Thrill Kill?
In the Mail today there is a story about the Navy SEAL who killed Osama Bin Laden. Got no problem so far. Until I scroll to the middle part of the story and im faced with this;
"'That time I used my EOTech red-dot holo sight. He was dead. Not moving. His tongue was out. I watched him take his last breaths, just a reflex breath.
'And I remember as I watched him breathe out the last part of air, I thought: Is this the best thing I've ever done, or the worst thing I've ever done? This is real and that's him. Holy sh**. 'His forehead was gruesome. It was split open in the shape of a V. I could see his brains spilling out over his face."
Heavens to Betsy Ross! He sounds like he actually enjoyed it! Was there need to be so graphic in the details? Who on earth wants to read such grim descriptions? Go read a Mo Hayder novel if that is your thing, she's quite brilliant in her own deviant way at painting grisly scenes of gore and brain spillage (and thats not criticism, im a big Mo fan.)
In this last decade or so it seems to be the done thing for ex military to reveal all in their memoirs but must we know everything? Is the public really desperate to learn about brains spilling over dying faces? I would have thought we get enough of that from Hollywood. And before readers begin to think im some yoghurt knitting liberal, I am not (in fact im as far from liberal as you could ever hope to find,) im simply questioning the apparent need to mop up every bullet and drop of blood from the battlefield like some excitable teenager playing Call Of Duty.
For myself, Id prefer to be spared the details thank you very much. You know what they say, less is more.
