- Now that the various Abu Ghraib commissions have finished
their unseemly tap dance around the assignation of blame, it's time to
explore some of the subtler, far-reaching implications of the
"scandal."
-
- Before Abu Ghraib, before Fallujah, in fact just weeks
before the whole shock and awe campaign was to launch, came news of a
preemptive
strike -- on memory. The stealth attack was initiated by clever scientists
who thought not of a cure for infectious greed, or a vaccine against the
plague of moral relativism, but instead prepared to market a pill that
will help us forget what we cannot bear to remember.
-
- To the unimpeded brain, painful memories provoke
responses
as varied as solemn reflection, incapacitating fear, or self-imposed exile
to the bleak landscape of guilt and regret -- depending on our role in
the precipitating event.
-
- But with a very off-label use of the beta-blocker
propranolol,
doctors can stop the emotions associated with a traumatic event from
embedding
in the brain where they otherwise act like land mines; every time they're
triggered, an explosion of memories forces us to relive the grief we
suffered
. or inflicted.
-
- Scientists seeking to spare the rape victim her trauma
forgot that what's good for the victim is good for the perp, forgot there
might be a downside to sealing off access to a conscience -- the very
capacity
that defines us as human and endows us with compassion and empathy.
Imagine:
our internal moral compass, painstakingly honed by evolutionary forces
over millennia, circumvented by one little pill.
-
- And wouldn't this pharmacological end-run come in handy
during the preemptive wars of the future? Handy for any soldier not
sufficiently
amputated from his emotions by military hardening and pre-battle infusions
of sado-porn and methamphetamine; useful for those medics who cannot block
the acrid stench of charbroiled flesh; and essential for the Special Forces
operative who's not far enough away from collateral or intentional damage
to pretend that this strike was surgical and he a mere technician.
-
- So if he's close enough, and sober enough, his senses
not dulled enough to keep him from taking in the enormity of his deed,
he can instead take the warring-after pill and feel no pain, suffer no
remorse, believe he was just doing his duty. He'll go home PTSD-free, kiss
his wife, and get on with his life. He may still father deformed children
and die of cancer the VA insists is unrelated to depleted uranium, but
by God he'll die with no regrets at all.
-
- But that was before shock and awe, before Fallujah, and
before Abu Ghraib where American soldiers and their digital cameras proved
that there was no big bonanza for the pharmaceutical companies because
among the perpetrators there was no guilt that needed to be medicated,
nor memories to be short-circuited.
-
- To the contrary, the offending troops were so unconcerned
with the legality and morality of their behavior that they chose to
immortalize
it, gleefully sharing those memories with friends and family. Pfc. Lynndie
England apparently spoke for many when she testified to her belief that
she had done nothing wrong. (It's not like we were beheading anyone.)
Likewise,
for Rush Limbaugh and a startling number of Americans, the whole episode
was on par with a fraternity prank, little more than light amusement for
the troops. Others among us pray that those same troops will someday
discover
that you can't dehumanize your enemy without diminishing your soul.
-
- And those further up the chain of command? Apparently,
if all you did was order the torture, or look the other way, or sign a
Presidential Directive authorizing it in the name of national security,
well you've got no trauma to get over, do you?
-
- And, perhaps, no soul to wound.
-
- In the end, we are all being poisoned by a culture that
breeds generals who boast our god is better than theirs; a nation where
lawyers are paid good money to decide who is eligible for civil rights
and who for torture; and a press corps that laughs along with a president
who jokes about not finding the weapons of mass destruction he dreamed
up to justify a war he can't win.
-
- In such a culture that little pill for guilt is
obsolete.
-
- Because we're Americans.
-
- We have no regrets.
-
- We're in a war on terror and our humanity is just so
much collateral damage.
-
- The use of memory-blunting pharmaceuticals has not been
much reported, though it deserves to be. Even the President's Council on
Bioethics has concerns. Check them out at
-
- http://www.bioethics.gov/reports
- /beyondtherapy/chapter5.html
-
- Lisa Martinovic is an artist, essayist and performance
poet whose work has appeared in print and online, from the San Francisco
Chronicle to commondreams.org. She has written and voiced commentaries
for several NPR affiliates, including KQED in San Francisco, and her poetry
is featured in numerous anthologies including The Outlaw Bible of American
Poetry, Will Work for Peace, and Poetry Slam. Currently on hiatus from
performing, Lisa is busy marketing her recently completed screenplay, a
scorching political satire that aspires to inspire multitudes.
-
- Her website is:
- http://www.slaminatrix.com
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