triggerhappymedia

“A green soldier fears everything. When he is transported to the front, he thinks death is watching him on every side. Every shot is aimed at him. He doesn’t know how to judge the range or direction of fire, so he shoots anywhere, as long as he can shoot a lot without stopping.

He is not hurting the enemy, he is killing his own terror. He is stifling the dread that paralyzes a man and prevents him from thinking. Or rather, the dread doesn’t let him think about what is happening around him, about how to win the battle that his unit is engaged in, because at that moment he has a more important battle to win: he must win the war with his own fear.”

Although this passage was written about the brutal Angolan Civil War (1975-2002), i couldn’t help but think of Iraq. I am perplexed by the way John McCain talks about winning the war, or worse yet Sarah Palin equating withdrawal with waving a “white flag of surrender”. Reaching what ultimate goal would make America the winner? And who will lose?

To me this sounds like children chanting on a playground driven by an egomaniacal need to save face. The Vietnam War ended up in the wrong column- and there alone it shall stay!

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Trigger: Another Day of Life by Ryszard Kapuściński

Then-

Now-

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Trigger: Breakin’, 1984 ; Buraka Som Sistema’s Sound of Kuduro, 2007