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I suggest we all read (or re-read) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and I wonder if Card's story was the inspiration for this instance of our government's cynical exploitation of children. To me, Ender's Game paints (in fiction) an accurate picture of our society's long-standing willingness to exploit, subvert, and defile children. As individuals, most of us have accepted the sacrifice as long as it is not our personal sacrifice; as one example, we have been willing to draft the children of others as we protect our own (a la George H. W. Bush). We have long been willing to tolerate the abuse and hunger of children other than ours so long as we can keep it out of our sight and consciousness and away from our own children.
The thought that it might have been my child who learned to disregard human suffering and dignity at Abu Ghraib is abhorrent to me; that it was anyone's child grieves me; and that our military fostered the subversion of these young people in my name disgusts and repels me. This "game" also disgusts and repels me. It is nothing more than the subtlest of propaganda, designed to come in under the radar of those who might object to it or wish to protect their children from its influence and to ensnare those who have the most to lose.
