I read somewhere recently about a study that showed humans generally show negligible emotional response to the news that 5, 10, 6,000,000 people have perished in a cruel fashion, but show substantial emotional response to the news that one individual has perished.
so when we hear about pat tillman or now
this guy, it maybe the media pandering to our irrational culture of celebrity, poster boy propaganda, and the anti-war movement's attempt to gloss over the good stories by substituting a story almost engineered to cast the spotlight of judgment on the other side of the issue.
Or it may be the means by which those of us not Sarcasmo begin to understand what its like for the 1 in 5 of the tens of thousands who have served in the iraq war. and from that understanding maybe realize the consequence of our ideals.