Callous, Casual Racism
Violence in the Middle East has spread, with Israel and Hezbollah embroiled in conflict; and as usual, it is the innocent who suffer unjustly. It isn't the violence itself that crushes me, it's the casual indifference of ordinary people.
On the 17th, shortly after the latest explosions rocked Lebanon; John Gruber of Daring Fireball fame posted this:
John is an avid tech blogger, especially on Apple and their products. He's well known, well regarded and in so many ways an outstanding human. I enjoy his writing and his podcasts. So I really struggle to understand this:
This whole operation sounds like it would make for a great movie.
A country is reeling, its innocent civilians cowering in fear, thousands injured, hundreds dead.
Imagine you were walking through a supermarket with your 8 year old daughter, shopping, thinking about the meal you'd share with your family later and suddenly, light, fire, noise, blood, screams, searing pain. You awake in the hospital, there is unrelenting noise & chaos; and in the midst of that tumult you find out that your precious daughter, your life, your princess, died. Brutally torn to pieces for no good reason.
Meanwhile, a few thousand miles away an unthinking dickhead wonders what a great movie it would make.
I grapple to contextualise this, to put it in its proper place and make sense of the world. Would John have the same thought if this had happened in the streets of any European country? The only way I can square this dark circle is that Arab people, Lebanese people aren't really people to John. They're less than.
"For all your outstanding work John, you are a bigoted racist. I wish you'd apply yourself, learn a little, read a little, perhaps be a better human at the end of it. The Lebanese are such a wonderful people, warm, welcoming, beautiful, with a rich culture and history. I hope you get to know a few someday, I know they will treat you with more care, grace and humility than the callous, inconsiderate, indifferent racism you show them."
Here's the rub, I can't speak to John nor would he listen to me if I could, so I vent to myself in this quiet space. Disheartened, numb, ineffective.
Update: To John's credit, he reached out after I shared this post with him to say: "So you know: I read it, with an open mind, and I thank you for sharing it with me." I respect and appreciate that!
Some listening for those wanting to learn a little more:
“Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness – and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we’re being brainwashed to believe. The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling – their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them. Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”― Arundhati Roy
