Three stories staring out from the front page of The New York Times today:
1) According to an estimate from the United Nations, the number of Iraqis killed in 2006 is 34,452. The Iraqi government, ever eager to put a happy face on the American occupation, disputes those figures, but according to the UN, the numbers come from official sources. Unreported deaths aren't factored in, and not all deaths from all provinces in December had been reported when these numbers were compiled. So the actual number would, inevitably, be higher.
2) The Decider--oh, I'm sorry, now he's The Educator; he's so multi-faceted!--is working overtime to distance himself from the hangings of Saddam Hussein and his two co-defendents. (Finally, an Iraq-based PR disaster he can actually blame on someone else!) Never mind that the executions wouldn't have happened without the U.S. intervention, that the hanged men were in American custody right up to the moment that they walked to the gallows, or that the Iraqi government doesn't make a move without the approval of its Yankee masters. The point is, according to Bush, the whole thing is their fault.
It's certainly understandable why Our Beloved President wants to distance himself from this mess, since the fallout from the hangings continues. They've managed to inflame Sunni-Shia tensions all across the Middle East, not just in Iraq. Uneasy truces have been shattered in the wake of these killings, and--here's a surprise--violence is threatening to erupt.
3) But that's how it is over there, right? That's just the way those people are. This has nothing to do with us. Tell that to Charlene Lovett. Her daughter, Cheryl Green, was shot dead last month. Green had the misfortune of being black, and a Latino gang was out for blood, looking for a black person to kill.
In Los Angeles in 2005, the last year for which statistics were available, the increase in crimes fueled by racial, religious or anti-gay hatred had grown by 34 percent.
Sure, much of that violence is predictable. It's gang-related, it's nothing new, it's the Jets and the Sharks. We've seen Colors, we've seen Boys N The Hood, we know all this.
But look at that list: racial, religious or anti-gay. These aren't crimes just being commited by gang-bangers. Anti-muslim violence, discrimination against Hispanics, gay-bashing--there's enough of this to go around in every neighborhood.
Why not? It's acceptable. Here in Iowa, we have Steve King, our representative in Washington, spouting openly racist rhetoric regarding Hispanic immigrants. He doesn't bother coding it; why bother? He can say all the hateful words he want, knowing he'll be reelected.
Consider how many comedy shows get laughs by having characters call each other gay. None of these characters are gay, of course, but the implication of calling them that is...what? Shame? Humiliation? Why? Unless the assumption is that the audience is homophobic.
And as for the depiction of people of Middle Easter descent in the mass media--where to begin?
This is calling attention to diversity in order to condemn it. The underlying implication is, stick to your own kind. If those people just knew their place, and would stay there, everything would be fine. If only we didn't have to deal with them, look at them, think about them.
But somehow, in America we cling to the belief that we are nothing like those other people. They're just crazy.
