If Ignorance was Truly Bliss

There is not a day that goes by that we don't log onto the world wide web and stumble across a news story of some ill-fated characters who are being mistreated, terrorized, and even killed in today's society. Click onto Huffington Post's or any news site and you will be thrust into a whirlwind of horrific and heart-breaking stories: home foreclosures and unemployed America, pedophile priests and abusive parents, dying soldiers and civilians in war torn countries and freak mass shootings by 'extremists'. The perverse focus of modern day media on negativity has left many of us tainted with cynicism and a misanthropic outlook on the world and the many people in it. Is it any wonder we're losing heart in what seems to be a world destined for ruin? How can we shut out the dramatized reality every computer, TV, and newspaper spews out? Perhaps we could just chuck the media sources out the window, return to a simpler life; perhaps we should become Amish.

Years ago a study found that the Amish communities, in their simplistic and isolated society, were statistically significantly happier than the rest of us. Several psychologists and sociologists offered up their reasoning and rationales for the cause of this marked increase of bliss; a lack of conspicuous consumerism or possibly the ease of a less complicated and hurried lifestyle. But the most compelling evidence I had heard was that of absence of social media outlets. Having little to no access to the circus that is the nightly news, many of the more traditional Amish have successfully disconnected themselves from the outside world. Without stories of neighborhood shootings and robberies to strike fear into their hearts, without images of natural disasters and wars worlds away and all the victims that go hand in hand with such tragedies, without all the weight of the violence and hatred in the world bearing down on their shoulders, why shouldn't they be happier? They are, in essence, the ostrich with their heads in the sand.

There was a time when I, in seething protest of the foul manipulation of events and biased reporting, refused to watch the news. Refusing to partake in the brewing storm of scare tactics, refusing to allow two pixelated representations of emotionally disconnected human beings into my living room, I invested my attention elsewhere (usually in reruns of The Golden Girls, and who can be sad when the room is aglow with four saucy female senior citizens?). On the internet, I avoided the home pages of various servers who had the habit of posting headlines and streaming ticker tapes. And I found myself slightly more at peace in this brief hiatus. Without terrifying stories of muggings and rapes, I no longer tiptoed apprehensively through the shadows of my front yard at night. Without the disproportionate coverage of minority crimes, I no longer double-checked the minorities walking by on the sidewalk (yeah, being Mexican I was still checking the Mexicans). Without the countless tears of families and friends crying on camera over a fallen loved one, I was no longer feeling the bog of someone else’s devastation on my heart. Unfortunately, this peace was nothing more than a selfish escape from the real world, and while the Amish are happier, they and people like them are failing our society.

Too often we simply concern ourselves with our immediate environment, the people in our everyday lives, our family, our friends, and rarely give consideration to the others beyond our own little bubbles. The news media is our only window connecting us to the events and tragedies that befall our states, countries, continents, and our globe. Without these outlets, we would have never known of the Haiti earthquake or the Pakistani flooding. We would have never known of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict or that horrific crime against humanity, the Flotilla raid. We would have never known of the tragic shooting that took place in Arizona last week. And without this information, we never could have sent the millions of dollars in aid to natural disaster victims. We never could have lashed out in anger at the Israelis, consequently forcing them to ease off their blockade restrictions and allow the Palestinians some food. We never could have been inspired by the handful of heroic stories as good Samaritans rushed to the scene of the shooting to help whomever they could, in spite of being shot when trying to stop the gunman.

Despite the pain, frustration, and sadness that washes over us when these haunting images flash across the screen, it is human nature to empathize with the plight of our fellow man. It is our obligation to care for one another and help in any way we can. To reach beyond our boundaries, to force open our eyes to conquer our self-induced ignorance is our responsibility as global citizens. Excuse the forthcoming sap that will no doubt cue a Michael Jackson song somewhere, but we are one world, there can’t be divisions and isolation. People need help, and for those of us who are in countries far better off than the majority of the earth, where our worst days could be a utopia for a starving child in a third world nation, we must provide whatever assistance possible. But how can we know who needs help without the media? We cannot allow their blighted stories to destroy our well-being and our sense of security, but neither can we shut them off when the events they’re sharing can be made no more tragic than if we were standing there ourselves.

In my absence from the news media, I still continued to do my part the best I could. I ran a cancer fund for a few years, I donated my time to underprivileged children and juvenile delinquents, and even donated my money to endangered chimps in Tanzania (yeah they need money too, bananas don’t grow on trees, ya know…wait, they do? Crap…well played Miss Goodall, well played). But it wasn’t until I joined the ranks of that queen woman on YouTube that I felt I was a part of an initiative with a global impact, and being a part of that movement required me to dip back into the ongoing world events such as war, terrorism, and human suffering. Then, and only then, could we begin to fight it.

Turning your back on the world and averting your eyes from the pain of others may give you a sense of peace and happiness the rest of us are not afforded, but in the end, it is our consciences that will be cleared when we reach for our wallets, sacrifice some time from our schedules, or simply send out prayers and love to those across the state lines, across the oceans. So enjoy your bliss, Amish dudes, go till your soil and drive your wagons and try to forget us, but don’t forget, when tragedy struck you, we were there.

Israel: Bringing Antisemitism Back?

