Collateral Damage Quotes

• All that happens is that the destruction of human beings - unless they're Americans - is called collateral damage.

  Harold Pinter

  Literature, Damage, Destruction

  Interview with Ramona Koval, www.abc.net.au. September 14, 2002.

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• We used to have a War Office, but now we have a Ministry of Defence, nuclear bombs are now described as deterrents, innocent civilians killed in war are now described as collateral damage and military incompetence leading to US bombers killing British soldiers is cosily described as friendly fire. Those who are in favour of peace are described as mavericks and troublemakers, whereas the real militants are those who want the war.

  Tony Benn

  Peace, Military, Real

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• A lot of my friends are gangsters. Not like gangsters - well, yeah, all sorts of levels of criminality - but not the types that are preying on innocent people. I have no interest in the type of criminality that has no respect for collateral damage.

  Charlie Hunnam

  People, Levels, Damage

  "Hot Topic: Charlie Hunnam". Interview with Ashley Terrill, www.elle.com. October 10, 2012.

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• The critical importance of honest journalism and a free flowing, respectful national conversation needs to be had in our country. But it is being buried as collateral damage in a war whose battles include political correctness and ideological orthodoxy.

  Juan Williams

  Country, War, Political

  "JUAN WILLIAMS: I Was Fired for Telling the Truth" by Juan Williams, www.foxnews.com. October 21, 2010.

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• Asymmetrical warfare is a euphemism for terrorism, just like collateral damage is a euphemism for killing innocent civilians.

  Alan Dershowitz

  Damage, Warfare, Terrorism

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• The truth is that, in trying to get at terrorists who are in countries that either are unwilling or unable to capture those terrorists or disable them themselves, there are a lot of situations where the use of a drone is going to result in much fewer civilian casualties and much less collateral damage than if I send in a battalion of marines.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Marine, Trying

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

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• Because when you kill 300 people, 400 people, who have nothing to do with the provocations Hezbollah staged, but you do it in effect deliberately by being indifferent to the scale of collateral damage, you're killing hostages in the hope of intimidating those that you want to intimidate. And more likely than not you will not intimidate them. You'll simply outrage them and make them into permanent enemies with the number of such enemies increasing.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Numbers, People, Enemy

  "Zbig Brzezinski: Israel’s Actions in Lebanon Essentially Amount to 'the Killing of Hostages'” by Steve Clemons, www.huffingtonpost.com. July 26, 2006.

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• The idealism of the left is a very selfish idealism. In their war against 'the rich' and big business, they don't care how much collateral damage there is to workers who end up end up unemployed.

  Thomas Sowell

  Selfish, War, Care

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• One must choose between obscurity with efficiency, and fame with its inevitable collateral of bluff.

  William McFee

  Obscurity, Reputation, Fame

  William McFee (1921). “Harbours of Memory”

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• What I do know is that drones are a modern weapon. When used effectively, when taking out ISIS or terrorist leaders, that's pretty impressive. When bombing wedding parties of innocent people and killing dozens of them, that is, needless to say, not effective and enormously counterproductive. So whatever the mechanism, whoever is in control of that policy, it has to be refined so that we are killing the people we want to kill and not innocent collateral damage.

  Bernie Sanders

  Party, Isis, People

  Interview with the Daily News Editorial Board, www.nydailynews.com. April 1, 2016.

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• We have 23 million people unemployed. They're America's forgotten people. It's the damndest thing that this much collateral damage is acceptable to this [Barack Obama] administration.

  Lou Dobbs

  America, People, Damage

  "Fox Business Network's Lou Dobbs Says Candy Crowley 'Took Over' Debate (Q&A)". Interview With Paul Bond, www.hollywoodreporter.com. October 21, 2012.

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• We sometimes become so obsessed with punishing villainous characters, that we forget the collateral damage is actually experienced by marginalized groups, and we shouldn't punish them for that.

  Simon Tam

  Character, Damage, Groups

  Source: www.slate.com

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• So here we have it. The equivocating distinction between civilisation and savagery, between the "massacre of innocent people" or, if you like, "a clash of civilisations" and "collateral damage". The sophistry and fastidious algebra of infinite justice.

  Arundhati Roy

  People, Justice, Damage

  "The algebra of infinite justice" by Arundhati Roy, www.theguardian.com. September 29, 2001.

