May 01, 2004
SHAME
"the American people are valuing life more and realizing that we need policies to value the dignity and worth of every life"
Karen Hughes, Counselor to the President of the United States
My rsponse to the author of the Riverbend blog:
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com
No, this isn't going to be an email asserting that the behavior by
American and British troops that they were proud enough of to take
pictues are "isolated incidents." Rather, I'm going to suggest that
this behavior is characteristic and, in a way, traditional. Forcing
(via peer pressure) the members of a group to participate in personally
disgusting and unlawful behavior is a bonding mechanism. The result is
an "association by guilt" from which it is hard for the individual to
extract him/herself because of the fear of being punished for what
he/she did. In milder forms of this pattern of behavior, when
individuals are constrained to eat or drink to the point of nausea, they
are bound to the group by the fear of ridicule. In a life or death
situation, that's obviously not enough. Also, it may well be that the
participants excuse their behavior on the basis of "this is what they
would do to me, if I were caught." To a certain extent, they are
engaging in a preemptive defense. Which, of course, is how the whole
operation in Iraq has been characterized by their commander-in-chief.
This is what happens when people attack because they expect they
might be attacked. That the pattern of behavior would be exhibited on the lowest levels of the organization should not come as a surprise.
The only way to counteract this behavior is to bear witness. Which may be why some of the participants took pictures. They want this behavior to be stoppped.
We'll do all we can to bear witness.