Every day the mainstream western media does its best to ignore the genocide in Gaza, and every day the violence gets worse. Palestinian officials say more than 800 people have been killed since the brief “ceasefire” ended on Saturday. But news outlets here in the west are keeping themselves busy trying to distract viewers from the bloodshed with anything they can find.
For example, this segment from 60 Minutes, somehow manages to avoid any commentary on the ethnic cleansing taking place in Gaza and instead arrives at the conclusion that actually, the real victims here are the zionist students who have to walk past Palestine protests on campus from time to time. Image walking through protests against genocide, everyone ignoring you, and then acting as if you are somehow the victim here.
The way defenders of the apartheid state talk about the Palestinian resistance attack on October 7, or their cartoonish portrayal of it at least, you’d think this type of attack is still happening every day to all of them, which it isn't, or that it may recur imminently, which it won't. At the same time, innocent Palestinians are really being killed by the hundreds every day by Israel, without hesitation or remorse.
As we talk about the ongoing genocide, it’s paramount that we remember the disastrous health situation in Gaza right now. It’s estimated that 70% of Gazans are drinking contaminated water and don’t have access to clean water for hygienic purposes. In the coming weeks and months, more people will die from disease than from bombs, which is really saying something, because ~20,000 people have already died from the bombs.
Meanwhile, people want their favorite celebrity to be “Revolutionary™”, as in, they want the “revolution” to involve feel-good consumerism that requires nothing beyond buying things. Unfortunately for these people, revolution requires questioning the existing systems of domination and examining how these systems solicit our compliance. Sadly there won’t be any merch at the revolution, sorry my friends. Your favorite celebrity isn’t choosing to be silent because they’re somehow unaware of what’s happening, it’s because their PR team can’t find any actionable angle that doesn’t undermine the celebrity’s wallet, or ruin their perfect middle-of-the-road political positioning or put them at odds with the mainstream. In this instance it’s because there is no middle ground.
As bleak as the current situation is, you and I don’t have the license to lose hope after two months, when Palestinians haven’t lost hope for 75 years. So we keep going.
Side Items
US Ships Under Attack: A commercial ship came under attack yesterday by drones and missiles in the Red Sea and a US warship opened fire in ‘self-defense’ as part of an hours-long assault claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Sooner or later, the US military is going to have to come to terms with the fact that Yemen, a nation under fire for years, is really willing to risk everything for the sake of Palestine. May we all find that level of courage within ourselves someday
On This Day: On Dec. 4, 1969, Chicago Black Panther leader Fred Hampton and member Mark Clark were both assassinated by cowardly police and the FBI in an early morning raid on Hampton’s home. One of the main reasons for this tragic assassination was that the US government was afraid that Hampton’s effectiveness toward the success of the Black Panthers’ political aims. Hampton had an enigmatic personality and a unique ability to unite people from many different backgrounds. There was fear that he would be an “African-American messiah who they [the government] believed would lead an African-American revolt.” Hampton was just 21 years old when he was murdered, he would be in his mid-70’s today, still younger than the leader of this country
Reasonable Grinch: A man down in Texas dressed up as The Grinch and held a sign outside the morning drop-off at an elementary school in Amarillo, Texas that read "Santa is Fake. Jesus is Real." The man, David Grisham, was quoted saying, "I understand why they (parents of schoolchildren) are upset. They’re upset because they’re prideful and don’t want to admit that lying to their child is wrong in spite of what God’s word says. They’re more concerned with the traditions of men rather than the truth. And they double down on the lie because of pride and they are angry because they want to blame the person telling the truth than the one who told the lie that prompted the truth to expose the lie." Not even gonna lie, the Grinch is dropping some knowledge here