Drone operators – the people who control those aircraft (that are sometimes designed to kill), that don’t carry a human passenger on board – are obviously quite removed from their victims.
So removed, in fact, that they reportedly call their kills “bug splats” – because they appear small and grainy on a computer screen. Which is horrific, obviously, as these pixels aren’t bug splats. They are human lives.
A group of artists and activists have come together to create a campaign that is trying to get this message across, called #NotABugSplat. The project involves printing the faces of civilians – who are often injured in these attacks – on large piece on vinyl and laying them out for drone operators to see.
So the drone operator doesn’t just see a blurry, unidentifiable bug splat. They see the face of a human child.
The artists explain their goal on their website, saying:
To challenge this insensitivity as well as raise awareness of civilian casualties, an artist collective installed a massive portrait facing up in the heavily bombed Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa region of Pakistan, where drone attacks regularly occur. Now, when viewed by a drone camera, what an operator sees on his screen is not an anonymous dot on the landscape, but an innocent child victim’s face.
Do you think an art project like this is an effective way of making people think about their world differently?
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This art project is a start in pricking the conscience of those drone operators who've been chosen for their skills & accuracy and ability to distance themselves from the horror of their actions.
Sadly, I see the evidence of their "work" most days, courtesy of a deeply concerned friend who's trying to expose the aftermath of (mainly) the US's "war against terror".
Innocent villagers have become collateral damage because of where they're forced to live and eek out a meager living.
The question is whether or not unmanned, armed drones snuffing out innocent lives in parts of the world that "aren't America" are justified and are simply building greater hatred towards a "super power" that's being increasingly accused of intrusion and meddling and expansionism.
The internet is such a mixed blessing and in this case it's exposed that which would normally be hidden from the eyes of those who really do have a voice.
I think its important to look at why these things happen. American invaded Afganistan as a response to 9/11. Why did 9/11 occur? No its not becuase of America's foreign policy, its not becuase there are poor people in the middle east. Its becuase Islamists hate the west and a particular Islamist group, al-Qaeda, which was based in Afganistan, decided to kill as many Americans in the most conspicuous way possible. The Pakistani government protected those terrorists, gave them a safe haven to plan the attacks and to hide from the US once they were done. I am not in the army, so I won't condem the words they use. War is brutal. What would happen if the US just left the terrorist organisations in Pakistan, Iraq, Iran etc to do their thing. I'd say it wouldn't be long before another 9/11, bali bombing, London tube bombing....etc perhaps on Australian soil. I think you'll find the average person on the street in Pakistan hates America, hates Jews and hates the West.
And I wonder why they hate us? So USA should kill civilians because terrorists killed Americans?
That's quite funny that you still think that US go to these countries just to protect us from trrorists.... Well, i doubt you won't believe that a lot of army do a war to win something at the end and that's not protection of us but benefits for them. look at it a little bit deeper that can help you.
Nothing like 9/11 or any kind of war is of course excusable...
It's interesting,after 9/11 .I remember seeing Jamie Lee Curtis on the Dr Phil show.They were talking about the feeling of fear in the population. Miss Curtis said that they shouldn't be afraid."We are America,we can do whatever we like".No wonder they aren't popular in some quarters