Are we entirely de-sensatised?

[CrazyAnglican]

I don't know about all that, but to my British friends, I'm glad that terrorists they are sending you are idiots. Way to go for the British police foiling all of these attempts recently.

[b.k. barunt]

Desensitized? How about someone championing Islam as a "peaceful religion" in spite of casualties like this?

[Guiscard]

Desensitized? How about someone championing Islam as a "peaceful religion" in spite of casualties like this?

Cutting...

But I'e had that argument in many other threads. Here is not the place for it.

[b.k. barunt]

Sorry, didn't mean to be cutting. I just can't figure out why someone like you would champion such a violent and oppressive religion.

[Molacole]

105 people were killed and 240 injured in a bomb attack in Iraq today...

ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE!

f*ck me... I wonder how many times I dismiss stories like this in favour of a blanket ' Iraqi casualties are horrific, I don't need the details' type attitude. Twice as many dead than the 7/7 bombings, yet they are ingrained on our consciousness... I don't think I've ever heard someone in the street saying 'Did you see the news about the Iraqis killed today?' It is really very very hard to imagine what kind of situation they've got over there... The military casualties are nothing compared to shit like this.

I guess my question for discussion, then, is are we entirely de-sensitised to civilian casualties? And what is the impact of this? Does it make military actions like Iraq less likely to be met with dissent if its not 'our boys' being blown to pieces?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6279864.stm

well if you factor in the fact that every single male of each and every household (just about) owns an ak-47 or something to the like then what do you expect to happen? Also take into account the amount of civilians killed by their own race (tally that one up) since before we stepped in. Then you can add to it the amount of civilians that have been killed by their own race during this war.

It's not just us that is killing these "civilians" which more times than not own an ak-47 which we also have to go door to door disarming the households just to find out they've received another fire-arm...

I could go on but I need to answer the door and call it a day for the internet.

[timma25]

Problem is how often similar things happen to those people, and the state of their country.

Daily their's headlines on car bombings, gun fights, civilian and soldier casualties. On one hand it's horrible, on the other hand their country is a war zone and people are unnaturally dieing all the time.

The troops in their from around the world are supposed to be peace keepers. When they die it's a lot bigger news since they died for a cause they didn't have to bother with.

[Guiscard]

105 people were killed and 240 injured in a bomb attack in Iraq today...

ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE!

f*ck me... I wonder how many times I dismiss stories like this in favour of a blanket ' Iraqi casualties are horrific, I don't need the details' type attitude. Twice as many dead than the 7/7 bombings, yet they are ingrained on our consciousness... I don't think I've ever heard someone in the street saying 'Did you see the news about the Iraqis killed today?' It is really very very hard to imagine what kind of situation they've got over there... The military casualties are nothing compared to shit like this.

I guess my question for discussion, then, is are we entirely de-sensitised to civilian casualties? And what is the impact of this? Does it make military actions like Iraq less likely to be met with dissent if its not 'our boys' being blown to pieces?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6279864.stm

well if you factor in the fact that every single male of each and every household (just about) owns an ak-47 or something to the like then what do you expect to happen? Also take into account the amount of civilians killed by their own race (tally that one up) since before we stepped in. Then you can add to it the amount of civilians that have been killed by their own race during this war.

It's not just us that is killing these "civilians" which more times than not own an ak-47 which we also have to go door to door disarming the households just to find out they've received another fire-arm...

I could go on but I need to answer the door and call it a day for the internet.

I'm not debating the politics here, or the realities of the situation or causes of the event... Just our response to such stories.

No-one seems even the slightest bit phased by such high casualty rates, and neither was I, but I sort of stepped back a bit and thought 'f*ck me.,.. a hundred people...' and just wondered how many similar stories I'd skimmed over or ignored.

[Guiscard]

Sorry, didn't mean to be cutting. I just can't figure out why someone like you would champion such a violent and oppressive religion.

We've all got opinions... As I said before, I've already argued this in other threads. No need to start again here. Bump another thread if you want to hash it out again...