I know most of us are wrapped up in trying to figure out how we, as a society, landed on the VEEP meets Idiocracy timeline but please keep in mind that that is only a distraction. Maybe we could all take a break from the shit show that electoral politics has become and try to come to terms with the almost 200 journalists that have been systematically targeted and murdered over the past year?
Journalists in Palestine have always been in the sights of the occupying government because they always ran the risk of exposing the lie. The lie that the poor, helpless colony that has the most technologically advanced arsenal of weapons on the planet and a blank check from the United States government is actually the aggressor.
Before the genocide cranked up to eleven, most of the journalists in the occupied territory were attempting to capture daily life in an apartheid state. Taking pictures of landscapes, sunrises and children playing in order to show the beauty of Palestine and what the world risked to lose to appease a Euro-centric colonial experiment. Their only desire was to put their true humanity on display, for all to see, in a world that didn’t see them as people.
Anyone that has held a camera in their hand or committed a single word to paper should be alarmed and horrified. Not only from the single fact of their murders but also the stunning silence from all levels of journalists and news media.
I would never claim to be a journalist. I do not have the capability to put on a mask of impartiality. If someone is obviously lying and gets caught doing evil shit, I would never want to get into the habit of asking the reasons behind that person committing evil shit. They did evil shit. End of sentence. It’s not that difficult.
I don’t know if I’m any good at what I do and have come to the conclusion that I don’t much care. I’m like a dog dropping a dead animal at its master’s feet with a facial expression of pride that says, “Look what I did.” I have tried my best to document music around the Pittsburgh area and spout off at the mouth when something bothers me to some degree.
I can’t stop myself from thinking how infinitesimal it is taking pictures of silly little punk shows and pondering the ins and outs of music when these people were thrown into documenting their own mass death event solely to demonstrate to an indifferent world that it was even happening. I can’t imagine what I’d do from my secure bubble of protected privilege as a white male American. The part of me that has seen too many movies thinks that I would pick up my camera and hit the streets but I would more than likely shit my pants and die of fear.
Palestinian journalists are being singled out for the sake of narrative control because they are the only ones showing the actual conditions on the ground. There is no outside media allowed within the occupied territory without a military escort and having their footage reviewed. The major news outlets always tow the line of the apartheid government even though they are clearly lying and my news feed full of mutilated bodies tells a very different story.
The consent of this genocide was manufactured so easily. Between the massive, and obvious, Islamophobia and a lethal dose of both sides-ism, the champions of free speech were able to cast doubt on what we are seeing with our own eyes and divert attention away from it in the hopes that the story will go away. There is a clear refusal to call a lie a lie so as to not offend anyone.
These same news outlets sprained their wrists with all of the pearl clutching they did over one white journalist being detained in Russia but refuse to acknowledge hundreds being targeted by a failing colonial experiment being run by some dickhead from Philadelphia. If that’s not one of the deadliest double standards then I don’t know what is.
As every piece of media is bought up by corporate conglomerates and douchebag tech bros looking for a new play thing, the only concerns seem to be about ratings, ad sales, budgets and shareholder value. Although, there is still the ever constant cozying up to power and the upper tiers of journalism trying to fit in and play nice because they’re afraid to lose their made up status and access.
These pigfuckers have allowed something as simple as a colonial land grab to become so twisted and convoluted. There has been an astounding amount of mental and ethical gymnastics performed all in the service of feeding the propaganda machine. Every day there are new excuses being made to allow this genocide to continue. Either that or it’s the outright feigning of ignorance in the face of unprecedented documentation that it’s actually happening.
If any of the journalists on the ground in Palestine survive, I don’t see how they can go back to their lives pre-genocide. Trying to live through a manufactured famine while bombs are falling from the sky and diseases are spreading is an insurmountable enough task as it is. Doing all of that while also trying to convince the rest of the world to care that it’s even going on would be maddening.
All I know for certain is that writing about a genocide should not be left to some asshole in Pittsburgh with a blog that’s vaguely about his local music scene. There are no more adults left in the room so it’s up to the rest of us to pick up the slack.
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