[thechat] Terrorists attack Indian parliament

spinhead evolt at spinhead.com
Thu Dec 13 19:06:52 CST 2001


Just a general response, Erika: government isn't about people or caring or
stuff like that. Government is about retention of power. The media generally
prefers to stay in favor with those in power. I'd be very surprised to see
news of any kind in any country that genuinely reflected what was really
going on. But I'd be most surprised to see it in the US, 'cause it's not a
good power-retention policy.

Joel


----- Original Message -----
From: "Erika Meyer" <emeyer at lclark.edu>
To: <thechat at lists.evolt.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2001 3:26 PM
Subject: Re: [thechat] Terrorists attack Indian parliament


> Hey Madhu, that's shocking.  Is there any news about who and why?
>
> You think India will indeed emulate US & Israel and bomb someone now?
>
> http://madman.weblogs.com/2001/12/13
> <quote>
> >The morons at CNN, of course, don't consider it very newsworthy and
> >have buried the news both on their main site as well as the Asian
> >site (Bin Laden hogs the spotlight on both). It didn't happen in
> >USA, you see
> </quote>
>
> CNN:
>
> I think it is a f&cking shame that it is not understood, particularly
> in this country, that we live in a global world, and it doesn't
> matter where a person comes from... every person who suffers from
> conflict, every life that is lost needs to be mourned.
>
> We recognize only the Americans who die in conflict.  Everyone else
> is a footnote.
>
> For example, we've devoted pages of news to the Americans dead in the
> Afghan war... and major newspapers have given at least a small
> personal obit to every person dead in the initial terrorist attacks.
>
> Yet I haven't seen any official recognition of Afghan civilian deaths
> at American hands, not to mention a personal obituary of anyone.
> News agencies have tried to report some of these injuries and deaths.
> And if you count the starvation, the villages bombed, and the
> accidents during flight, I know they are significant... and include
> many children.
>
> To mourn those civilians, to recognize them as humans like us, would
> be to recognize the travesty of war.  We are not allowed to do that.
>
> But I say we just can't sit around and not care, because the dead
> aren't blue-eyed Americans.
>
> There are many things I never understood.  I never understood, when I
> was a teenager, why tragedies that involved loss of life would be
> described in terms of dollars lost.  I don't notice that so much any
> more.  I don't know if that's because news agencies finally realized
> how callous it sounds, or if I just stopped noticing.
>
> I also never understood why American... especially white American...
> lives are valued in our press so much more than non-American and/or
> non-white lives.
>
> The cold hard fact is that we can't turn away from the misery of the
> world and pretend it doesn't DIRECTLY affect each one of us, even us
> well-fed Americans.
>
> Afghan children are starving to death right now.   African children
> being orphaned by AIDs, a disease that is controlled in this country,
> with proper treatment.  These are our children, our people, and we
> ignore their suffering.  In fact, we profit from it.
>
> But that profit is only short-term.  What goes around comes around
> and no one is immune.
>
> Kofi Annan said on Tuesday:
>
> <quote>
> Today's real borders are not between nations, but between powerful
> and powerless, free and fettered, privileged and humiliated. Today,
> no walls can separate humanitarian or human rights crises in one part
> of the world from national security crises in another.
> </quote>
>
> His speech
> http://www.nobel.se/peace/laureates/2001/annan-lecture.html
> contains a great deal of wisdom.
>
> Perhaps our press reproduced some of this wisdom.  I didn't see it.
> If it was published at all, it was overshadowed by the "should we be
> permitted to view Osama's latest video" debate.
>
> I'm sorry my country doesn't get it.
>
> Our arrogance + ignorance will be our undoing.
>
> & no missile shield is going to save us.
>
> Erika
>
> --
>





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