Definition of Collateral Damage

The concept of harm collateral it is normally applied in the context of actions of war. Thus, collateral damage occurs when the destruction of a military objective is accompanied by a secondary effect that was not initially foreseen. A very common example could be the following: there is a bombing of some military units of the enemy, but the consequences of the bombing end up affecting the populationcivil that has nothing to do with him conflict.

Collateral damage and official communication

War in the 21st century has a direct relationship with the media of communication. This circumstance has consequences: citizens have direct information about what is happening in the context of a conflict and can even follow the events live through the TV. Obviously, this means that those in charge of the armies have to give explanations about some military decisions. And in this context it is quite common for a military spokesman to offer a press conference and when asked questions of journalists on the effects of the war on the civilian population say that it is about damage collateral.

In this way, the concept of collateral damage becomes an explanation that pretends to be technically valid but that, basically, communicates a perverse element: that war implies destruction, even on people outside the war and therefore totally innocent.

Using this expression has become popular in the terminology of armed conflict and, in fact, manifest a simple excuse, because supposedly the collateral damages caused are not intentional but are an undesirable consequence within the dynamics of war (it is worth mentioning that other terms function synonymously, for example accidental damage, additional damage and other Similar).

From a historical point of view, the term in question began to be used in the media in the Gulf War Persian in 1991, when those responsible for the bombings had to justify the suffering and death of the civilian victims of the conflict.

Collateral damage as an understatement

Some journalists and analysts from the present have indicated the perverse use of the concept of collateral damage. They claim that it is a euphemism with which it is intended to camouflage an action that does not have any justification.

The idea of ​​collateral damage is used as a model for journalistic euphemism. In other words, this is a good example to illustrate that words can be used to hide the true reality of events.

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