The Battle of UMM QASR

First let me say that the pentagon said within 24 hours of war that Uum Qasr was taken yet even now it is still going on.

I'm now watching live pictures of the battle.

Is it morally right for us to be watching live feeds of people being killed?

Personally, I think it's incredible. They're not showing actually anyone being killed. I feel that if it offends someone, that they simply pick up the remote and change the channel.

It's a live feed if a body flys up after an explosion it can not be edited.Beside they are bullets that make the sand puff up like that.

What about our children on this Sunday morning?I agree it is fascinating but perhaps it does not respect human life.I think if it were a bull fight the BBC would be getting many complaints.What does that say about us?

I'd always go with the "change channel" option, ProudA: if there were any channels to which one might meaningfully "change".
The choice between being "misinformed" and "uninformed" doesn't seem to be much a choice in an issue that directly affects, and is being conducted in the name of, every American voter and tax-payer.
I assume that the fact that CNN now has only "embedded" journalists (they have apparently been dismissed from Baghdad) largely explains the slight difference in their programming.

For what its worth, they just announced that this feed from Umm Qasr is on a mandatory 7 second delay in the case that if there was some gruesome footage, it would not be showed.

OK ProudA,

You are right about choice.I just don't like what it says about us as a civilisation that none of us are switching over.

The thing that worries me is that we can now watch war like a spectator sport; I'm watching over my PC right now. I've even seen a feed nicknamed 'SoldierCam' and frankly it's worrying. This is no game, though sometimes it feels like it. Are we all becoming too desensitised to war and death?

Deimos

hating this war with every part of my being I happen to have a guilty pleasure in the technology behind the war. Do you happen to have a link to that SolderCam?

You have to admit, whether you're pro-war or against war, this is fascinating to watch and you get a whole different perspective of what is going on over there. The soldiers dont seem to mind, they are explaining what is going on as it happens and are being very friendly with the reporters.