Saturday, October 18, 2008

CNN, FOX, MSNBC, CNBC, etc.

What does it mean to be a Christian in an environment that emphasizes crisis over content? We have an economic crisis that threatens millions of people, not just Americans, who are at risk of becoming working class instead of middle class. Meanwhile, millions more are at risk of starving because the food, the basic staples of life, have become too expensive for them to buy. These people, no less valuable than the millions of those suddenly put at risk of downsizing from luxuries to necessities, are not rising up. They are not suddenly seeing their electronics being taken away from them. They are not seeing one less night of eating out. They are not seeing discomfort being counted as a loss of a basic human right. These people, these people who never have known anything better, aren't strong enough to rise up. The ones who are strong enough to rise up are those who have been trained to believe that the comforts that come from a system that says that they deserve it more than any other, must contend at best, and battle to the death if need be, those who are their competitors. Thus, the poorest of the poor must be demonized and dehumanized in order to allow their becoming "collateral damage" without an overwhelming sense of guilt. Most revolutions have been waged by those who have manipulated those who already had, so that they thought some other group was angling to get "their' goods. Divide and conquer is a tried and true technique from time immemorial.

Case in point: It's those Romans subjugating our homeland! It's those Jews threatening our empire's peace. It's those 'dirty' Italians (make sure to to emphasize the "eye" in 'I'talian) listening to their marching orders from the Vatican. And remember, the Irish were subhuman in English eyes until they came to America and got to be "white" for the first time in competition with blacks. Nowadays, it's Arabs (please make sure to pronounce the "A" in Arab!) as the convenient scapegoat. As long as we have someone, anyone, to see as the "other" we can avoid looking too closely at ourselves and what we've done or not done.

Whatever you do, pay no attention to that person dying on your doorstep. And if you can, please ignore that person, that man, that woman and that child, who is in the gunsights of missiles guided perfectly in their direction. Their life doesn't matter. They're the enemy. All of these wars are being fought for you.




What are you (am I) going to do?

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