Hurling heavy building blocks.
In a heart-wrenching poetic outburst, the author expresses their raw emotions towards a perceived adversary. The feelings, more potent than any fortified building, are too heavy to be contained, and the tears flow like unstoppable rain. The words hurled aren't mere insults but cries for justice,
"Murderer! Liar!" echo through the void, yet the response is always, "Victor, and to you the spoils." This callous disregard for the countless lives lost - is it mere collateral damage or merely a callous indifference to damage at all?
The world sheds a tear, but the alleged perpetrator remains unaffected. The poet wishes to tear apart their own timeline, flinging the shattered fragments before the annals of history, scream in protest, not for their personal losses, but for mankind as a whole. The billions, lost beyond the narrow-minded "we, us, our," - the remnants at the end of the equation.
Mathematics requires cold calculations, but the poet prefers emotional expressions, the lines drawn by hand, the fluidity of possibilities, the peace that embraces tiny frictions, just like wildflowers growing in the rich soil of life.
When the poet mentions a plough drawn by horses, they're not referring to a simple farming tool. Instead, it symbolizes the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Only monstrous entities could prosper in land so devastated.
Driven by Turlough's stirring account of "Fifty-One Empty Places at the Dinner Table" (https://www.abctales.com/story/turlough/fifty-one-empty-places-dinner-table), the poet questions the ethical implications of accepting numerous deaths as merely collateral damage. The following enrichment data provides insights into the key moral considerations and broader implications associated with this concept.
Overall
The disregard for countless civilian deaths as "collateral damage" in warfare invokes crucial moral and ethical questions. While accepting collateral damage can lead to strategic advantages, it also raises profound concerns about respect for human life, the right to dignity, proportionality, accountability, societal impact, and the potential erosion of ethical and legal standards.
Key Moral Considerations
1. Value of Human Life and Dignity
The law of armed conflict (LOAC) strives to protect civilians and civilian objects from harm, emphasizing the moral necessity to uphold human life and dignity. Framing civilian casualties as collateral could lead to the diminishing of individual civilians, trivializing their pain, which should never be a byproduct of achieving military objectives.
2. Proportionality and Intent
The principle of proportionality requires that any harm to civilians or civilian objects must not be excessive compared to the anticipated military advantage. The bounds of what is considered excessive and the justification required for civilian casualties can lead to ambiguous interpretations, resulting in an underestimation of the moral weight of civilian deaths.
3. Accountability and Just War Theory
Just war theory and international law advocate for discriminate conduct (targeting only combatants or military objectives) and the taking of precautions to minimize civilian harm. When large-scale civilian deaths are accepted as inevitable or incidental, the accountability for unnecessary suffering can erode.
4. Societal and Psychological Impact
Viewing civilian casualties as collateral can lead to societal indifference to warfare, desensitization, and the normalization of violence. It might also trigger resentment among affected populations, seeding cycles of hatred and conflict that undermine lasting peace and security.
Broader Implications
Precedent and Moral Responsibility
Accepting collateral damage may lead to a dangerous precedent, being susceptible to increasingly permissive interpretations of acceptable harm to civilians. Moral responsibility can deteriorate as decision-makers may feel less accountable for unintended consequences.
Humanitarian and Strategic Costs
Ignoring civilian lives can harm a nation's credibility and international support for military actions. Morally, it also undermines the legitimacy of actions taken in the name of national security or justice.
- The poet laments the disregard for civilian lives in 'war-and-conflicts', questioning if it's collateral damage or a callous indifference, as they scream for justice not just for their personal losses, but for the 'general-news' of mankind.
- In the poet's narrative, the concept of accepting numerous deaths as collateral damage in warfare, as depicted in Turlough's account of "Fifty-One Empty Places at the Dinner Table", raises moral and ethical concerns, such as the 'value of human life and dignity' and the 'proportionality and intent' as per the law of armed conflict (LOAC).
