Save the Children

Trey Smith

If you watch TV in the US, I am betting that you've seen an ad about saving impoverished children in some part of the world and/or saving pets housed around the country in animal shelters. These ads pull at our heartstrings and they motivate many of us to grab our checkbook or credit card in order to make a donation.

But what do you think when you hear/see stories about children suffering from the ravages of war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan or Yemen and/or being killed by American's drone program? Do the particulars of these news reports tug at your heartstrings too?

If you're like most Americans, the answer is no. I'm certainly not suggesting that you don't feel ephemeral pangs of sadness, but let's be honest, it's probably a fleeting thought (if it even gets that far). You may say, "Oh, those poor dears," but then your flip the page of the newspaper to read the comics or the movie section.

It all has to do with packaging!

Children starving in Africa or unwanted pets in America suffer their fate through no fault of their own. Children in war-torn areas, on the other hand, are depicted as playing a role in their own suffering. That role is that they just happen to be the children of adults who "hate America" and, even though they play no direct role in this supposed hatred, many people think it's natural that they should suffer for the sins of their fathers and mothers.

This is what happens when we are conditioned to see certain others as faceless enemies. Their children become geopolitical pawns that can be slaughtered at will and few of us will feel any angst over this happenstance. While it may make us sad momentarily, we readily accept it as the necessary collateral damage of war.

It might be something to lament for a second or so, but it is not the kind of thing that far too many Americans pay much attention to.

What does this say about us as a society?