We have war, and killing, including as always some amount of killing of innocents.
Nobody wants to be responsible for that part! And perhaps nobody is, fully.
The soldier is only responsible for following the order to kill an innocent, or kill someone who may or may not be innocent, or perform an act which has a decent chance of killing some innocent bystanders. But he does not give the order.
The drone designer is only responsible for enabling the killing process to take place more efficiently. But he does not take part in any actual killing.
The drone pilot is responsible for killing from afar, but he neither gives the order nor sees the reality on the ground — he’s simply playing a video game.
The general is responsible for giving the broad order, but he doesn’t do any actual killing.
The president is responsible for allowing the war to continue, or in some cases even starting the war. But he’s very far removed from the killing.
The congress is responsible for allowing the president to usurp war powers and for funding the wars. But they’re not giving the order to go to war, that’s the president.
The voter is responsible for voting for someone who takes a position against his own conscience, because it is the “lesser of evils.” But how can he be blamed, he’s been given such crappy choices.
The taxpayer is responsible for footing the bill, for buying the bombs, for paying the soldiers and generals and drone factories. The dollar-holder is similarly responsible, for funding the war through the inflation of savings. But neither feels fully responsible, because taxes and inflation are not optional.
When we divide up responsibility like this, is it that nobody is responsible enough to consider the killing an act of their own volition? The soldier is just doing what the general tells him; the congress is just doing what the constituency seems to want; the taxpayer is just doing his civic duty. And we are all conveniently moving our thoughts away from our own role.
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