Roger Waters, founding member of the legendary rock band Pink Floyd, has been a harsh critic of the Israeli government for many years. Last week, the creative force behind such classic songs as “Money,” “Pigs,” “Welcome to the Machine” and “The Wall” released a statement decrying the “moral perversity of the U.S. position” taken during the recent conflagration in Gaza.
“How can the U.S. government ask Israel to be more careful about civilian lives,” he wrote, “while simultaneously arming and then rearming the IDF so it can more effectively inflict such devastation on an imprisoned and occupied people?”
Say what you will about his music, but he’s got a pretty good point, especially considering the shamefully biased mainstream media coverage we had to endure in America. George Orwell would have been shocked by the blatantly one-sided reporting, even as the body count continued to rise. It was downright surreal.
If any other nation on earth had been responsible for the sort of carnage we witnessed in Gaza, Congress would have been screaming for the US to immediately send ground troops in to quell the violence. Syria anyone? Ukraine? Libya? Iraq?
What hypocrisy.
Instead, every single member of Congress, including fiercely Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders I-Vt. and current darling of the progressive movement Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., voted for a resolution to support Israel’s right to “defend itself” no matter how many U.N. schools and shelters it purposely targeted or how high the death toll grew. At least 2,000 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, have died in the conflict so far.
The more extreme Israel’s conduct became, the more vehemently the apologists in the mainstream media reacted. Watching coverage of the slaughter in Gaza was like peering into a parallel universe. The U.S. is clearly not a democratic nation anymore, and only a very limited range of views are ever aired.
We must discard the foolish misconception that there is a “free marketplace of ideas” which produces any sort of diverse or unbiased discourse. Those elements are almost entirely lacking. American “news” isn’t journalism anymore. Like infomercials, mainstream media is the product of public relations and lobbying — dumbing down the debate as much as possible.
Congress, the mainstream media and the rest of the one percent understand perfectly well that the business of media is business. What’s good for the defense industry is good for the stock market, good for foreign policy and especially good for creating more terrorists. We will never have peace on earth as long as arms producers control the global economy. This principle is articulated in our relentless aggression across the globe. The industry makes a fortune from perpetual war.
When the bottom line is the media keeps shareholders happy instead of informing the public. There’s no incentive for the mainstream media to provide any real investigative reporting or controversial content. Their goal is to actively suppress it. What passes for news in the U.S. is a product of the stilted, repetitive propaganda typical of all authoritarian regimes. It is a vile thing.
The mainstream media is also hypersensitive to being accused of “liberal bias,” which is an ironic accusation coming from the extreme right. Something similar is at work regarding Israel, whose right-wing government can do no wrong as far as most Americans are concerned.
And before the cries of “anti-Semite” begin, let me make something perfectly clear. I am not opposed to the state of Israel or its right to exist. I am opposed to the extremist, counterproductive policies of the current right-wing Israeli regime. I detest extremism in any form, wherever it occurs in the world.
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Binyamin Netanyahu is a member of the ultra-nationalist Likud Party in Israel. He does not represent all Jews, or even all Israelis, although he is supported by a majority of voters there. Last time I checked, the Knesset included thirteen different political parties. There’s more criticism of the government tolerated in Israel than there is in this country.
The people of Gaza can’t even flee the open-air prison they’re confined to, which is one of the most densely populated places on earth. When they tried to escape to the safety of U.N. shelters, the IDF bombed them — on purpose! Israel has a right to defend itself, absolutely, but don’t the Palestinians have that right as well?
Let them destroy the tunnels. Hamas is a terrorist organization, but as the British learned dealing with the IRA, you’ve got to keep channels of communication open and build mutual trust step by step, however unpalatable that may be to some.
Maybe if the government treated the Palestinians with a little dignity and respect we’d see less hatred aimed towards Israel. Unfortunately, in recent years Israel’s leaders have been unwilling to step back and take a more measured and sensible approach to the Palestinian problem.
It’s clear that Netanyahu and his supporters simply don’t want peace.
Jason Darrensburg is a columnist for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at opinion@dailylobo.comon Twitter @DailyLobo.