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• Guns are part of the American psyche, aren't they? This is collateral damage for having a Wild West mentality. It's intrinsic to the American psyche. It's never going to change.

  Nick Cave

  Gun, Damage, West

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• It's a misnomer to say you can criminalize one part of the transaction and not criminalize the entire transaction. For example in Sweden, where the law was passed in 1999. Those laws didn't actually decriminalize people who sell sex; they introduced new criminal penalties for the people who buy sex. Nothing changed in the legal status for the sex workers themselves. It's impossible for them to operate a legal business. When you criminalize part of a transaction, you're creating collateral damage for all those engaged in it. You are now making them work in a criminalized context.

  Melissa Gira Grant

  People, Impossible, Changed

  Source: therumpus.net

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• The only time Republicans will shake fists and point fingers is over a war delayed, one that isn't led by the US, or a war waged without the necessary conviction (read collateral damage).

  Ilana Mercer

  War, Fists, Damage

  "On The War Path With Samantha Power". www.economicpolicyjournal.com. June 11, 2013.

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• It is the most painful thing to see how young children become collateral damage of wars, but when peace treaties are signed landmines do not respect any of these accords. And as long as these silent killers linger after wars, children will never know peace

  Danny Glover

  Children, War, Long

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• The unfortunate thing, and the tragedy of this show [Revenge], is in exploring the theme of revenge. Absolutely everyone can find peace, at some point or another, but the interesting thing is how you find it, the collateral damage along the way and all the trauma that she indirectly causes all these other people in her circle.

  Emily VanCamp

  Revenge, Unfortunate Things, Circles

  Source: collider.com

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• Nothing in Chomsky's account acknowledges the difference between intending to kill a child, because of the effect you hope to produce on its parents (we call this “terrorism”), and inadvertently killing a child in an attempt to capture or kill an avowed child murderer (we call this “collateral damage”). In both cases a child has died, and in both cases it is a tragedy. But the ethical status of the perpetrators, be they individuals or states, could not be more distinct For Chomsky, intentions do not seem to matter. Body count is all.

  Sam Harris

  Children, Differences, Parent

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• I oppose piracy and want to see intellectual property protected because that is what fosters and rewards innovation. But SOPA won't accomplish a meaningful reduction in piracy and causes massive collateral damage to the Internet ecosystem.

  Jared Polis

  Meaningful, Ecosystems, Innovation

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• You cannot have your news instantly and have it done well. You cannot have your news reduced to 140 characters or less without losing large parts of it. You cannot manipulate the news but not expect it to be manipulated against you. You cannot have your news for free; you can only obscure the costs. If as a culture we can learn this lesson, and if we can learn to love the hard work, we will save ourselves much trouble and collateral damage. We must remember: There is no easy way.

  Ryan Holiday

  Hard Work, Character, Culture

  Ryan Holiday (2012). “Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator”, p.201, Penguin

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• Gun control laws don't work. What is worse, they act perversely. While legitimate users of firearms encounter intense regulation, scrutiny and bureaucratic control, illicit markets easily adapt to whatever difficulties a free society throws in their way. Also, efforts to curtail the supply of firearms inflict collateral damage on freedom and privacy interests that have long been considered central to American public life.

  Daniel D. Polsby

  Gun, Law, Long

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• The world changes! So we're in a situation today where the only policymakers that have flexibility are central banks. But they don't have the instruments! So they've had to experiment, and the more you experiment, the more uncertainty and the higher the risk of collateral damage.

  Mohamed El-Erian

  Risk, World, Today

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• The clothes are packed off to Goodwill I said my good-byes up on the hill The house is empty, the furniture sold Soon your smell will decay to mold Don't know why I bother calling, ain't nobody answering Don't know why I bother singing, ain't nobody listening "Disconnect" Collateral Damage, Track 10

  Gayle Forman

  Bye, Smell, Clothes

  Gayle Forman (2011). “Where She Went”, p.48, Penguin

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• Rachel knew what she was doing. And when she didn't, she could improvise on the fly, coming up with options that left a lot of collateral damage but usually only hurt herself, not the people around her. It was one of the things he would never admit that he admired about her.

  Kim Harrison

  Hurt, People, Damage

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