Assumed drone-operator trauma serves to legitimize them as real soldiers

Evidence

By making it a point of honor to distance themselves from those whom they consider to be a bunch of wimps, those self-appointed spokesmen for “classic” soldiers indirectly illuminated the role that this media-promulgated theme played in the debate. The emphasis placed on the supposed traumas suffered by drone operators made it possible to assimilate them, via a common psychic vulnerability, to classic soldiers (fighters suffer from the stress of fighting and so do drone operators, so drone operators must be fighters too) and to humanize them as agents of armed violence (despite the technical nature of their weapon, they were not just cold killers). — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 372 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

And what if drone psychopathology lay not where it is believed to be, in the possible traumas of the drone operators, but in the industrial production of compartmentalized psyches, immunized against any possibility of reflecting upon their own violence, just as their bodies are already immunized against any possibility of being exposed to the enemy? — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 427 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

The trauma of drone pilots” has become a common theme in the media. An early appearance was in an Associated Press article in 2008: “Long-distance warriors are suffering some of the same psychological stresses as their comrades on the battlefield.” But the rest of the article produced nothing to corroborate that statement. In fact, quite the contrary: the journalist reported that in the course of various interviews with drone operators, “none said they had been particularly troubled by their mission.” The same procedure—an announcement followed up discreetly by a vague denial—seems to have been adopted in most press articles devoted to the matter. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 370 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Media emphasis on drone pilot trauma legitimizes them as classic soldiers — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 372; Drone psychopathology lies in produced compartmentalization, not operator trauma — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 427; Drone operations constitute a pure case of perpetration-induced traumatic stress. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 389 (+1 more)

Related

• Media emphasis on drone pilot trauma legitimizes them as classic soldiers (similarity 0.96)
• The media narrative of traumatized drone pilots has no empirical basis. (similarity 0.92)
• Media accounts of drone pilot trauma lack corroborating evidence (similarity 0.92)
• Drone psychopathology lies in produced compartmentalization, not operator trauma (similarity 0.88)
• Drone technology structurally rules out existing trauma diagnoses. (similarity 0.86)
• A diagnosis of perpetration-induced stress is needed for drone operators. (similarity 0.84)
• Drone operations constitute a pure case of perpetration-induced traumatic stress. (similarity 0.83)
• The psychological effect of drone killing on operators remains empirically unresolved. (similarity 0.81)
• A few hundred drone operators’ moral feelings can be dismissed as irrelevant (similarity 0.79)
• Drone operators are called brave for risking their psychic rather than physical lives (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Media emphasis on drone pilot trauma legitimizes them as classic soldiers #corroborates (0.95) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 372
• Drone psychopathology lies in produced compartmentalization, not operator trauma #contradicts (0.70) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 427
• Drone operations constitute a pure case of perpetration-induced traumatic stress. #qualifies (0.60) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 389
• Media accounts of drone pilot trauma lack corroborating evidence #contradicts (0.60) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 370