Comments on: Murder Inc. – The Psychology of the Battlefield http://www.thejanuarist.com/murder-inc-the-psychology-of-the-battlefield/ PAST vs PRESENT Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:01:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 By: Amy Thibodeau http://www.thejanuarist.com/murder-inc-the-psychology-of-the-battlefield/#comment-370 Amy Thibodeau Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:59:56 +0000 http://www.thejanuarist.com/?p=654#comment-370 The Vanity Fair article also goes into the programming the army did with soldiers after Marshall's report - things like getting them to shoot at targets with pictures of women and children on them. I think you're right PC and there is also something about it being easier to kill something that seems different and 'other'. We hear it all the time in news coverage - especially from the likes of channels like Fox - the one sided speak about the 'enemy' as though it were just one giant force as opposed to a group of individual people with families and lives not unlike our own. Depressing indeed. Thanks for the comment. The Vanity Fair article also goes into the programming the army did with soldiers after Marshall’s report – things like getting them to shoot at targets with pictures of women and children on them. I think you’re right PC and there is also something about it being easier to kill something that seems different and ‘other’. We hear it all the time in news coverage – especially from the likes of channels like Fox – the one sided speak about the ‘enemy’ as though it were just one giant force as opposed to a group of individual people with families and lives not unlike our own.

Depressing indeed.

Thanks for the comment.

]]> By: pc http://www.thejanuarist.com/murder-inc-the-psychology-of-the-battlefield/#comment-369 pc Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:09:33 +0000 http://www.thejanuarist.com/?p=654#comment-369 It's interesting that numbers went up during the Korean and Viet Nam wars. Dehumanizing the enemy is always part of war. I imagine it becomes that much easier when the "enemy" doesn't look like you and your trenchmates. During WWII, Life Magazine had no problem showing graphic pictures of dead Japanese soldiers, but refrained largely from showing dead Germans in similar images. It's all very depressing, isn't it? It’s interesting that numbers went up during the Korean and Viet Nam wars. Dehumanizing the enemy is always part of war. I imagine it becomes that much easier when the “enemy” doesn’t look like you and your trenchmates. During WWII, Life Magazine had no problem showing graphic pictures of dead Japanese soldiers, but refrained largely from showing dead Germans in similar images.

It’s all very depressing, isn’t it?

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