Sometimes I am thankful for chequebook journalism. As in the case of the video and transcript of the friendly fire incident obtained by The Sun today. (Yes, I do read the Sun. Usually it's more revealing than the broadsheets.) The video reveals what I suspect is the way the world works: I call it the Cock-up Theory. The CuT, I think, is massively more prevalent than any sinister conspiracy theory. The failure of the US airforce to send jets anywhere near hijacked planes on September 11? CuT. The murder of Jean Charles de Menezes? CuT. The incineration of Matty Hull because two American pilots suddenly decided that orange panels on vehicles (indicating “friendly” forces) were unheard of orange rocket launchers? Cock-up Theory in Practice. Along with stupidity. Because the video is illuminating not just for the demonstration of the CuT, but because it shows clearly that men who are trained to manipulate stunningly sophisticated machines and weaponry are no more intelligent than two dumb f***s on a go-kart.
Then of course there's the question of why killing a man who is a professional soldier, who knew the risks when he signed up and took money for them, can cause an American pilot to weep, when the same pilot incinerates non-combatants - also known as civilians - every day.
Along with Cock-up Theory, I am increasingly convinced that much of the world's iniquity - at least in the developed world, where things are more subtle than in places where they plier your toes off if you take part in a street protest - is made possible by the dulling of public interest. Things are made to drag on - inquiries, for example - until the public is bored of them. Jean Charles de Menezes. Global warming. Cash for honours. Iraq.
It always works.
I am hereby starting a new experiment. I will read every newspaper and magazine article on Iraq and global warming from start to finish, for the next two weeks. I will not, as I usually do, turn the page and feel mildly depressed then forget about it.