Hi-Phi Nation: The Forever War
April 11, 2019 9:06 PM - Subscribe
This year will mark the 18th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, the forever war... We take a retrospective of the entire war, from the forgotten events of the lead-up to its total financial and moral costs to date.
Journalist Douglas Wissing and Professor Neta Crawford of the Cost of War project take us through the staggering amounts of money spent on prosecuting the war and the development of Afghanistan, and we investigate where the money went. Veterans who served at each stage of the conflict, from the Gen Xers of the early days to the millennials of the Obama surge, give us the changing, and unchanging picture of the unending war. Finally, philosopher Seth Lazar and Barry talk about sunk costs and the role that thinking about past sacrifices play in rationalizing the indefinite continuation of war.
Journalist Douglas Wissing and Professor Neta Crawford of the Cost of War project take us through the staggering amounts of money spent on prosecuting the war and the development of Afghanistan, and we investigate where the money went. Veterans who served at each stage of the conflict, from the Gen Xers of the early days to the millennials of the Obama surge, give us the changing, and unchanging picture of the unending war. Finally, philosopher Seth Lazar and Barry talk about sunk costs and the role that thinking about past sacrifices play in rationalizing the indefinite continuation of war.
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This episode struck me: I realized that I haven't even thought about the war in Afghanistan, maybe at all, since the 2016 election. There is so much other horrifying shit going on, I totally lost track of this endless process of death and meaningless military engagement.
The financial costs discussed by Crawford are just mind blowingly offensive and disturbing (but there's no money for a Green New Deal?!!).
I am aware of the sunk cost fallacy, but I wasn't aware of the other philosophical lines of thinking around moral obligation after a war has started.
posted by latkes at 9:10 PM on April 11, 2019