How could anyone with the slightest intellectual honesty claim that Israel and its Navy were the victims of a boat which Jon Stewart said last night looked like "P Diddy's St. Bart's vacation yacht"; or that armed Israeli commandos were the victims of unarmed civilian passengers; or, more generally, that a nuclear-armed Israel with the most powerful military by far in the Middle East and the world's greatest superpower acting as Protector is the persecuted victim of a wretched, deprived, imprisoned, stateless population devastated by 40 years of brutal Israeli occupation and, just a year ago, an unbelievably destructive invasion and bombing campaign? The casting of "victim" and "aggressor" is blatantly reversed with such claims -- which is exactly the central premise that has been driving, and continues to drive, U.S. foreign policy as well.
The Israeli flotilla attack: victimhood, aggression and tribalism
There are examples of the soullessness and depravity of our ruling class everywhere these days, but we seem to have reached a new height recently. That our leaders would characterize this as anything more threatening to Israel than a thing that needs to be independently investigated (President Obama's initial reaction) is absurd. It is, as Greenwald goes on to point out, a perfect example of how our own "thinking" allows us to view a group of religious fanatics living in one of the poorest places on earth as a mortal threat to our society.
There are things that are scary or disturbing that are not threats to our existence as a nation. We need to learn to recognize this fact, and deal with those things accordingly. Their handling of this incident makes Israel looks like a bunch of simpering bullies. It's easy to despise such people, and difficult to view them as victims, even when they are.
I suggest that people take that to heart when they ask why there are people in the world who hate our guts.
UPDATE: What do I mean be depravity? Paul Craig Roberts, formerly President Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Treasury, elaborated yesterday:
Question: What can be done?
Roberts: The American people are lost in la-la land. They have no idea that their civil liberties have been forfeited. They are only gradually learning that their economic future is compromised. They have little idea of the world’s growing hatred of Americans for their destruction of other peoples. In short, Americans are full of themselves. They have no idea of the disasters that their ignorance and inhumanity have brought upon themselves and upon the world.
Much of the world, looking at a country that appears both stupid and inhumane, wonders at Americans’ fine opinion of themselves. Is America the virtuous “indispensable nation” of neoconservative propaganda, or is America a plague upon the world?
A Plague Upon The World: The USA is a “Failed State”
To my mind, allowing such a thing to continue, or encouraging it as the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats have done, is depraved. How could anyone with a functioning heart and mind do what they've continued to do, despite evidence that Roberts is right? I urge readers to check out the rest of that article. I have a quibble here and there, but for the most part, I think that Roberts is all too sadly correct.
2 comments:
Related to your Quote of the Day, it is not surprising that the public discourse is being manipulated and voices that need to be heard are not, out of Political Correctness, out of ignorance, out of Conventional Wisdom, out of fear that exposure could do damage far beyond the intended, the list is endless. The following was commented elsewhere and apparently was censored from the discussion. One of the issues was legitimacy of Israel's attack in international waters, and by inference the legitimacy of the Israeli government. The comment made was about the legitimacy of the sponsoring and enabling government itself, that is the government of the U.S. As follows:
"Your comment is awaiting moderation.
June 4, 2010 at 10:15 am"
"Of all the uncomforting facts being raised by the unconscionable terrorism visited upon that humanitarian convoy, there is a massive underlying fact that is not mentioned anywhere. That fact is, since the election decision 2000, there has not been a legitimate U.S. Government in office. The Government of the U.S. is as illegitimate as the Israeli attack in international waters upon the Mavi Marmara. The fact that this government and its creature occupying the Whitehouse refuse to enforce neither treaty obligation nor law, nor even the Constitution itself that they swore to defend , nor does it appear they ever have the intention of ever doing so. It is this government, by its silence, its lack of response, its acceptance of the Israeli atrocity upon the high seas, its death squad attack on unarmed and peaceful voyagers, its humanitarian crimes against the prisoners in Gaza, not to mention the white phosphorus and cluster-bomb war crimes against a population half of which are children by law in any other civilized country. There is in fact no responsible person occupying any of the high offices of government in the U.S., the Congress is a cesspool of corruption, and the courts have been captured by ideological zealots on a hidden agenda usurping the judicial branch of government to their private goals and giving aid and comfort to those in government who by their actions, in any other setting, would be considered traitors to their country’s interests."
"For those responsible for the deaths on the Mavi Marmara, their directors, their paymasters, their political overlords, may each and every one of them bury their children, all their children. One of the first reported victims of Israeli gunfire was an Arab-Israeli poet, shot in the head. Even the zionist god will not forgive that. Neither should the rest of the civilized world. Washington D.C. and Tel Aviv no longer are counted in that number."
Thanks for listening, All the best .....
Did they ever publish your comment? Or are you still in moderation? It sometimes took a day for comments I left at Krugman's blog to appear. Apparently, either he or someone on the staff actually reviews them first.
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