When two atrocities are taking place but only one is being addressed by the public, we have the rare opportunity to reveal people’s biases and fears …
Good afternoon! This is your Random Truth (RANT) bulletin with your random food for thought.
Today’s topic: Atrocity. Public opinion hates it with a vengeance. Wherever it presents itself and whatever form it comes in, people loathe it and protest it.
Only not quite. Public opinion is very selective about which atrocities it denounces and which it turns a blind eye to. The reason is a combination of bias and fear that renders something worthy of outrage, stoking up massive indignation, while something similar, or worse, slips through the cracks.
Take Israel, for example. Public opinion has been outraged by the way this state has been dealing with the Palestinians over the past few years, especially Gaza. Everyone makes sure to express his or her condemnation of what is going on (and rightly so, to a degree).
Having said that, Israel is an easy target, if not a convenient one. Everyone is eager to be outraged by it, to protest its actions and call it names, because it won’t bite them back.
But the Islamic State? Far too scary to be mad about! Even when its adherents openly declare their hostility toward the entire world, no one gets riled up. Even when its leaders preach global domination, no one cares. The attention is elsewhere, pretending not to notice the real threat.
And, just like that, our world gets stunk up with fear, sanctimoniousness and Eau de Autruche (fancy word for ostrich).
I bet no one ever conceptualized the massive outcry for Gaza as such: an unconscious choice to avoid the real threat. Good morning, Sunshines, this is your generation’s wake up call. The hate flag has risen, and it’s got abomination written all over it, which makes you piss your pants and pretend not to see what’s going on, at everyone’s peril.
Mull it over, chew on it, sleep on it if you have to. You’ll realize I’m not far off . Do that and then look up and protest this vile, sick, deadly organization, whose self-righteous hatred has your name on it. Protest Israel’s actions too, but only in conjunction with protesting Hamas as well, whose charter is closer to the Islamic State than to any other organization.
From the RANT headquarters, Have a nice day!
PS – Don’t worry, I’ve been known to be wrong on such issues before. It’s all a misunderstanding, really. These people are merely expressing their religious preferences, and I’m probably exaggerating their effect. Appeasement? Playing dumb? Please! We know what’s going on and have no reason to worry. We know how to address a threat to humanity when we see one.
Now where are those Israelis? We need to stop them before they tear down the planet. Then we can focus on this pesky little group of Jihadists who are killing people on the streets, sticking their heads on spikes, blowing up other cultures’ shrines and monuments, raping women, marrying nine year old girls, preaching world domination, and spreading fast across the region, from Syria and Iraq, to the borders of Turkey, Kurdistan, and now Lebanon.
PS 2 – Smells like 30′s spirit!