The Amazon product page for Maisto International Inc.’s model Predator drones has been inundated with snarky parody reviews mocking the replica, apparently as a means of “protesting” the government’s controversial practice of targeted drone strikes. But rather than dissuade potential customers, the shrill whine of impotent hippy rage has accomplished precisely the opposite — Amazon can barely keep them in stock.
The six-inch die-cast model, which retails for a whopping $US50 on Amazon, has drawn the ire of groups such as Change.org and Facebook-based Question Your Government. Change is currently aiming for the lowest-hanging fruit it can find by petitioning the model maker to discontinue the drone line. The petition reads in part, I shit you not, “I will not buy this shameful toy, nor teach children to hate. There is no glory in murder.”
What a load of sanctimonious, pedantic horseshit. First off, kids don’t need anybody’s help figuring out how to hate; the vicious little bastards will gladly descend upon one another like ravenous hyenas the second they so much as smell weakness. Second, there’s plenty of glory in murder, it’s the entire motivation behind suicide bombing — you don’t get 72 virgins for just offing yourself. Moreover, the conventional definition of murder that Change is holding the US military up to, the one used in civilian courts, isn’t even applicable to military operations — our armed forces operate under the separate Uniform Code of Military Justice.
But fine, let’s assume I’m totally off-base here and the American public rallies behind recalling every drone currently deployed overseas — from the Puma AE to the Harvester — then what? Do we spend another couple billion dollars to redeploy our forces back to Afghanistan, put boots on the ground, and American soldiers back in the line of fire? Or do we ignore atrocities committed by the Taliban like, I dunno, shooting little girls in the head for demanding an education, and hope that disgruntled fundamentalists don’t stage another attack on US soil? Choose wisely. [Bloomberg]