I caught my first mainstream coverage of the Gaza assault just now. It was on CNN and I watched it because they had a telephone interview with a doctor from Gaza. I turned it off at the point when they were about to interview some military expert about how long we could expect this to last. The whole segment was a split screen with looped video of the 'fireworks' going on in Gaza on one side. The headline they were hawking was not about the interview with the Gazan doctor, nor was it about a report from Israel by Christian Amanpour which also aired during the segment. It was that New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg is flying to Israel in a show of support for the state. I felt like vomiting. They also reported that the US is in no hurry for a ceasefire (these things take time to be done right ya know), they had a clip of Bush blaming Hamas for the carnage and a bit on Obama's reaction to recent events in Gaza (he apparently doesn't have one and he also doesn't have any advice).
I have been wondering over these past few days about the reasons for the scale and horror of this attack. Are they simply bloodthirsty psychopaths driven by a radical ideology or a need for power and control? I have learned through reading excerpts from Political Ponerology that psychopaths will keep doing the same things over and over again as long as they have worked in the past. They are not really capable of predicting the complicated outcomes their actions may have. So, could this be just more of the same old, same old to them, just a bigger and better version? Is this, as has been suggested by many on the left, all about which politician can prove to the Israeli voters they are the biggest bad ass on the block? I don't have any good answers to those question but my suspicions are that they are doing this to provoke an attack from other Arab countries (ie. Iran or Syria). If you think about it, how awful must this be for Arabs in neighbouring countries to watch this. And they don't get the sanitized, rah rah Israel version of events that we in North America do. How can they sit back and allow this to happen? They are seeing the video below which is of the bombing of a Gaza street market. I believe the Israeli's said they were targeting a truck they suspected of carrying Hamas rockets. Turns out, it was just some guy who owns a welding shop moving some oxygen tanks that he was afraid would be looted from his business after his building was damaged when they bombed the Mosque next door. His son was killed in the attack.
How would you react to this if you were them?
Note: You Tube has already removed the video but it is still up on Google video as well as several other places including Blip TV and Muslim TV. I suspect the masters will be working overtime to scrub this footage from the internet. It is exactly the kind of coverage they won't want anyone in America or Israel to see.
UPDATE: From Glenn Greewald at Unclaimed Territory.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/01/04/terrorism/index.html
There's good reason to believe [this video footage is] not from a [recent]Israeli attack, but it's certainly reflective of the carnage in Gaza. It's much easier to undervalue the suffering imposed on The Other when you don't have to see it.
It may be from this 2005 incident.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/23/world/main881068.shtml
The Israeli's did however use a drone to bomb the truck carrying oxygen tanks (mentioned above) which killed 8 people including the truck owner's son. One can imagine the carnage would be similar.
http://www.btselem.org/English/Gaza_Strip/20081231_Army_bombs_metal_work...
WARNING: This is extremely graphic footage!!!
Comments
Obama.....
M.K.
If Obama were to offer an opinion or a suggestion, Bush/Cheney
would do exactly the opposite.
Huh ?
Are you seriously suggesting that Obama has an opinion about something ?
:)
Thanks for the
"I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain..." -- Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, v
It's interesting how people
It's interesting how people cling to their ideals of Repub = Bad, Dem = Good, even when the evidence mounts all around them regarding the latest Dem savior being no more than a retread of Bush/Cheney.
No Blood on Their Hands
You'd think the horror of this might crack their stupor but then people love their saviours. They can leave all the messy stuff to him and that way they don't have to feel any personal responsibility or take any action themselves.
No blood on their hands...
"I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain..." -- Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, v
Eva: "Shoes for Gaza"
Shoes for Gaza
Watching the news this morning and feelling very powerless as, 59 year old woman, unable to offer anything but my empathy towards the people of Gaza.
The cruelty and disproportionality of Israel with the tacit approval of the US is sickening and gets close enough to a new Holocaust. Gazans caged in like rats in a trap being attacked from the sky with F16s and from the sea and the ground with heavy artillery, all the while with Israel trying to convince the world they are doing it in a humanitarian way and only targetting Hamas!
I have hung a large shoe on a green ribbon outside of my 3rd floor apartment on a main street in Stockholm. I hope anyone seeing it will understand the meaning and join in by doing the same, voicing their silent protest against what is happening to the people of Gaza.
I would like to see shoes on green ribbons hanging out of apartments all over the world as a protest against what is happening to Gazans and elsewhere, and that is largely being ignored by most governments whose responses have been no more than a tut,tut to Israel and a deferential bow towards the US.
Eva
Eva,
Welcome to the Winter Patriot community and I like your idea! Shoes on car bumper stickers or hanging from car mirrors may also be a good idea. Anything to show our support for the people of Gaza. I read that in many of the demonstrations over this last week people were throwing shoes. Maybe there could be a campaign - SHOES FOR GAZA! I share your feeling of powerlessness. It sits like some rotting piece of food in the pit of my stomach.
"I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain..." -- Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, v
How do you 'monitor' a war on a population?
