Chicago - On Saturday, 7th March, at 8 pm, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, issued a statement that serves as a powerful moral call and an unequivocal condemnation of the way war is perceived and represented today. His words, encapsulated in the declaration titled “A Call to Conscience”, highlight a disturbing phenomenon: the transformation of war into entertainment, a process that strips victims of their humanity and renders us insensitive to pain and suffering. Cardinal Cupich specifically addressed an incident that occurred on Thursday evening, when the official White House account on X (formerly Twitter) posted a video combining scenes from popular action films with real footage of strikes carried out in the war against Iran. The video was captioned: “JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY”. This act, which trivialises human tragedy, was described by the Cardinal as “sickening”.
The "gamification" of war: a moral failure
Cupich emphasised how this portrayal of war reflects a profound moral crisis. War, with its real deaths and suffering, is being treated like a video game or a spectacle to consume. The distance between the battlefield and the living room has drastically diminished, leading to a dangerous collective desensitisation.
The Cardinal referenced the term “gamification of war”, now commonly used by the media to describe this dynamic. Turning war into a game, he argued, effectively robs real people of their humanity. A “hit” is not a point on a scoreboard; it is a grieving family, a shattered life.
The responsibility of social media and politics
Cardinal Cupich’s statement goes beyond condemning the representation of war as entertainment; it also points to the responsibility of the US government, particularly the Trump administration. Donald Trump has perpetuated a narrative that glorifies American military power, reducing human suffering to mere content for social media consumption. We live in an era where images of war appear alongside entertainment videos, such as a reel about Sanremo or other trivialities. This relentless bombardment of content has made us indifferent. We no longer grasp the gravity of what we see. War becomes a backdrop, a background noise that no longer affects us.
Susan Sontag, in her book “Regarding the Pain of Others”, explored how images of war are consumed by Western audiences, often with a mix of morbid curiosity and emotional detachment. Sontag warns that when the suffering of others becomes mere spectacle, we lose the ability to feel empathy.
A call to reclaim our humanity
Cardinal Cupich concludes his appeal with a message of hope and responsibility. He believes that the American people are capable of recognising that what is happening is not entertainment but war. Iran is not a video game but a nation of real people, with lives, dreams, and suffering. His words urge us to reflect on the price we pay when we lose our humanity. Becoming desensitised to the suffering of others means losing the most precious gift God has given us: the ability to feel empathy and compassion. It is a powerful warning against the trivialisation of war and an invitation to rediscover our humanity. In an age where social media bombards us with images and content, it is essential to pause, reflect, and remember that behind every image of destruction are broken human lives. As Christians, but above all as human beings, we have a moral duty not to allow war to become a game or a spectacle.
Fr.V.B.
Silere non possum