Keep the poor out of sight and there are no consequences to
balancing the budget on their backs. Never mind that there are five applicants
for every job. Cut their safety net and they
no longer exist on the welfare rolls. Never admit that, except for when, where and
to whom we were born, any one of us could very well be one of those homeless
men lined up for a hand out on main street. Don’t talk about it and we never
have to think about it.
Millions now, for the first time, have health insurance due
to what is called Obamacare. But, don’t talk
about the benefit to them. Rather focus on one part of the budget which may be
strained by universal compassion. After all, it’s not my dad waiting in pain
until someone gets him to an emergency room.
And most blatant of all, don’t refer to the occupied territories
as “occupied territories.” Israel’s ruthless
military moves into Palestine with brutal force, plants over half a million
settlers in West Bank, steals land, labor and resources for the benefit of Jews
only, forces local inhabitants through hundreds of checkpoints, imprisons
thousands without charge or trial, humiliates and even tortures children. But
if it’s not talked about, it doesn’t exist. Israeli leaders and their
supporters can walk around as though they are proud of who they are and what
they are doing.
When Chris Christie “slips up” and refers to the West Bank as “Occupied territory,” he immediately
apologizes to Jewish money saying that he misspoke. What he really meant to
talk about was the “disputed territory.”
Of course, that which is disputed sounds like two legitimate claims to the same land. The
only people who see this as a dispute are Israeli occupiers, those who think
the writers of the early part of the Jewish Bible speak for God and a few
million Christian Zionist who choose not to talk about the rest of the Old
Testament which speaks of love, justice and compassion. The requirement of
being a blessing to others is not binding if you don’t talk about it.
Columbia College Professor, Lymen Chehade, had his class canceled by the school
administration because he did talk about it. He showed the Oscar nominated film
5 Broken Cameras which focused on
the peaceful demonstrations of Arab Christians and Muslims against the pain of Israel Israel
And heaven forbid that Mahmoud Abbas, representing the Palestinian
people, would apply for recognition as a state by the United Nations. That
which strikes fear in the heart of Benjamin Netanyahu, is not the word “state,”
or even “United Nations,” but, the thought of “recognition.” When your
legitimacy depends upon your actions being unrecognized, any little crack in
the door threatens to being down the whole house. So, to hell with academic
freedom, an independent media and the open debate among politicians. Such things just cannot be talked about or they
might very well be seen to exist and need addressing.
Thomas
Are
April,
5, 2014
