During the Vietnam War support for the war dropped as news photos and film clips came in showing the suffering of civilians. The abstract notion of “enemy” became the reality of fellow humans in trouble–caused by “us.” You couldn’t escape the idea of being complicit in their suffering and interestingly the advocates of war in their uniforms and suits became the “bad” ones, cruel and inhuman.

This could be about explaining the suffering of others to ourselves? As you suggest Maha, to keep us from going crazy with emotional overload. To balance our logic we need both the innocent and the guilty. Someone to blame and someone to absolve in a simple causal relationship allows us to remove ourselves from the equation. To be mere observers of a natural and inevitable relationship?

I’m not sure if this makes sense though it answer to me the “selectivity” that Manal brought up. Maha, wasn’t there something mentioned earlier to a bit lighter on subject matter until Ramadan ended? I’m not seeing a full moon on the horizon yet:-)