So unless you're living under a rock right now, you've probably heard of the recent Israeli attack and seizure of the Flotilla ship which resulted in 9 deaths. And if you're like the majority of the world, you were as outraged and offended as the rest of us. An aid ship carrying humanitarian supplies to the people of Gaza attempted to cross a sea-blockade instated by Israel to deliver these goods. Before they even reached the blockade, the IDF met the ship in international waters and overthrew the vessel. However, they did not succeed without a struggle ensuing, and many activists fought the unlawful takeover, attacking soldiers with knives and lead pipes, resulting in the mortalities. Now Israel is wiping their tears with blood-soaked handkerchiefs claiming to be the everlasting victim in the decades-long dispute with Palestine that has turned most of the world and the UN against them. Amidst claims of justification, cries of antisemitism, and concern for their own safety, Israel has gone from the Golden Child everyone sympathized with to the Red-Headed Stepchild no one likes.

 

The dispute began over Israel being recognized as a state and land divisions the Palestinians didn't agree upon, including some very holy grounds deeply significant to both religions. Backed by the US, Israel steadily gained strength and political power, as the state of Palestine faded into oblivion, not even recognized as an independent country today (but for the purposes of this blog, we will consider it rightfully as such). Bombings and militant attacks from both sides intensified hostility, but the Palestinians were fighting a losing battle. Israel, in an attempt to weaken and ultimately purge the region of Palestinians, has constructed an illegal apartheid wall, dividing the region and separating families from one another, children from schools, adults from jobs, people from medical facilities, etc. The Israeli Defense Forces also continue to surge into restricted territories, illegally seizing Arab and Muslim settlements, bullying, terrorizing, arresting, and even killing individuals who stand in their way, people who are only fighting for their right to exist on the small part of earth they have left. Would it be inappropriate of me to draw parallels between modern day Israel and past Germany, with a concrete divider not unlike the Berlin Wall and a militant movement of ethnic cleansing not unlike the Nazi Party? It would? Okay, we won't do that then. But just in case the thought had crossed your mind, it crossed ours too.

Now, on top of bombings, the great regional divide, and irate IDFs running about, Israel's newly instated Gaza Blockade (created just three years ago) has been devised to limit, if not fully stop crucial supplies from getting to the Palestinians, on the grounds of security, and concerns that weapons will reach the hostile region. A list of the banned products includes carpentry tools such as iron, steel, or cement, livestock such as horses, goats, and donkeys, food items such as fruits, vegetables, chocolates, nuts, jam, and coffee, and even frivolous items such as A4 paper, laptops, and musical instruments. While some strange concoction of iron, steel, and cement could create some crude weaponry, if Palestinians are versed in constructing catapults or Trojan Bunnies (Run Away!), and I could see how they might try to drive the IDF back with a poor rendition of Pachelbel's Canon in D major, but what is the point of keeping out foods and livestock? These are livelihoods, animals help with transportation, with farming, they're a source of food, these foods obviously provide nourishment to a country that is currently starving and poor. And what better way to destroy a people than to take their sustenance? There is no other value of this extreme deprivation, no other purpose, there is no real threat to Israel in chocolates and apples.

The UN stepped in long ago, demanding the surge into illegal territories stop and the apartheid wall be destroyed, but Israel has long since ignored their restrictions and has continued it's draconian rule of the land without reprimand. Though a recent announcement declaring Israel's intention to remain in and move forward into illegal settlements has forced the US to question it's relationship with the Jewish state, the US government has not taken an official stance against them following the Flotilla raid, and it's unknown if we ever will.

After a significantly delayed response to WWII which resulted in the slaughter of 6 million Jews, the US, acting in what I believe to be a guilty conscience, practically granted Israel a free pass to do what they like. In order to compensate them for the heinous crimes of the Holocaust, we have supported them without fail and without question. But the Jews of Israel are not the Jews of Europe. One cannot be compensated for bloodshed with more bloodshed, and Israel is not making anymore friends with their despicable tactics.

Many have openly criticized Israel for the blockade, to which they responded that the world is simply reviving antisemitism and discriminating against them. While the disdain flowing their way is not motivated purely by religious purposes, can it morph into such? Can antisemitism make a comeback? Sadly, the actions of Israel are leading towards what could be the resurgence of antisemitism as the world on both sides cannot seem to separate the actions of a government from that country's primary religion. Many will tie their actions back to the Jewish community and Judaism; there has been an increase in Jewish hate crimes across the world in the midst of this conflict. Others will scream antisemitism if you call Israel out for their crimes against humanity. Even when it's justified to call them what they are: a war mongering state feeding on the helpless, starving them out, keeping them in what Queen Rania called an "open air prison". And, sadly still, they are dragging other Jews with them. Many Jews across the globe are speaking out against Israel's actions upon Palestine, citing the misalignment between Israeli policy and the Jewish religion. But if people continue to connect the actions of Israel with the Jewish faith, as many have done with terrorists and the Islamic faith, antisemitism will run rampant again across the world, and a reborn hate will thrive.

Not helping the Israeli cause is a satirical video that was not only created by Jews as a mockery of the Flotilla Raid, but circulated by the Israeli Government itself. The video shows Israeli individuals who parodied American and Middle Eastern activists on the boat singing a re-written rendition of Michael Jackson's famous "We Are the World", renamed "We Con the World". A poor comedic attempt at best, given the timing and the events that inspired the video, it is nothing more than a sickening display of disregard and disrespect to the individuals who were killed and captured on that day, and the Gazans who suffered from the loss of supplies. The Israeli Government apologized for releasing the video, but an official stated the video reflected what most Israelis felt about the incident. If this is all the compassion they have to offer, they're going to be royally screwed in the long run. Follow the link below to watch the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOGG_osOoVg&feature=player_embedded