Tuesday, August 11, 2009

American Double Standards

Here's a simple but absolutely fundamental point (written by a courageous mystery blogger who visited Israel) that every American needs to understand:

we've got a major double standard when it comes to the moral outrage we express. For example, what about the hundreds of thousands of brutally murdered Iraqis and Afghanis we are responsible for? Where is the moral outrage over that? Where is the moral outrage over the countless Palestinians slaughtered in cold blood for no other reason than the fact that they are Palestinian? People die on a weekly basis at the hands of Israeli soldiers in the village of Nilin, people who are peacefully and NON-VIOLENTLY protesting against the military dictatorship and occupation they are living under. Why aren't we demanding accountability from the Israeli Government and insisting that Palestinians should have the right to protest without fearing for their lives? Did we see the pictures of the dead children in Gaza as a result of Operation Cast Lead? Where is our support for the Palestinian people in their struggle for justice against a truly brutal and inhumane regime? And just yesterday a U.S. drone is reported to have killed 60 people at a funeral in Pakistan. My point is, we are selectively and blindly supportive when it suits our interests or aligns with our world views, meanwhile our own government is making bloody messes the world over.


I just wonder how many Americans do understand this...

The ease with which we murder innocent farmers indicates what happens when double-standards are allowed. It is, by the way, ironic that this American murder of Afghan cucumber farmers occurred; as the Israeli war against Palestinians heated up a decade ago and collective punishment became an ever-more-obvious part of Israeli policy, the export of Palestinian cucumbers was one of the targets of Israel. Stop and ask yourself: When a cucumber farmer in a war zone is prevented from raising his crops, where is he likely to turn for support?

But back to the double standard. Everyone was outraged at the murder of one young lady on the streets of Tehran a few weeks ago. Where is the outrage, where are the demands for an investigation to punish the U.S. military murderers of these cucumber farmers (if that is indeed what they were)?

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