Inhumanity

 
Throughout history, mankind has considered those that are cold, calculated killers, to be inhuman. The weapons designer, who kills indirectly at a distance, should be considered a member of this group. Before discussing what is inhuman about the weapons designer, humanity itself must be defined. To be considered human is more than being born part of the human race. To be human is to accept the core morals, every child is taught from birth, without question. A human must have a certain amount of compassion and empathy for the suffering of a fellow human being. Respect for another's life must also be a defining factor in a person's humanity; without respect for life, the existence of mankind is pointless.
The United States Military has had a significant effect on world events and politics through the effective use (or threat of use) of its armed forces against percieved outside aggressors. The United States has the most advanced and deadly arsenal of weapons ever created. The Oxford English Dictionary describes a weapon as "an instrument of any kind used in warfare or in combat to attack and overcome an enemy" (Oxford English Dictionary 224). All of the weapons ever created for the American war machine have been made possible by the tireless efforts of exceptionally talented weapons designers, employed by the U.S. These designers of death cannot be considered human when the very thing they are hired to do is, in itself, inhuman.
The weapons designer must consider a great deal in the design of a new weapon. A weapon must be effective on the battlefield, yet user friendly at the same time. The designer of the M16A2 semi-automatic rifle never considered the morality of asking a child, barely out of high school to pick that same weapon up and personally commit murder in the name of freedom. The designer is morally bankrupt in knowing that the M16 was not designed to kill an enemy; the M16 is designed to cause injuries that will effectively take three combatants out of battle, knowing that a dead man that will be left where he lay during the conflict is counter productive during an engagement, while a seriously injured man requires two soldiers to carry him to safety.
By their very nature, weapons cause suffering to those they are used upon and others nowhere near the fighting. The operators manual for the M16A2 rifle states, "Note that fire on a target at 300 meters is also effective on a 400 meter target" (Department of the Army 132-33). What the weapons designer doesn't mention, however, is the fact that even if the person being struck by a bullet at 300 meters is spared suffering at death, that individuals family will continue to suffer for years to come. A fatherless child is not comforted by the fact that the designer was just doing a job. The apathy required to look past the direct and indirect misery caused by the designer's talents is truly inhuman.
Explosive materials have been in use since ancient China; the Improvised Munitions Handbook describes one such material. "PETN (pentaerythrite tetranitrate) has a detonation velocity of 21,000 feet per second" (Department of the Army section 14-9). A designer who creates this kind of potential carnage is not any more human than an individual who sets off a truck bomb at the FBI headquarters in Oklahoma. It takes a certain amount of ruthlessness and disrespect for human life to create something so devastating. FM 21-26 states, "the military grid reference system requires at least an 8 digit grid co ordinance for accurate, effective targeting." (Department of the Army section 4-22). It only takes a few numbers to cause a great deal of pain and suffering.
From mankind's earliest history, using of weapons to strengthen personal or political positions has been necessary. As time went on, however, weapons designers created instruments of destruction that have increased human suffering at a geometric rate. Disassociating oneself from the human element of war is sometimes a necessary evil in order to accomplish the task of insuring a country's sovereignty. At some point, however, the government should consider how the designers of weapons have been forced out of the human race in the name of freedom. When an individual's morals, compassion and respect for human life are lost, that person can no longer be considered part of humanity; they are in fact, inhuman.


Works Cited
Army, Department of the, ed. TM 31-210 / Improvised Munitions Handbook. Philadelphia: Army, 1969.
Army, Department of the, ed. TM 9-1005-10/1A / Rifle, 5.56mm, M16A2 W/E. Washington D.C.: Army, 1994.
Army, Department of the, ed. FM 21-26 / Map Reading and Land Navigation.
Washington D.C.: Army, 1987.
Milford, Humphrey, ed. Oxford English Dictionary. New York: