For Vietnam new soldiers shot at human shaped targets that fell over when hit. This training brought the experience much closer to the reality of combat. The object for those so trained is to get proficient at knocking down as many human shaped targets as possible. According to the Colonel firing rates climbed from 15% in WW2 to as high as 90% in Vietnam. The book is titled "On Killing" and is available on Amazon Prime reading.
As he brought the book to a close, he touched on societal violence in the United States. He observed that the murder rate has gone down since the turn of the 21st century. He also observed that violent crimes and mass shootings are on the rise. He wondered if the widespread entertainment of First Person Shooter video games, which closely resemble military training, and the violence in media could be encouraging those whose natural aversion to killing to act out.On other statistic he drew out was the decline of the murder rate. He postulated the cause of the decline of the violent attacks that result in murder was likely from our medical system and first responders' ability to restore life to a dying human, not from a more altruistic populace.
I would postulate that one of the factors in the rise of violence might be technology's ability to mitigate the consequences of our decisions. We know that our hospitals now have life flights, mobile hospitals called ambulances and a bevy of drugs, equipment and procedures to restore health. "Joe survived that last drive by. He shouldn't, but he did." We can act out our feelings instantly and even violently, while the mechanisms of society can cover for the worst of us. So, if the consequences of even the most enraged acts are offset by technology, then what sort of society is emerging from this new freedom?
Hang on, we are about to jump again. Nineteen states, the latest of which is New York, now allow women control over their bodies as far as medical science will allow. In this new technology a passionate choice can be undone with little physical harm to the woman. It is now possible and legal to mitigate the consequences of heated passion that is now growing inside a woman unwanted. Safe and legal abortions have likely reduced the death rate from back alley deaths of both woman and child. Unwanted children are no longer born to woman who aren't prepared to love them. Legislators cheered when this freedom was passed into law.
With killing of other human beings in combat, new technology and training allowed soldiers to overcome a natural prohibition against humans killing humans. With young woman aborting the babies they are carrying, technology and training allows woman the freedom to bypass a natural tendency of mothers to care for their children. What kind of society are we birthing into the 21st century as we mitigate the consequences of choices without any thought to the results on those making them?
For decades our veterans, especially our Vietnam vets, have struggled to find some sort of normal after repeatedly breaking this ingrained stop. Many never made it back. Drugs, alcoholism, suicide claimed many of these warriors.
So what kind of society are we willing into being by offloading the consequences of choices to techology? If we as a society assures women that they can use techology to get rid of that consequence coming down their birth canal? Yes, sometimes the consequences of our choices mean children are born with physical cost in their bodies. What struggles will these young women face as they try to find some sort of normal? What about the doctors, nurses, midwives and others who have to dehuman a baby into a fetus or organic tissue, as they dispose of it? The images of burned and dismembered tiny humans have to be normalized somehow. Do those medical professionals experience PTSD as intense as a front line grunt?
What society are we creating, calling into being, molding and shaping, liberating, indoctrinating, dreaming?
