About this episode
The episode explores the intersection of political psychology and historical atrocities, particularly focusing on military violence and its implications.
Hello Interactors, This one attempts to balance the privilege of cold analytical escapism with the gruesome rehumanization of past, present, and future atrocities. I end up trying to make sense of the political psychology that leads to such jubilant violence. While it can be understood, its the very intelligibility that makes it so intolerable. PRESSURE, POWER, IMPUNITY In 1965, as my umbilical cord was being severed in Iowa, U.S. soldiers in Vietnam were cutting the ears off innocent dead Vietnamese children. And their parents. The shriveling cartilage served as “ proof ” they were killed. They’d string them into necklaces or hoard them in “ear bags” as trophies. Their commanders demanded a tally. This morbid ritual, born from the military’s obsession with numeric “success” metrics amid “search and destroy” orders, exposed not just individual moral depravity but a systemic disregard for human life. Such barbarity serves as just another example of America’s enduring pattern of defying Geneva Conventions on civilian protections, proportionality, and prohibited weapons. These atrocities are wrapped in bureaucratic euphemisms like “collateral damage”; all to evade accountability and…
People in this episode
Host: Brad Weed
Topics covered
- political psychology
- atrocities
- military violence
- human rights
- imperialism
- historical analysis
Keywords
- atrocities
- Vietnam War
- military violence
- political psychology
- human rights
- collateral damage
- imperialism
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Geneva Conventions, U.S.
Places: Iowa, Vietnam
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