Monday, June 22, 2009
Videos of people being killed
In high rotation on TV news is a video of a young Iranian woman, Neda, being shot and killed. I wasn't even home most of the weekend, and I've still seen it a half dozen times. It's still being talked about and shown on CNN today.
There are many videos of non-violent Palestinian and international demonstrators being shot and killed, or very seriously wounded, by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank. Here's one (scroll to the bottom, after the photos) showing the murder of Bassem Abu Rahme on April 17, 2009. Here'a another showing American (repeat that for emphasis: American, as in, presumably of higher interest to American television audiences) Tristan Anderson being critically wounded on March 13.
Not once, to my knowledge, has any such video been shown on American television, despite the fact that the murders were committed by people carrying out an occupation backed by American money, weapons, and political support. OK, "despite the fact" may be a misstatement. "Because of the fact" might be more accurate.
A close friend wrote a letter to the local paper based on this post, which talked about cutbacks in education and compared it to U.S. military spending in Iraq and Afghanistan, and U.S. aid to Israel and Pakistan. Guess what got cut out of the letter? That's right, the part about Israel.
