i came across this photo at what has become a daily read for me, the at war blog for the new york times. this shot was taken by david guttenfelder of soldiers on patrol in afghanistan. the us recently launched an offensive in marja which unfortunately killed innocent civilians in the process. hearing about this made me reflect upon a passage i recently read called violence is killing machines at a distance by timothy leary. he wrote:

what is violence?

violence is killing with machines at a distance. maiming, killing, devouring, other forms of life with whom you are in direct physical contact, whom you touch, with whom you struggle, whose cries and writhings and panic you see and hear and smell are inevitables of life. hand to hand fighting is an instinct built into our genes. evolution has worked for two billion years to provide each species with muscles of offense and defense. direct skin to skin killing or maiming is not violence.

violence is long range murder and wounding by means of machines. before man's manic hands constructed the machine there was no violence.

violence is the other side of the technological coin, the perversion of the promethean power granted to man by an experimental divinity.

real words and fitting thoughts for the past weeks news. anyway, i like that photo.