?
Perhaps robot soldiers who kill living souls efficiently but then treat the corpse with tender loving care and send warm letters of condolence to family and friends.
