Out of Sight, Out of Mind

The almost 400 unmanned drone attacks in Pakistan since 2004 have claimed 3,000 lives, and only one-and-a-half percent of their victims were preselected targets. The rest of them were women, children and other innocent citizens. Drones are largely ineffective, but that fact doesn’t make much of an impression on the American military. That’s because these lethal little machines mean fewer American casualties, and they also keep the war away from public view: “Out of sight, out of mind.” That situation is going to change if Pitch has got anything to do with it. This Californian data visualization company presents the hard facts in an animated infographic, stylishly designed to look like a nocturnal drone mission. The timeline indicates the number of victims these clandestine operations have claimed month by month, with a peak from 2009 to 2011. The makers want to provide a broad audience with better information about this invisible technological war. Their timing is good, because the debate is gradually gathering momentum, as witnessed by the American newspaper articles added as extras to the infographic.