"The galleries of war"
I didn’t want to bring this up on my journal. I’m mostly afraid to get a response. However, it’s important that we talk about it.
I’m a little disappointed, to tell you the truth. Maybe even outraged. More so, I am discouraged by the fact that people, or rather society as a whole, are blinded, manipulated, puppeted into believing falsities without ever giving it a second thought. I hate that we value freedom so much yet reject it when it is at our disposal.
We are free to choose.
The bombings in Lebanon and Israel have proved to be successful news stories for the media. So successful in fact that the whole world feels like they’re involved. That’s a good thing, to know what’s going on, to follow up on the events, maybe even… to care. But what good is the news if it isn’t accurate? If it is biased? Or if it is untrue?
The news is subjective. It is unreliable, irresponsible. Although it is factual, it takes a side, chooses a position. It elusively promotes its own viewpoint. And though it may not do it on purpose (and I’d probably debate that given the occasion), it’s inevitable. Try being objective about something. It’s practically impossible.
Now the reason I even mentioned the news in the first place is because I feel some people fell into the consumer trap. Watching hours of news a day will not inform you more on anything, at least not truthfully. Watching the news doesn’t make you smart. And if you didn’t bother to watch it with an open mind, then buddy? You’ve just wasted a whole lot of time. To be politically aware, you must know the socio-political context. You should know everything before making up your mind.
If you’re going to have an opinion at all about what’s going on in Lebanon/Israel, I am assuming you know something about Palestine/Israel? Their long history as feuding countries? The US’s implication? Do you even know what Hizballah is? What Iran has to do with it? Or what Islam and Judaism are and what they stand for?! These are all queries to ask yourselves, to research, to get the facts straight. Only then can you formulate your own judgment.
It’s just pride and prejudice.
I thought I had an opinion, one I could’ve tried defending. I realize I don’t. I don’t know all the facts. I don’t know the history, the back-stories and the significance of these bombings. And I sure as hell don’t understand why things are the way the are…
Basically, what I’m saying is… if you’re going to have an opinion about all this, it better be your own and not one that is shaped by the news (whether is the TV or the newspaper). It should also be founded and have arguments to support it. It should be critical, astute.
And yeah, if you care to know, there are 50+ people I know who are in Lebanon right now. The phone’s been ringing non-stop. By the looks of it, if things continue as they are, we might not be getting phone calls at all. But let’s not hope for the worst.