The Psychology of Killer Drones – action against our foes; reaction affecting us
G. I. Wilson
Fabius Maximus, 28 September 2011
Summary: We now have enough experience with drone warfare to study its effects. Just as in physics, our actions affect ourselves as well as our targets. Social science research shows that drones are a gateway to moral disengagement dehumanization, and deindividuation. The great distances drones operate over, manipulated by faceless-nameless-lawyeristic-voyeurs, creates an emotional, mental, and physical divide between “us” ( i.e. our government) and the enemies we kill. Drones allow us to dissociate our actions from our values, a useful high-cost and high-tech justification. At the end are links to gain more information about this new form of warfare.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
— Newtons Third Law of Motion, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687)
Contents
- Moral Disengagement
- Dehumanization
- Deindividuation
- For more information
Read full article with many supporting links and references.
Winslow Wheeler: His article gives a chilling rebuke to those who glibly see them as “the future of warfare” and essential for counter-terror operations without acknowledging the consequences.
Robert Steele: The US Government has lost both its intelligence and its integrity. This has been a consistent theme of this web site, and while I have distanced myself from the day to day operations of Phi Beta Iota–they now have a life of their own–G. I. Wilson is one of the original Marines in this era able to demonstrate both intelligence and integrity, and one of the original gurus on asymmetric warfare. That he got to be a Colonel is a credit to the Marine Corps. “Authority” in the U.S. Government is now irrational, illegitimate, and out of control. Even from a practical stand-point, the bandwidth for remote killer drones costs more than human pilots would, and human pilots would have the added advantage of situational awareness, something that simply cannot be achieved from a one-dimensional cockpit in the middle of the USA. From killer drones to JSOC assassinations to the totally illegal war on Libya, the US Government is now a monstrous collage of atrocities being perpetuated against its own public (22% unemployment, 18 veterans a day committing suicide, just under 16% under the poverty line) as well as foreign publics from Palestine and Libya to Central Asia to the Southern Hemisphere. What is being done “in our name” is unaffordable, reprehensible, and long over due for presentation to the International Tribunal with a long list of “by name” perpetrators that should run from Congress and the White House down to the individual pilots and squadron commanders that have betrayed their Oaths of office. What we are doing every day is neither patriotic nor moral.
See Also:
AFIO Extracts: CIA, DoD, War Crimes Can Do Easy
America’s Core Values: We the People vs. Them Crooks
Barack Obama Blows Heavy Smoke & Some Lies
BLOWBACK, Legitimate Grievances, & Integrity Lost
Call for Criminal Investigation of Bush-Cheney
Chuck Spinney: How Incestuous Amplification Leads to Treason
Chuck Spinney: Israeli Ethnic Cleansing of the Bedouin
CURVEBALL: The Interview + Integrity RECAP
Cynthia McKinney: The Truth on Libya–Another War of Lies
DefDog: Completely False Story from Coalition on Taliban
DefDog: PSYOP Reading List for Citizens
George W. Bush Fears Arrest in Switzerland
HAARP Earthquake Wars? + HAARP RECAP
Human Trafficking Funded by US Taxpayer
Journal: Court Excuses CIA & KR Rendition & Torture
Journal: IndyMedia Wanted Poster on CIA Renditioners–Significant for Two Reasons
Journal: Nato’s Secret Armies (It’s Not Terror if CIA Pays and Locals Do the Dirty….)
Journal: Spies, Lies, and Diplomatic Disorder
Journal: The Death of Responsible Government
Journal: Top 25 CENSORED Stories in the USA
Journal: True Cost–Israel and Palestine
Journal: UK Generals Turning on Politicians
Journal: USA Slouching Toward Tyranny
Journal: Wayne Madson on “Conflict or Revolution”
Journal: Webster Tarpley on CIA and Mumbai Bombings
Libyan Rebels Genociding Black Libyans
Life in the USA Prison Gulag–Integrity Lost
Marcus Aurelius: US at Permanent “War” + War RECAP
Michael Moore on the Class War & Looting of America
NATO — and Pilot/Command — War Crimes in Libya
Nattering Nabobs on Libya–Never Mind Ethics
Obama Over-Rules Top Lawyers on Libya Attacks
Owl: Obama Feared Coup in 2008 if Prosecutions of Bush Team, CIA, NSA Went Forward
Reference: Arianna Huffington–Wikileaks About Trust in Government–Or Not
Reference: Empire of Lies & Secrecy
Reference: Legitimate Grievances by Robert Steele
Reference: No Labels “Non-Party” = “Four More Years” for Wall Street
Reference: The Fraud-Based US Economy
Reference: US Secret Intelligence, US Banks, Illicit Gold, Murder of the Global Economy, RECAP
Regime Alternation: US Response to Arab Revolt + RECAP
Review (Guest): Dishonest Broker–The Role of the United States in Palestine and Israel
Review (Guest): Integrity–Good People, Bad Choices, and Life Lessons from the White House
Review (Guest): The Pentagon Labyrinth
Review DVD: American Drug War: The Last White Hope
Review: 9/11 Synthetic Terror–Made in USA, Fourth Edition
Review: An Act of State–The Execution of Martin Luther King, New and Updated Edition
Review: A War Against Truth–An Intimate Account of the Invasion of Iraq [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)
Review: Blood Money–Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq
Review: Dark Alliance–The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion
Review: Gag Rule–On the Suppression of Dissent and Stifling of Democracy
Review: Griftopia–Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America
Review: In the Name of Democracy–American War Crimes in Iraq and Beyond
Review: JFK and the Unspeakable–Why He Died & Why It Matters
Review: Seeds of Terror–How Heroin Is Bankrolling the Taliban and al Qaeda
Review: Shooting the Truth–The Rise of American Political Documentaries
Review: The Trial of Henry Kissinger
Review: The War On Truth–9/11, Disinformation And The Anatomy Of Terrorism (Paperback)
Review: The Way of the World–A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism
Review: VICE–Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
Review: War Games: The Story of Aid and War in Modern Times
Search: cost of corruption + Corruption RECAP
Search: what are some the atrocities of genocide
Secrecy News: Cost of Secrecy >$10B + RECAP
Secrecy News: Costs of Major US Wars, Contractors in Iraq & AF, Drones & Homeland Sec
Senator (D-MD): Leaks Should Be a Felony + RECAP
Seth Godin: The Arrogance of Willfull Ignorance
Shihab Rattansi lays bare US hypocrisy on Egypt
Strong Signals: Truth or Tyrannicide + RECAP
Terror at Fort Hood? Or Terror from America?
US Army Brainwashing Experiment
US Black Propaganda Behind Warrants for Gadhafi?
US Government Lies Part I [one source, one day]
US Intelligence Lies to “Defer” to General Petraeus
Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail? + US Fraud RECAP
Worth a Look: Impeachable Offenses, Modern & Historic
Worth A Look: Understanding 9/11 and 9/11 RECAP