So here's the deal...I'n going to blog about something other than my life. It's your choice whether you read it or not, and I'll warn you that there are some political views tied into this piece. That means if you're totally against hearing my views then you should close your browser now.
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Still here? Okay then. I'll begin.
So earlier today I watched a video of a Jordanian pilot being burned alive by members of ISIS. The video is unsettling to say the least. I won't go into too much detail, but it shows the pilot in a cage being surrounded/covered in petrol before being burned alive. To put it simply the video showed just how barbaric human beings can act.
If you haven't been following the news for the past several months, this is just the most recent in a string of video-recorded executions by ISIS. I won't pretend to be some foreign policy expert or resident scholar of international conduct, but what ISIS is doing is beyond disgusting. Videotaping your executions and broadcasting them in an attempt to scare or humiliate the masses is a cowardly thing to do.
So how do we respond to these acts of violence and savagery? Send ground troops? Attack with drones? Sit back and wait? I surely don't know the answer, but I like to think that answer doesn't involve sitting around waiting for more innocent people to die. This world is chock-full of horrible ways for innocent people to die and being beheaded on video should not be one of them. Things like poverty and malnutrition kill thousands upon thousands every single day, so why is it that we (or maybe just I) get so upset when something like this comes into the spotlight? The obvious answer is that we're taught from an early age what is right and what is wrong, and those core values are shook when a video surfaces like the one that did today.
Maybe the reason we get so worked up over these acts of violence is because we don't have video of kids dying from malnutrition, or maybe it's because armies don't stop poverty. People old and young alike love to have something to bicker about. Like, "What should Obama do in reaction to ISIS?!" News stations thrive on controversy like that. And yet, we barely heard anything when Boko Haram wiped out an entire village in Nigeria? Why? A very visible (no video evidence but plenty of proof) crime that is horrific to read about or just think about received very little attention in the media.
I believe we don't hear about things of that nature because we don't have any economic interest in places like Nigeria. ISIS, on the other hand, is terrorizing the Middle East, an area of the world very few can actually describe geographically, yet a place where we as Americans feel an affinity towards because of things like The War in Iraq. I hate to think of lives in an economic sense, but what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2001-whenever you believe we ended our ties there can be seen as a sunk cost. The resources have been spent. The lives, may they rest in peace, have been lost. And further involving ourselves there from this point on has to be viewed independently of what has already transpired.
The US's largest military crusades in Africa subsided 70 years ago when WWII ended. And since we haven't lost resources or lives there in so long, on the whole, we Americans do not care. Then again we have things like AIDs and clean drinking water and genocide to rally behind and support. But do Americans really care? I like to think, perhaps incorrectly, we do, but in my heart of hearts I believe that people's support of things like clean drinking water and AIDs can be seen as nothing more than fads. They're fun to talk about and support for a while, but after a while they fizzle out and lose their mass appeal. That's not to say there aren't people who who dedicate their lives to those causes because there are. And god bless them. Somebody has to. Everybody doesn't have to, but it would be nice if some did.
I think that each person has a predetermined, maximum amount of caring they can put forth. And each person's particular level is different. Some people care a hell of a lot more than others, and that is just how the world works. Some save it for personal matters while others use it for global problems they themselves have never experienced. I'm not here to say one is better than the other because honestly I don't always take interest or care about half the things I should.
All I know is that the world can be a dark, disturbing place, and you have to decide what and who you're going to care about. So whatever you choose, do it with your entire being. Don't half ass a bunch of things, whole ass one or two. If you're going to stand for something then stand for it until it's resolved. Hell we all remember how well the "Kony 2012" campaign went. Don't let things like that become the norm. Demand answers and solutions to the world's problems. Shine a light on the things people don't want to talk about. Make those around you uncomfortable with the realities of the world.
Avoid apathy at all costs.
Give a shit.
NP: Ain't No Sunshine- Bill Withers
