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4/14/2017 8:40 am  #1


Shiny Object Syndrome

Well, I've learned more about the "Mother of all Bombs" than I really care to. One talking head after another on the Telly is breathlessly discussing the dropping of a single bomb like it was VE day.  "It's big. Really Big. So big that they have to drop it from a cargo plane. There's a really cool shock wave. Did I mention that it's really big?"

The strike, along with the Cruise missile strike on Syria have completely driven things like Healthcare, or Russia from the media altogether. Why are supposedly sophisticated people so fascinated with the gee-whiz factor of weaponry? Is the weapon we deploy more important than the reason we are dropping bombs?

This worries me. I am concerned that President Trump will react to the positive reinforcement like a rat in one of those psych tests. If every time he pushes the lever that launches a missile, Trump gets a "food pellet" of good press,,,,,,, he's going to launch a lot of missiles.

Of course, this is nothing new. I remember in the run up to the Gulf war that the embedded reporters were really, really excited about all of the cool gizmos that the military had. Some of them seemed like giddy kids going to Disney.
Very few were asking the question, why are we doing this?

Bush, Obama, Reagan, you name the guy, his numbers went up when he launched something designed to explode.

So, best case scenario, we spend at least half a million dollars per "Terrorist" killed, half a world away.
If they know what they are talking about that is.

But, the bomb is really cool.

Last edited by Goose (4/14/2017 8:43 am)


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
 

4/14/2017 9:20 am  #2


Re: Shiny Object Syndrome

The question of both THIS strike and the one in Syria last week are will either make a difference at all. Many support that we do something for the people caught in the middle of all of this, but in Syria other than perhaps taking chemical weapons off the table, the slaughter of those caught in the middle keeps going on. The press never shows the aftermath of barrel bombs because the carnage is so gruesome. So the quesiton arises - did it really make any difference at all. Guess we need to see over the next month or so if it did or was more a statement that had no teeth. 

Same question in Afghanistan. The POTUS said we would bomb the shit out of ISIS. Well, this bomb is certainly NOT one we would use in any populated area. We apparently produced about 20 of these back in 2003 at a cost of over $300 million so this one bomb alone cost us about $16 million (similarly the 59 tomahawks fired into Syria last week cost us about $60 million)  According to reports so far we killed about 36 militants were killed. The question arises was this one more for effect rather than really accomplishing much of anything. Again too early to tell.  

War IS a messy, costly proposition, but we MUST make sure when we commit to action that it really does something meaningful and NOT cause those opposing to become even more energized. 

In a sad related note, a misdirected US led coalition strike in Syria killed 18 allies earlier this week. 

We have created a mess in the Middle East over the years and we continue to pay the high price for our not understanding the implications of a destabilizing war in a region that is filled with civil unrest by groups that hate each other even more than they hate us.
 
 

Last edited by tennyson (4/14/2017 9:21 am)


"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"
 
 

4/14/2017 11:23 am  #3


Re: Shiny Object Syndrome

On Fox and Friends they showed footage of the bomb blast while country music played and the blond lady gushed, "This is what freedom looks like".

I'm not making this up.



 

Last edited by Goose (4/14/2017 11:46 am)


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
     Thread Starter
 

4/18/2017 6:12 pm  #4


Re: Shiny Object Syndrome

A bunch of old guys getting to blow stuff up??

I'm guessing they do a barbecue and have beers and shots and watch it on a jumbotron on the White House lawn.

All my rowdy friends are comin over toinght?

Yeee haaa


If you make yourself miserable trying to make others happy that means everyone is miserable.

-Me again

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4/18/2017 6:15 pm  #5


Re: Shiny Object Syndrome

That's what freedom looks like??

Does she even know it's an effing bomb??

Way to uphold that whole blonde=ditz stereotype.


If you make yourself miserable trying to make others happy that means everyone is miserable.

-Me again

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