the movie
Fahrenheit 9/11
. The clip begins by showing scenes of daily life in Iraq prior to the war,
such as kids playing in the streets and citizens frequenting restaurants. Next, the clip suddenly
moves to scenes of bombing and missile strikes. It then alternates between soldiers talking about
how they get pumped up to go into battle and scenes of war victims suffering. Eventually, other
soldiers begin to reflect on the real consequences of their actions (see
, stating that
“this ain’t no video game”, and more scenes of war victims are shown. In general we think that the
contemplative training, particularly the practice of the beneficial aspirations in the context of a more
stable attention will enable individuals to encounter suffering more directly. We expect less of a
habitual emotional “rejection” of human suffering (for instance a disgust reaction to an image of a
severe injury on a stranger).
Picture 18.
On the right, you see a frame of unobtrusive facial video obtained while this woman watches a short edited
clip from a documentary about the Iraq war (
Fahrenheit 9/11
) (left). This soldier is talking about how hard it is to see
husbands carrying dead wives.
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