No, I'm not going to post the video of the Marine killing the puppy in Iraq. If you want to ruin your day, be my guest: it's available here. I'm not even a dog person, but it still ruined my day.
Actually, I wasn't going to post anything about this at all, but, alas, it's now a major news story. So, for those of you who haven't heard: video emerged yesterday showing a Marine in Iraq who appears to toss a helpless puppy off a cliff. The Marines are investigating. Welcome to war in the age of Jackass. No, it's not that people are worse, there are just more video cameras.
I'd also hesitate to make a political point about how war dehumanizes people, which is of course true, but doesn't necessarily explain why someone would toss a puppy off a cliff. Teenagers across America have been doing sick stuff to puppies and kitties for years. Guess what: suburbia dehumanizes, too.
So, assuming the video isn't faked, the guy may have thrown the puppy off the cliff because war dehumanized him; he may have tossed a puppy off the cliff because suburbia dehumanized him; or maybe he and his buddy were just a couple of heartless idiots with a camera. Take your pick.
