07-04-2010, 03:17 AM
The above is an important piece by one of the more prominent commentators in American politics today, and I think it makes some very important points.
What bothers me about what I see in terms of American citizen awareness, attitude, etc. about this and related recent stories is their degree of imperviousness to horror and wrong-doing; it is as if they have installed emotional armor, or that they are like their warriors are in a state of post-traumatic disorder. What bothers me about this and similar stories is the "boiling frog" nature of how jaded we have become in terms of these kinds of atrocities. The American people have been ritually asdsaulted so frequently and continuously that they are suffering from dissociation identity disorder and have forgotten that they are Americans.
What bothers me about all of it is the possibility that the American public will remain inured, unaware, and disinterested when it begins to happen here -- targeted against Americans who protest, dissent or take their various angers out for a walk en masse.
It's not that an American life is worth more than an Iraqi one. I would have hoped that some enlightenment in terms of our similar humanity might allowed an awakening. I fear that the American people will not wake up until some of their exceptional emotionally-distanced (or emotionally hollow) selves are gunned down as brutally as were those in this video. Perhaps that is what it will take for them to awaken. Even then it will probably be too late.
What bothers me about what I see in terms of American citizen awareness, attitude, etc. about this and related recent stories is their degree of imperviousness to horror and wrong-doing; it is as if they have installed emotional armor, or that they are like their warriors are in a state of post-traumatic disorder. What bothers me about this and similar stories is the "boiling frog" nature of how jaded we have become in terms of these kinds of atrocities. The American people have been ritually asdsaulted so frequently and continuously that they are suffering from dissociation identity disorder and have forgotten that they are Americans.
What bothers me about all of it is the possibility that the American public will remain inured, unaware, and disinterested when it begins to happen here -- targeted against Americans who protest, dissent or take their various angers out for a walk en masse.
It's not that an American life is worth more than an Iraqi one. I would have hoped that some enlightenment in terms of our similar humanity might allowed an awakening. I fear that the American people will not wake up until some of their exceptional emotionally-distanced (or emotionally hollow) selves are gunned down as brutally as were those in this video. Perhaps that is what it will take for them to awaken. Even then it will probably be too late.
"Where is the intersection between the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?"