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Should President Barack Obama be “canceled” because of e.g. his droning of civilians?

Allen773

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Allen773
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I, for one, find America’s 44th President’s use of drone warfare deeply problematic and so I think he should be erased from American history.
 
Allen773 said:
I, for one, find America’s 44th President’s use of drone warfare deeply problematic and so I think he should be erased from American history.
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I agree. Deeply disturbing. These actions should clearly be discussed in history books. In contrast “erased” wouldn’t contribute anything to our society or knowledge.

You probably don’t realize it but your OP has some vague link to the removal of Confederate statues! Fortunately, unlike you here, no one is proposing that these individuals be erased from history. Any more than erasing Hitler. Their good and bad should be in history books, etc. You probably haven’t been following the discussion, since you created a new thread, but the statute debate is focused on whether these individuals should be publicly honored given the evils they committed.

I will need to consider if Obama’s many statues in downtown areas should be taken down on a one by one basis.
 
I certainly agree that Obama's use of drone strikes was a bad thing which is very much at odds with the hero worship he gets from some quarters.
 
Allen773 said:
I, for one, find America’s 44th President’s use of drone warfare deeply problematic and so I think he should be erased from American history.
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Found. Past tense. We're on #45 now, and you're at least 3 1/2 years too late.
 
Military drones didn't begin with Obama, and they'll continue in use far into any imaginable future. They'll continue to advance in speed, range, precision, lethality, and particularly sophistication. (Sophistication refers to the primary use of drones, surveillance, which is of far greater value than their attack capabilities. Bombs and missiles make good YouTube, but not cameras.)

They may even become cheaper, although let's hope not; it's best if they remain a weapon, and a tactic, only of the strong.
 
sackett said:
Military drones didn't begin with Obama, and they'll continue in use far into any imaginable future. They'll continue to advance in speed, range, precision, lethality, and particularly sophistication. (Sophistication refers to the primary use of drones, surveillance, which is of far greater value than their attack capabilities. Bombs and missiles make good YouTube, but not cameras.)

They may even become cheaper, although let's hope not; it's best if they remain a weapon, and a tactic, only of the strong.
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This short film looks at potential consequences of cheaper more connected drones:

Slaughterbots
 
Allen773 said:
I, for one, find America’s 44th President’s use of drone warfare deeply problematic and so I think he should be erased from American history.
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So, are we going to erase George W. Bush and Nixon since they indiscriminately bombed civilians as well?

I'm not really sure of your point. Are we comparing removing the monuments dedicated to the traitors who killed more Americans than in any other American war to actual Presidents. And I fail to see how removing the monuments to these traitors is erasing history.
 
Many on the progressive left have definitely "cancelled" Obama over that.

And they are the ones usually doing the cancelling. Though if we're being honest he'd be cancelled for far less given the standards some so-called "aggressive progressives" hold their politicians to.
 
timhau said:
Is droning somehow worse than air or missile strikes?
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Indeed. What is so "different" about drone strikes?

A Ground Attack aircraft such as the F15, F16, F/A 18, and F-35, the A10 and AH-64, are flown by a combat pilot in the cockpit. They can carry a range of weapons systems, including...

GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bombs
AGM-114 Hellfire II air-to-ground missiles
GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM)

A Ground Attack Drone such as the MQ-1 Predator and the MQ-9 Reaper is flown by a combat pilot from a remote location. It can carry a range of weapons systems, including...

GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bombs
AGM-114 Hellfire II air-to-ground missiles
GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM)

The only difference I can see is that the pilot is sitting in a different place.
 
timhau said:
Is droning somehow worse than air or missile strikes?
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There are...specific issues with how drones target civilians using signature strikes, "double taps" that kill medics, and the like. Granted, people generally dislike the killing of civilians and non-combatants, and whether it's because of the nature of UAVs (which tend to carry sophisticated sensory equipment), or the nature of the current enemies blending into civilians, but it's a problem regardless.

(Personally, I only found him to be *slightly* to the left of Hillary Clinton, and have no idea why anyone expected some lefty mcliberal - he mostly did what he said - but nobody's that interested in *actually* canceling him - particularly since he's not really spending much time in the public eye to begin with, and not at all like "#cancelcosby" where people actually wanted his show canceled.)
 
JoeMorgue said:
I'm going with bog-standard "Whataboutism"
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Yea. But no one is suggesting that history be cancelled. Robert E Lee, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, Nathan Bedford Forrest were and always will be traitors and white supremacists.
 
*Shrugs* All of our Rules for Warfare were written for different time and barely apply anymore anyway.

You can't make a distinction between civilians and soldiers to a greater degree than the enemy makes a distinction between civilians and soldiers.
 
acbytesla said:
Whatever. It's not going to happen.
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He knows that perfectly well. So by demanding we talk about it he keeps other things from happening.

As long as Obama isn't "uncancelled" (whatever the **** that means) over his drone strikes, then war mongerers on the Right can't be cancelled either.

In case you haven't noticed, that's becoming a pretty popular topic.

"I'm completely on the side of evil, so I'm going to demand we define where the line is draw before we go any further."
 
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