Written by: Stefania Tarasut on April 17, 2014

Zygmunt Bauman’s book Collateral Damage: Social Inequalities in a Global Age, is a collection of essays and lectures given by Bauman at different times. I had a hard time following him and seeing the connection between the chapters.

There is one interesting thought that I had while reading this book. As Christians, we cannot get near the kingdom of God while we’re stepping over people to get there. We can make excuses, but none of them are valid. You cannot pass people by on your way to the temple and expect God to be pleased… and it seems like that’s what we’re doing. For the sake of financial stability or comfort we walk over people, marginalize people, and cast out those who are not like us.

“The term ‘collateral damage’ was coined by the military “to denote unintended, unplanned – and as some would say, incorrectly, ‘unanticipated’ – effects, which are all the same harmful, hurtful and damaging.”[1] So in other words, collateral damage means that the possibility of damage has been considered but viewed as a risk worth taking. “Thinking in terms of collateral damage tacitly assumes an already existing inequality of rights and chances, while accepting a priori the unequal distribution of the costs of undertaking (or for that matter desisting from) action.”[2] As a society we accept a certain amount of casualties due to inequalities without questioning the rightfulness of the social system.  “Casualties are dubbed ‘collateral’ in so far as they are dismissed as not important enough to justify the costs of their prevention, or simply ‘unexpected’ because the planners did not consider them worthy of inclusion among the objects of preparatory reconnoitring.”[3]

Bauman’s definitions of collateral damage wouldn’t be so disturbing if he was talking about a building that became ‘collateral damage,’ or a tree that was cut down because of expansion, but Bauman is talking about people. People who have become collateral damage. People that are not worth our time or sacrifice… it’s not a sack of potatoes, but a breathing, living human being that was created in the image of God. This is heartbreaking to me. It’s soo sad that we have come to accept that some people are not worth fighting for.

One example of “collateral damage” in our society is the illegal immigrant. She is the one that fall through the cracks. She is the one used and abused for the sake of a few dollars. She is the one that is a causality in this war for wealth and power.

About the Author

Stefania Tarasut