Can we stop the DRONES?

I came back from a drones conference in Washington, D.C., at the end of April, 2012, filled with a sense of urgency about making drones killing 100% VISIBLE to the American public.






We had a chance to do that in Chicago several weeks later during the NATO Summit. (Read on to see how we are trying to keep that work going . . . )







I've gotten into the problem of what's different about drones with Congressman Dana Rohrabacher on Twitter. This has led me to think seriously about the sharp disparity in perceptions between people who see drones as a source of good jobs and "clean" warfare, and those who are thinking about the moral consequences.








Is the difference with drones that they put us in an unbreakable cycle of violence? Yes ... and ...









I keep coming back to the problem of "seeing," and how "seeing" is different with drones. I first wrote about this several years ago in a blog post on drones, Orwell's 1984, and Foucault's panopticon, and Foucault's ideas about how the state imposes its power through "discipline".





I'm now beginning to see ask how Christ asked us to think about "seeing," and what that has to do with drones.








Was Jesus a victim of a wrong way of "seeing"? Is it possible that the Crucifixion of Jesus was, itself, the first "signature strike"?








AWAKE TO DRONES

I recently joined a Chicago-based project investigating the ethical, moral, and theological dimensions of drone use: Awake to Drones. Over the weeks and months ahead, we will work to expand the conversation on this issue throughout the country and around the world. My recent posts in this project have included:

The Apostle's Creed as a Focus for Thinking About Drones
Drones: Am I Responsible?
Drones vs. Up-Close-and-Personal Reality
Is God Urging Us to "Risk It"?
Ending Drone Killing: The Spirit Is Moving

NO DRONES NETWORK

There are people all over the country working to protest drones. I've been helping to publicize their efforts through a series of networked blog sites:

California - No Drones California
Colorado - Not 1 More Acre!
Florida - No Drones Florida
Illinois - No Drones Illinois
Indiana - Indiana Drones Project
Iowa - No Drones Iowa
Kentucky - No Drones Kentucky
Maryland - No Drones Maryland
Michigan - No Drones Michigan
Missouri - No Drones Missouri
Nevada - Nevada Desert Experience
New Hampshire - NH Peace Action
New Jersey - No Drones New Jersey
New Mexico - Not 1 More Acre!
New York - Upstate NY Coalition to Ground the Drones
North Carolina - No Drones North Carolina
Ohio - No Drones Ohio
Pennsylvania - No Drones Pennsylvania
Texas - No Drones Texas
Virginia - No Drones Virginia
Washington State - No Drones Washington State
Wisconsin - No Drones Wisconsin

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Image: Foreshadowing by Lillian Moats, from Windows and Mirrors: Reflections on the War in Afghanistan, a project of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).