View of a destroyed residential building and car on the outskirts of Chernihiv as a result of the attack of Russian invaders. Credit: Drop of Light/Shutterstock.com
As the war in Ukraine continues to ravage on, videos of unmanned drones focusing sights upon “enemy” targets have recently surfaced on social media. The viewer (who may be located anywhere in the world) is immediately transported into the surreal experience of witnessing as the drone operator pulls a trigger (or perhaps presses a computer key) to launch missiles or other powerful ammunition toward those “targets.” Whether the target is a tank, truck or battleship, the inevitable next scene is the explosion and destruction of that target. Occasionally, the target is one or more human beings on the distant ground below that weapon. But those images are merely the silhouette of a human image. That person’s face certainly is nowhere in sight.
These rather recent video additions to the internet environment are alarmingly similar to the video games our children “play.” Those games include remarkably similar replications of the targeting of other humans or the war machines the fictional “enemy” might be operating. The use of various weapons to destroy those “targets” human or otherwise also occurs at the press of a button. The actual killing and the physical pain, suffering, and human carnage is simply assumed as part of the game. Whether a child is playing such a game or viewing an internet video of a real-life drone strike, the fact remains the same; there is no appreciation for the physical pain, suffering, death and destruction of another human being. Nothing is felt. There is absolutely no emotional connection. No empathy. Nothing happens inside the viewer or game operator even remotely similar to the experience of physically witnessing such events close up.
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