Letters to the Editor
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Yes?
To the Bush Administration, Iraqis just aren't worth as much as people in this country.
I would say people in this country aren't worth anything to the Bush administration. Except votes. But once the administration enacts the Patriot act to its utmost, we won't even be needed for that because Bush will be dictator for life. Unless Kucinich is successful launching articles of impeachment against Cheney.
On to the article:
I read the entire thing looking for the logical link between Cho's rampage and the Iraq war. I found an effort to do so, but never found the one sentence or thought that led me to think, "AH! THERE you go! I can get behind this now." Not that the author didn't try.
I think the irony of the media's falling over itself to cover the mass death of white, middle class people and its phobic reaction to the multiple mass deaths of sorta brown people is worth pointing to and shouting about as loudly as possible. Please make every effort to get that point across.
But as to linking Iraq and Cho? I don't think this article quite managed it. It was an heruclean effort but as other commenters have already pointed out, the two events are apples and oranges as to cause (instigator) and effect (policy).
I have decided not to be outraged about it but instead simply wish that Mr. Kamiya had spent more time thinking through the point and landing instead on the hypocrisy of our national media's obsession with sensation and scandal. We are fully aware of Bush et al's shortcomings.
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Stellaa Gets it Right
We humanize one set of victims and dehumanize another. The VT victims are given families, dreams and futures. The people in Iraq are not granted the same luxury. Frankly, Bush was the shooter in Iraq, walked in with his fantasies and started killing in some fantasy of justice. Our National mental illness that we are the unique and supreme power on the planet.
Here's the link you were looking for Mr. Kamiya.
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that's silliness
There were thousands of people who died last week who went unnoticed by Gary too. Stop cherry picking and then proclaiming everyone else is insensitive.
Let's see: Sudan, Timor, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria all had violent outbursts. Why no column inches for them too? Let's face reality that your handwringing is little more than a rhetorical tool for all the other things you want to say and as far you're concerned those miserables really don't count, in and of themselves.
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Starting to piss me off!
This is about the third time I've heard this idiotic argument in the last week. Somehow, pundits with a political point to make have judged that the entire US population does not care about casualties of civilians and military in Iraq because we deigned to give a shit about the VT shootings.
Give me a break already! My outrage and disgust is not a "one shot only" deal. I can direct my anger and feelings of futility at multiple targets at the same time. I can feel deeply about the VT shootings *and* the situation in Iraq *and* what is happening in Darfur *and* the environment *and* the homeless and whatever else. I mean just wtf kind of idiots do you take us for? It's time for this stupid argument to end. It isn't true, it's not even close to true and to use it is absolutely an insult to anyone who can think of more than one subject in the space of a day.
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...a little bit of Cho in Bush or the other way around?
Thanks for a rare and honest appraisal Gary Kamiya. More often in the public arena, the media barely wants to get their feet wet when it comes to covering the greater picture. Media wordsmiths dare not or care not to do more than wade in the water, sticking to the shallows; merely titillating the public appetite for horror. Yes, horror, terror that does not touch directly and for which we have no perceived responsibility is acceptable, as we drown ourselves in tears of instant compassion.
And then comes the follow-up... shredding human failure down to a blame game executed by experts who will debate 'WHY' endlessly?
We select our compassions carefully. Better to heap chaos and terror on another rather than ourselves. Yes,we have become the terrorists our leaders warned us about...hands dripping with pride in unquestioning patriotism? All this so that the Bush gang can someday arrogantly call themselves winners?
Someone over at Asia Times -a most respectable news source - said it cynically about a year ago..."Let Bush declare himself a winner and bring the troops home". Would have saved many lives on both sides, hey?
Control freaks, perverted minds, arrogantly demand and execute what they want no matter who suffers. Just maybe there is more Cho in the Bush/Cheney two headed monster than one cares to admit? Then too, do we carry around some Darwinian charm that absolves us? These are the questions that need to be asked and Kamiya has certainly started the ball rolling. Thanks again GK.
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OUTSTANDING, MR. KAMIYA
Your post today was exceptional, Mr. Kamiya. Thank you for your great insight and ability to draw analogies between two disparate acts of violence, Virginia Tech and Iraq.
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A Tale of Two Horrors, Beautifully told
Thank you for that eloquent piece. It said what I did not have the words, nor the knowledge to say. I watched with horror, the nearly lurid coverage of last week's events, and was relieved when, of all people, Jon Stewart expressed this thought. We are horrified at a shooting of 32 people here--what is it like for the people of Iraq to live with far worse every day?
You put this in context, with compassion and sorrow and honesty. Thank you so much. I think that every American should read this. Sadly, far too few will.
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"The Bush administration did not set out to intentionally cause the death of 650,000 Iraqis."
Well, just exactly what did they think would happen when they sent all that firepower over there?
Oh yeah, now I remember: they didn't think at all.
Criminal intent or criminal negligence. Some choice.
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Quite a stretch...
I've come to expect little of realistic responsibility from the left, and this writer certainly does not disappoint on that count. I would say in his defense, tho, I admire the gentle soul that seems eminate from the gentleman.
The problem is the usual from leftist writers; A total disregard for the truth of matters. The Iraqi war was exceedingly legal, popularly supported, and approved by the UN. US Democrats, as usual, turned tail when the going got rough and blamed someone else for the problems. Responsible people admit failures (of intelligence in this case) and keep going. There IS a future to be considered here, and cut & running will simply produce more warfare & more deaths. What we owe to the Iraqis is a chance for them to have a future too - and that means stick it out.