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Israel, its media coverage, and the anatomy of a pathological society

Eric Draitser
Counterpunch
Thu, 15 Oct 2015 00:00 UTC
Image
The video of 13 year old Palestinian Ahmed Manasrah bleeding to death on the pavement of an East Jerusalem neighborhood has been described as "shocking," "disturbing," and "painful to watch." The callous verbal abuse and insults from Israelis watching the child writhe in agony are variously characterized as "heartless" and "cruel"; and indeed they are. "Die you son of a whore. Die! Die!" the Israeli onlookers can be heard shouting in the video which has since gone viral on social media.

While there has been much discussion of this video, and other similar incidents involving the extrajudicial executions of Palestinian youths accused by Israel of having stabbed Israelis (the veracity of some of these claims is disputed), there is decidedly little examination of the sociological implications. Specifically, it has become taboo to interrogate just what sort of ideological and psychological conclusions can be drawn about Israeli society - a society where such behavior is not an outlier; where, rather than being an anomaly, it is indicative of a significant, if not mainstream, attitude. Such undeniably barbaric treatment is not simple hate, and cannot be explained away or justified. But that is precisely what the corporate media does.

Comment: See also: The "Middle Ground" Fallacy in Gaza

More and more people are noticing Israel's viciousness, brutality and pathology. As events speed up, the inhuman nature of the Israeli elite, and the psychopathic thinking prevalent among so many in Israeli society, will become 'common knowledge', at which point it's 'game over' for the 'Jewish-only state'.

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Bizarro Earth

Real or satire? The Onion's fake news stories realistically portray life in the police state

John Vibes
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 17 Oct 2015 15:57 UTC
The satire news website The Onion has become well-known for publishing fake news stories that could be true, and point out how totally ridiculous our reality has become. More than once a week, the staff at The Free Thought Project passes around at least one of these articles behind the scenes for fun, but today we are going to share a few of our favorites.
police state
1. Insecure, Frustrated Bully With Something To Prove Considering Career In Law Enforcement
Calling it his lifelong dream, local man Brendan Lockhart, an insecure and perpetually frustrated bully who believes he has something to prove to the world, told reporters Thursday that he is seriously considering a career in law enforcement.

Lockhart, a recent high-school graduate who sources confirmed is plagued by resentment, self-doubt, unexpected fits of rage, and has always had a penchant for tormenting those who are smaller and weaker than him, explained that he feels he is well suited to serve as a police officer.

"I've always wanted to be a cop," said Lockhart, whose paranoia and inferiority complex constantly haunt him, leading him to lash out at others in order to convince them he is in control. "I know it's a tough line of work, but I think I've got what it takes to earn my shield and get out there and keep the peace."
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2 + 2 = 4

A theory for tattoos

Mark Bauerlein
First Things
Mon, 15 Sep 2014 15:28 UTC
Image
The motives for tattoos are many, but they all have a common subtext. A tattoo can mark a group identity—sailors, soldiers, inmates, gangs, motorcyclists. It can memorialize a person or event, as in a virtual archive of snapshots of tattoos showing names and faces of deceased loved ones (I attended a presentation of the archive by two academics in Toronto last year). Sometimes they happen by blunt peer pressure, a set of 20-year-olds on Saturday night getting drunk, knowing not what to do until one of them blurts, "Let's go get a tat and a ring!" (a good friend tells me of pulling out just as his turn came up).

Beneath the variety, though, is the same call: "Look at me." The bearer may think it's cool or lovely or poignant, a certification of membership, a work of art, or a testimonial, but a selfish demand accompanies each message, not because of what they say but where they say it. Tattoos go on a person's skin, and so they can't be separated from the ego of that person. It's always there as part of one's being, and others must register it as much as they do one's face and speech. A tattoo has form and color and meaning, but it also solicits a social recognition, a "This is me, check me out."
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Crusader

The valiant effort to heal 'unimaginable' levels of trauma among Gaza's children

Annie Robbins
Mondoweiss
Sat, 17 Oct 2015 15:01 UTC
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© Healing Psychological Wounds of Gaza's War
"When we first went to the summer camp in the bus they told us the camp's motto, and it was "This camp is a joy" " Ghouzalan, 7 years old from Khan Younis, Gaza, Palestine.
As the devastation in Gaza continues unabated, teams of medical professionals work to combat the psychological impact on children raised in that densely populated and blockaded human laboratory. Many of those children have already lived through 3 major military offenses. I saw a photo today of some of those beautiful kids — visiting the graves of their fathers and brothers killed in Gaza during the summer slaughter of 2014 — and wondered how those kids were holding up.

Reminded of some people I met who cycle around the globe raising funds for children's mental health in Gaza, I visited Cycling4Gaza's (C4G) Facebook page and coincidentally intercepted some drawings they'd posted from the Gaza Mental Healthcare Project, launched in partnership with the Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF). The eyes in this drawing bore into me:
Image
© PCRF, Cycling4Gaza
“We will celebrate Eid despite Pain/ With PCRF, there’s nothing impossible” Gaza Mental Health Project.

Comment: Some wonderful news for a change!

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Fire

Huge Gazprom gas explosion in Northeastern Russia mistaken for sunrise

Kara O'Neill
The Mirror, UK
Fri, 16 Oct 2015 15:54 UTC
Thousands of people in Russia thought the enormous explosion was simply an early sunrise - when in fact, flames were as high as 20m
Image
© CEN
A huge gas explosion was mistaken for an early sunrise by thousands of people in Russia after it caused the sky to light up like a giant fireball. Flames rose over 20 metres high when an underground pipe ruptured near the city of Novy Urengoy in North-Eastern Russia. It is believed there are casualties, but emergency services are not certain how many yet because the intense heat melted everything around it.

