There are moments when the repressed existential part of my mind must come to terms with an irony so grotesque, that it is forced to awaken, to contemplate this irony in the context of the universe, eternity, etc.
This creates a conflict in my mind. My mind prefers simply to accept the insensitivity of my society at face value. It doesn't want to look too far beneath the surface of my culture.
But when so much attention is given to the, albeit tragic, death of a lone, albeit adorable, 6 year-old, while thousands of Iraqi children, women and men continue to be brutally murdered, with no outcry from the mainstream media... well, I just gotta say something.
I wonder how Bushco calculates what one American life is worth compared to lives of non-Americans. King George W certainly shows an insensitivity to the value of all human life. His neocons' whole concept of pre-emptive wars to usher in the New American Century has as its core premise that non-American lives are next to worthless.
How many civilian deaths in foreign countries are tolerated to save one or more American lives? W shrugged off 30,000 Iraqi lives as if they were heads of cattle. Many of those 30,000 were children. I'll bet that some of them were as cute as JonBenet Ramsey.
A few years ago, a little blonde girl is murdered in Colorado. Now her killer shows up halfway around the world. How delicious, think the media sharks! This means eyeballs glued to TV sets!
In contrast, TV news network executives reason that the American public has no taste for seeing dead Iraqi children on TV. It doesn't fit in with the story-line. It would likely interfere with revenue. The red, white and blue magical mystery tour (tragical history tour?) sells better than reality.
So I ask, how much revenue is worth 30,000 Iraqi lives? How much did you make, Mr. Murdoch? Mr. Cheney? Mr. Lay?