Pay close attention to the coverage of this most recent shooting-spree in Virgina, as the witnesses are interviewed, the tears brand our brains permanent in puffs of smoke and agony, like the “bad news” from Iraq never seems to accomplish. Consider the irony of what is about to become the most horrific mass murder to be blitzed with every ounce of news media in our lifetimes, and how this scene differs from an average Monday in Iraq, only lesser in size and the fact that the perpetrator is not free to strike again, nor is he still breathing. In contrast with what takes place in Iraq every day, the victims in Virginia already enjoy the small (perhaps irrelevant) comfort of knowing their attacker isn’t going to hurt anyone else. Trial coverage in the United States rightly makes the crucial element of justice for the victim an important aspect in deciding whether or not the person found guilty was given an appropriate sentence. Justice is the diluted ideal that leaves us empty and fierce when not served up nicely by the system. This murderer in Virginia, having accomplished his goal before being mowed down, will never be made to provide any satisfaction along these lines, not to the victims or their families, not to the public who suffers along with.
Capture that helpless emotion as it fluctuates between anger and sadness, to keep in a bottle for observation. This is humanity, what it evokes within each of us, totally unscripted and uncontrollable, these real sensations that on their own manage to represent the single spiritual likeness that exists between you, me, and every other human being alive on this planet. Take a moment and realize that a day like this for us is but a minuscule sliver of a taste of what our influence created in Iraq. Every single day there is mass murder in Iraq, much more than we’ve experienced today in America…so what exactly is our President, our media, our populace so “horrified” by all of a sudden? Based on this reaction, you’d think this sort of thing wasn’t happening everyday, even though it has been for years already.
Excellent Point!
Juan Cole, on the News Hour tonight, noted that a massacre like this happens every single day in Iraq.
On KOS I’ve been accused of insensitivity. I’ll be posting on this when I get a chance to in the next couple of days. Cole is right on the money, and I hope this sort of sentiment gets repeated over and over and over again.
A while back their was a Daily show routine where Jon Oliver talked about how Americans let go of 9/11 so quickly and he could not understand why the Iraqi’s would be upset over a few deaths. It was really funny, yet so accurate.
Excellent work!
4 bombings kill 157 people in Baghdad