Iraq War Syllogism - 31 Poem by Raj Dronamraju

31

This is video game war
No blood, no guts, just black and white images of subjects far away
Joystick warriors push a button, flip a switch, toggle urgently to catch those running like mice
When they fall it's almost expected points will display on the screen, points for each kill
And the game will reset itself

Helicopter gunships look just like toys
And when we watch through inflight cameras, we partake in the kill
We target and shoot structures, stick figures running in terror
We don't see their faces nor do we hear their screams

This is video game war
Blood and guts removed
Death and terror removed
Chaos and destruction removed
All we see are flashes of lights, bullets and tracers fired from our gamer's perspective

When we separate ourselves from the bloody results of war
We lose perspective
We lose humanity when shooting down civilians from far away
It feels no different than blasting away foes on a child's gameboy










31

This is video game war
No blood, no guts, just black and white images of subjects far away
Joystick warriors push a button, flip a switch, toggle urgently to catch those running like mice
When they fall it's almost expected points will display on the screen, points for each kill
And the game will reset itself

Helicopter gunships look just like toys
And when we watch through inflight cameras, we partake in the kill
We target and shoot structures, stick figures running in terror
We don't see their faces nor do we hear their screams

This is video game war
Blood and guts removed
Death and terror removed
Chaos and destruction removed
All we see are flashes of lights, bullets and tracers fired from our gamer's perspective

When we separate ourselves from the bloody results of war
We lose perspective
We lose humanity when shooting down civilians from far away
It feels no different than blasting away foes on a child's gameboy