"Members of Obama's transition team have only said their boss is "monitoring" the situation, where at least 460 people have already been killed in eight days of air raids."
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/No_word_from_Obama_as_Gaza_0103.html
disgust
I feel almost afraid to get on the computer and read my regular blogs. I don't expect good news, I know it will be worse than yesterday, but I'm not sure how much more anger and frustration I can hold on too. I try to discuss it with my hubby and I start to cry. I read more and I cry again or my blood boils. I feel so useless and full of hopelessness. It's good to know there are a few others who feel the same. thanks for being here and for writing about this horrendous situation.
Don't give up control
...it's just opium to them.
Anger can heal you but it can also destroy you. Don't give the bastards the satisfaction of taking the last little bit of hope and happiness away from you. Become the world you want to see.
Interesting
I was going to say something similar in reply.
Hate is a nasty critter and hard to control. It just takes too much out of you...I try to not to go there...but then it's easy for me to say, I'm not watching my family get blown into little bits.
I highly recommend doing some reading on psychopathy. It really helped me to have some understanding of the actions of the monsters that rule us - snakes in suits!!
You can read some excerpts from Andrew M. Lobaczewski's book Political Ponerology: A Science on The Nature of Evil adjusted for Political Purposes here and here
"I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain..." -- Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, v
psychopathy
Dr. Lobaczewshi's book is particularly good as it directly addresses the subject of evil and it is written from both academic research and his own personal experiences.
I could also recommend the books of Martha Stout and particularly "The Sociopath Next Door".
Here is an excerpt from the book and some interesting related links including How to spot a sociopath
"Shoes for Gaza"
Watching the news this morning and feelling very powerless as a 59 year old woman, unable to offer anything but my empathy towards the people of Gaza.
The cruelty and disproportionality of Israel with the tacit approval of the US is sickening and gets close enough to a new Holocaust. Gazans caged in like rats in a trap being attacked from the sky with F16s and from the sea and the ground with heavy artillery, all the while with Israel trying to convince the world they are doing it in a humanitarian way and only targetting Hamas!
I have hung a large shoe on a green ribbon outside of my 3rd floor apartment on a main street in Stockholm. I hope anyone seeing it will understand the meaning and join in by doing the same, voicing their silent protest against what is happening to the people of Gaza.
I would like to see shoes on green ribbons hanging out of apartments all over the world as a protest against what is happening to Gazans and elsewhere and that is largely being ignored by most governments whose responses have been no more than a tut,tut to Israel and a deferential bow towards the US.
Eva
The Hague
There has to be a way to bring these bloodthirsty monsters to some form of justice, although just hanging them all couldn't possibly make up for all the misery, grief, and suffering they have caused and are continuing to cause. No wonder the laughably named Israeli Defense Force and the settlers (poachers) pulled out of Gaza some time back. Who would want to live in a concentration camp? And what's with the way they're dragging this thing out? Back in 1967 they took on all their Arab neighbors and had the thing done with in 6 days. It looks like it will take them at least a month to "deal with" a tiny piece of land with only 1.5 million (and counting down) souls. The answer has to be that they are baiting all the Arab neighbors, trying to get Iran to step in so they can nuke 'em. This latest round of genocide must somehow be halted immediately. Shame on Israel, but, you get right down to it, shame on the human race for collectively allowing this to happen.
Shame
Yes Bob!. That is exactly how we should ALL feel, great shame. I am repeating myself ,again, I know, but where is the empathy? Why can nobody put themselves in the others shoes. The propaganda tells us constantly 'how would you like to live in sth Israel under rocket attack?', but never asks the same about the people of Gaza. I think Glenn Greenwald put it best in an article he wrote, yesterday(Sunday US time).
In the 'not to be outdone' war crimes dept
(Los Angeles) Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa adds his voice in support of Israeli military operations in Gaza.
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Villaraigosa-Backs-Israeli-Milit...
excuse me while i barf. although the article does cover some of the protest activities so it's not all barf.
-NJT
to McJ and James
to McJ and James --
Psychopathy isn't what Ponerology says it is. Psychopathy is a label used to describe people who are dangerous to "society." It is not medical. It is not scientific. It is simply a fancy word for "someone we wish wasn't among us." Like "sanity," it is used in legal proceedings to justify torture and imprisonment of fellow humans.
Ponerology is a made-up "science" that tries to explain human selfishness when it exists in misanthropic, lethal amounts. I found it no more scientific than von Mises-type libertarianism, which also pretends at science in its "economic" analysis of "privatizing" government services.
A better analysis of what has been labelled "Ponerology" can be found in Erich Fromm's classic book, "Escape from Freedom," as well as in Alice Miller's excellent "Thou Shalt Not Be Aware." I trust those two figures of human psychology well before I trust "ponerology" as a one-man, one-trick circus act.
I suggest reading Fromm and Miller, and not someone like Lobaczewski who tries to spot political figures and paint them with evil labels, which is little more than name-calling with a pseudo-science cover. "Ponerology" is just a fancy form of McCarthyism.
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