On Body Counts in War

Ever since the Vietnam War the key thing that media reports is the body count of a conflict. No care about the objective. No care about what the results are. And even more important, no care about what those individuals meant to their loved ones.

This has been especially true with United States' War on Terrorism since September 11th, 2001. Even with that event itself everyone was immediately talking about how many died in the attack. They were so worried that the exact count of dead bodies that they hardly ever asked "why". Sure, occasionally people would get close to asking that question but it was usually in the context of what did Americans do to cause this.

In reporting the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the media always reports x number dead civilians and x number dead US soldiers. And then as the American dead in Iraq approached 1,000 and then 2,000 all the media did was say "a milestone has been reached". White House Press Secretary, Tony Snow was criticized a few weeks ago when he said 2,000 was just a number. I say Snow was right on with that comment. 2,000 is just a number. It is almost as if the numbers are more important than the people dieing.

The same seems to be going on with the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict. The United Nations, the French, the Russians, and so many others keep pointing to the 300+ dead Lebanese being so different from the 30+ dead Israelis. It's a constant drumbeat of "the poor Lebanese, they've lost more than 300 civilians." But there has hardly been anything about the poor Israelis who've lost more than 30 civilians. And when asked about it they point to this 1 to 10 ratio and say that its only the Lebanese who are suffering.

Are you telling me that the only way that someone's death is a tragedy is if they die along side more people than someone else? Do the families of the 30 dead mourn any less than the families of the 300 dead? Do the injured among the 30 dead suffer any less than the injured among the 300 dead? No, they don't! This is why using body counts in war is the worst idea ever of modern news. It turns those who die in small groups into a less of a tragedy than those who die in large groups. And in the case of the war in Iraq, it turns the first person who died in combat into less of a tragedy than the 2,000th person to die in combat.

People are individuals. Not a collection of numbers. They each have their own lives, their own families and friends, their own stories. Numbers are for politics, people are for real life. If you care about numbers go look at the tickers at Michael Moore's and MoveOn.org's websites. If you care about people go talk to the families of those who have been killed in Lebanon and Israel. To the media, and to everyone, I challenge you to talk about the Israeli civilian tragedies the same way you talk about the Lebanese civilian tragedies. Stop with the soundbites about who has suffered more. Stop with a simple listing of the numbers the same way you list how the stock markets did today. Talk about the results of the combat. Talk about all of the objectives. Talk about the people who were killed on both sides of the border.

Tags: Israel, Lebanon, United States, Iraq, Hezbollah, Terrorism, War, United Nations, Middle East