War and fighting is a fundamental part of being a human. Even from the beginning times man fought to see whose strength and abilities would determine the victor, leader, king, ruler. But as time has progressed we have seen a shift in the way war is fought. Instead of skill in combat in close quarters, we see battles being fought from much greater distances.
Team America: World Police, was directed by Trey Parker who is the co-creator of the TV series South Park. This should come to no surprise as the absolute disregard for the potential of backlash. Team America does a good job in representing the ideals that many, not all, Americans believe. When i use the term "American" if am referring to the citizens of the United States of America. This is a misuse of the word that many of us use and is shown over the top in the song that plays called, "America, Fuck Yeah". The United States is not The whole two continents of the Americans. the film depicts this by telling where the areas visited are by their relationship to the "real America".
The war that is fought in Team America is one that everybody can relate to more closely than others if they are young. The war on terrorism is an ongoing conflict that the United States tries to face. With the bombing of the twin towers in our time we have a more personal connection with this war that is being fought. Shelly Kagan talks about how war is justified if the damage that is cause is less than what the evil would've cause had it not been stopped. (332) To put this into perspective, in Team America, the Eiffel tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Great Pyramids, and the Sphinx are all destroyed in order to stop a couple people with bombs. This is taking the situation way out of proportion and exaggerating it, but it does bring fourth something that needs to be seen.
The United States causes immense economic destruction and physical destruction when they try to help a country or capture a couple of terrorists. Terrorist that are always thought of to be either Arabian or Muslim because of recent events that have occurred, as seen in the movie as well. Much of the fighting that occurs which the United States is a part of, is not our fight at all. We as the "Greatest Country Ever" (which we are far from) feels that it is our obligation to help all the other countries of the world who are struggling through military conflicts, when we have our own problems at home that we decided to continue to sweep under the rug. The dominant military force that we do have has made our boarders safe with the possibility of invasion not being an option. This is also the reason that we find it to be our obligation to "help" the other countries in times of trouble as we see it.
One of the best parts of the film for me was the bar scene which a quote that is actually very deep came into the movie. The quote is:
"There are three kinds of people: Dicks, Pussies, and Assholes. Pussies think we everyone can
get along, and dicks just want to fuck all the time without thinking it through, but then you got
your assholes. All the assholes want to do is shit all over everything. So pussies get mad at
dicks once in awhile because pussies get fucked by dicks, but dicks also fuck assholes and if
they didn't fuck the assholes, you'd get your dick and your pussy all covered in shit."
This may sound like an absolute stupid quote, but it actually describes the United States to a T. We are the Dicks, Pussies, and the Assholes all at once depending on what angle your look at us. We do care to much about other countries and we try to help all the time, but in the process we turn into Assholes and try to change the country to be more "Americanized" this brings out the rebels. They think they are the Dicks and we are the Assholes, while we think they are the Assholes and we are the dicks, when in actuality they are correct.
Something to leave you with and think about.
War drastically alters and in many cases destroys the lives of the people who play an active part in it. The losers get killed and are subjected to the influence of the victor, while the military men of the winning side are often psychologically disturbed by the things they saw and took part in while at war. The winning country profits at the cost of its own men's many sacrifices. War is not likely to be eradicated from human behavior. I agree with the piece of information that you shared from Shelly Kagan's writings. War is only morally permissible if the damage cause is less than the damage that would have ensued if no action was taken. Even then, I think war should be practiced under ethical conditions. Though this is ideal in the face of war, the lines of ethical conduct are often blurred in the context of war. I think American Sniper did a good job at depicting the grey area of making ethical decisions while fighting in a war.
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