A video of the burning flames was shot by shocked resident Lilia Lukyanova, who posted it on social media website vKontakte saying: "This is the view from my window."


Firefighters raced to the scene and managed to get the blaze under control when they discovered where to turn off the gas supply. Supplies to local villages were not affected.

The blast happened near a petrol station and experts have launched an investigation into the cause. It is possible that the pipe, which was 700 millimetres wide could have cracked or split in the freezing conditions as temperatures have plummeted in the region.

Representatives from the gas suppliers Gazprom also attended the scene.
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Megaphone

Divine violence: Why Palestinian violence is justified

Udi Aloni
Mondoweiss
Fri, 16 Oct 2015 14:52 UTC
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© Udi Aloni
An angel under construction; the Christian-Palestinian cemetery, Jaffa.
This coming December, a group of Palestinian intellectuals will join forces with a number of world renowned philosophers (including Slavoj Zizek,) for a week-long conference around the work of Walter Benjamin in Ramallah. Those who wish to read, learn and deeply understand Benjamin, are welcome to do so in the place where Benjamin belongs: side by side with the occupied who will not remain silent and with the oppressed who no longer await the angel of history, for they know he has no role in their salvation.

Concurrently, this December, The Hebrew University in Jerusalem plans a series of events in honor of Walter Benjamin. To think of Benjamin in the context of the apartheid city, where only those privileged not to live under occupation, can attend a seminar in his honor - is to feel oneself not at home. (Uncanny)

Comment: The "Middle Ground" Fallacy in Gaza

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Bomb

Twin suicide bomb attacks destroy mosque in Nigeria; 30 killed


Al Jazeera
Fri, 16 Oct 2015 19:25 UTC
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© AP
Security forces have been attempting to drive Boko Haram from areas the group claims in Borno.
At least 30 people have been killed and dozens have been injured in twin suicide bomb attacks on a mosque in the Mulai area of Nigeria's northeastern Borno State, health officials tell Al Jazeera.

Sources said the force of the blast destroyed the mosque as worshippers were praying. One bomb exploded inside the mosque, while another exploded outside, sources said. "Suicide bombers targeted large crowds to cause maximum damage," Al Jazeera's Ahmed Idris, reporting from Maiduguri, said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but among the suspects will be the Boko Haram armed group, which has launched a large number of suicide attacks in the region over the past few months.

On Wednesday, three blasts in Borno's capital Maiduguri killed at least five civilians and three suspected suicide bombers after the attackers were challenged by locals.

On October 1, at least 10 people were killed and 39 injured when four suicide bombers blew themselves up in a wave of attacks in Ajilari Cross, which is near Maiduguri airport and a military base.

On September 20, at least 117 were killed in the city when attackers hit a mosque and killed football fans watching a televised match, as well as bystanders.
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Fire

Misplaced anger: 3rd refugee shelter torched in Sweden in 6 days


RT
Sun, 18 Oct 2015 14:22 UTC
Sweden refugee camp fire
© Johan Nilsson / Reuters
A string of suspected arson attacks have hit three facilities intended to house asylum seekers in Sweden this week alone. The country is preparing to receive almost double the amount of refugees this year than the previous record, set in 1992.

An old school building in Onsala in the affluent area of Kungsbacka, some 30 km south of Gothenburg, caught fire on Saturday night. Twenty firefighters responded to the emergency call.

"Half the building has been damaged by fire," said Mikael Lindgren, the lead operator of the emergency services in Greater Gothenburg, as cited by The Local.

Comment: It is sad to see some people resort to violence and deny the humanitarian efforts for the refugees. Their anger should be directed to the powers-that-be who created this situation.

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Quenelle

Calling out Israel on war crimes: London, Paris protest against Israeli treatment of pro-Palestine demonstrators


RT
Sun, 18 Oct 2015 12:52 UTC
protest Israel war crimes
© londonpalestineaction
Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets of European capitals to voice their support for Palestinians and express their anger against Israel and its use of force against demonstrators and biased media coverage of recent Israeli-Palestinian tensions.

The activists marched from Oxford Circus to BBC headquarters in London , blocking traffic along the way and bringing Palestinian statehood to the attention of UK shoppers. According to Guardian estimates, at least 150 people took part in the demonstration.

"We know that as long as the UK media keeps repeating Israeli government press releases and portraying Palestinians as either only helpless victims or violent aggressors, we have to shout out loud that there is [the] ... right of an occupied people to resist," one protester said addressing the crowd.

"Stop Israel's war crimes in Palestine", read one of the banners of the demonstrators, while some of the protesters shouted "Palestine don't you cry, we will never let you die!"
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Attention

Speak no evil: UCLA engages in absurd, anti-intellectual and dangerous attack on campus free speech

Michael Krieger
Liberty Blitzkrieg
Fri, 16 Oct 2015 12:38 UTC
College students
One of the most dangerous trends in America today is occurring on college campuses. These are the places I grew up viewing as laboratories for free speech, youthful energy and resistance to the status quo.

Unfortunately, what they're turning into are anti-intellectual wastelands in which America's supposedly "best and brightest" are being transformed into unthinking, mentally shackled, emotionally stunted automatons. The only thing being produced on college campuses these days seem to be frightened, thoughtless worker-bees, conditioned to shut-up and instinctively worship authority. Rather than teaching kids to think critically, administrators have created an environment where kids aren't encouraged to think at all.

For those of you who may have missed it, I've covered this topic before. See:

Rutgers University Warns Students - "There is No Such Thing as Free Speech"

A Professor Speaks Out - How Coddled, Hyper Sensitive Undergrads are Ruining College Learning
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