the military are the Death Eaters from the Harry Potter books

[miriam_e]

Maximum pain is aim of new US weapon

How saddening. How do these people get research dollars when there are people starving in their own country?

Comments

[usuakari.livejournal.com]

Interesting article. I agree with the ethical concerns, but pragmatically, pain's is a whole lot better than being dead. Armed forces are increasingly frequently undertaking what is essentially police work. They're not equipped or prepared for it, and this is their response to the experiences that they've had. Anything that provides options to bullets is going to be looked on favourably by an increasingly stressed military.

Conversely, cops are being forced to act in ways more like that of the armed forces these days. I imagine some of them would be in favour of chain guns and air-support...

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Initially you might think a pain weapon is better than a killing weapon, but when you think of how it would be used it becomes clear that it is a lot scarier. They will not be able to use a killing weapon indiscriminately because of the outcry, but a pain weapon... think of the potential for dispersing peaceful protests! And if you think they won't use it remember what they did recently in New York, rounding up people (bystanders too) and stuffing them into a temporary lockup on a wharf.

They control the media already. With this they can control the "right" to peaceful assembly. The only remaining hurdle is the internet, and Microsoft is working on plugging that particular leak soon with its "trusted computing" (code for your computer no longer trusting you).

[usuakari.livejournal.com]

I was looking at specifically from the narrow, tactical point of view. I agree with the wider concerns expressed though.

Non-lethal options are a two-edged sword (if you'll excuse the tenuous pun). We've seen similar problems with the use of tear-gas and water-cannons, especially in other countries. But I don't think that not having a range of options that spans from yelling "You've all been very naughty" to lethal force is a better situation to be in.

I'll take the risks to civil rights and deal with the problems that non-lethal weapons present, rather than have soldiers put in untenable positions and/or people dead, any day.