Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Jerusalem blast -- terrible, just terrible!

the latest outrage in a news panorama jam-packed with outrageousness is the jerusalem bus-stop blast. the media is all over it:
"Jerusalem (CNN) -- A woman was killed and more than 50 people were wounded when a loud explosion shook a busy street in Jerusalem as the evening rush hour began on Wednesday, authorities said.
Several of the wounded were critically injured in the first serious bombing in Jerusalem in four years, authorities said.
Mayor Nir Barkat condemned the 'cowardly terrorist attack' in which 'innocent people were hurt.'" (story here)
we're with the mayor on this -- innocent people were hurt. that's about par for the course, as the saying goes.

but let's be honest here: the "outrageousness" generally is proportional to the amount of media coverage, and the tone of that coverage, when perceptions are created and manipulated.

damage, injuries and loss of life in events such as this are almost an everyday occurrence in many parts of the world. they are more frequent in areas under israeli military control, or US occupation, than in israel or the US, but they only rise to the level of outrageous when the great, powerful white nations are on the receiving -- rather than the giving -- end.

we characterize our own massacres against people as unfortunate collateral damage, and give hush money to victims' families -- when there is media interest shown. when our atrocities cannot be corroborated, they might as well have never happened -- we never own up to them if they can be covered up.

it is precisely because we don't consider there to be any equivalence between their dead and our dead, their suffering and our suffering, that we can be nonchalant about the victims of our crusades, while being outraged when the tables are turned and the victims lash out in desperate fury.

violence is detestable, deplorable, and it's something that we shouldn't resort to in order to solve our differences. when there is no justice, however, why are we so surprised when oppressed people resort to the same corrosive and destructive mindset as their oppressors?

No comments:

Post a Comment