The cacophony of war cheerleading
The purpose of the noise is distraction. Noise that overwhelms our senses. Noise that is ridiculous or incomprehensible; noise that insults. Noise that blathers or lathers our ears so full of soap that no clear sounds can make it through the canal.
Noise. Like the constant humming of drones circling above our heads. Circling and circling and making bothersome, tiresome noise. Think through the noise? But you can’t. Did you live through the horns in Ottawa?
Except for us in Canada, the drones don’t kill. The explosions in the sky are for fun. The fireworks that come every Tuesday night or Thursday night or Saturday night when Les Capitoles win a game. The noise — the stoccato of the fireworks or the buzzing of the drones — they’re sounds of life. The fireworks are for fun and the drones are for photos and we’re celebrating and enjoying that it’s no longer so hot. And that summer is almost over.
But that the noise is good, is luck. The luck is that we live here, and not there. Not where the sound of drones is constant and is a harbinger of death. Not like in Tammun this past week, where an Israeli drone murdered four people. Who was the drone operator? What did he see? Did he see the face of surprise looking up past the constant noise of occupation at his camera? The noise of the settler raids, the cries of desperation in the West Bank.
And of course, the noise in Gaza. Of wailing. Of families being decimated by Israeli bombs. Of the more than 100,000 tonnes of explosives that Israel has dropped on the area the size of the island of Montreal. Of the noise of the cries for the world to watch, witness, intercede. And we watch, wanting to intercede but being powerless to do so. So maybe we march. Maybe we post. We don’t do enough.
We could do more but the fact is that noise is used as a cudgel to stop us from taking real action. The constant din of disorientation intended to make you feel crazy for thinking that the slaughter of more than 40,000 people in less than a year needs to be stopped. The noise of voices that say that it is antisemitism to share a video symbolizing, very clearly and in no uncertain terms, that Israel’s bombing campaign on Gaza should have disqualified them from the Olympics. The noise of the paid hacks at the hack newspaper chains and the hack public broadcaster who pump into the airwaves nothing but noise intended to confuse, disorient and stymie.
The noise that critizes Fred Hahn louder for sharing this video than that critizes Justin Trudeau for continuing Canada’s arms exports to Israel. Noise on one hand, silence on the other. Noise to distract, silence to hide.
The noise of the threat of losing your job. The silence, the tacit support, of Western institutions for this catastrophe to get worse. At least it will be good for business. Good manufacturing jobs in Waterloo.
The silence of these voices in any of the country’s tribunes. The noise of the Zionists instead.
In Canada, the noise may not kill but it’s intended to ensure that the killing will continue and that we will all learn to shut our mouths lest we say something that the censors deem to be too much. And then, you become the reason for even more noise.
I was roundly cursed on Mastodon the other day for pointing out how many global horrors we ignore. The number "40,000" caused me to point out that the USA is well-practiced at ignoring this: Fascists overran France, were already rounding up French Jews, and then bombed 40,000 Londoners to death. America watched that in 1940 and for another 18 months, with their hands in their pockets, and shrugged at the dead Londoners and French.
(Side fun fact: Americans actually had to be conscripted to fight fascism in Europe, some 60%; but their kids, contra the Vietnam cliche', actually 70% volunteered to go fight communism in a far country they'd never heard of.)
I also challenge mourners of some causes to name any facts about the Sri Lankan civil war. Who were the players? Which was the underdog that was finally beaten into surrender with, yes, some 40,000 deaths in the final battles? (a good 100,000 civilian deaths in the conflict).
Basically, nobody i run into can recall that the Sinhalese (Buddhists) were the oppressors, the Tamils (Muslim) were crushed into submission. It wasn't covered.
Honestly, I wonder if nobody would be paying attention to the deaths of Palestinians if they were being killed by Sinhalese Buddhists - the same as Sudan gets no ink. We're paying attention at all, because we're basically on the other side of the war, just don't want to admit it.
Total lack of coverage, is it worse? At least, no war-cheerleading for Sudan. There's just no question that fans of Netanyahu are getting to cheer on one side, remind us daily of their Oct7 casus belli, and minimize the suffering. The National Post is just a flat-out cheerleader.
Or "monger". We're so beat down we have euphemize with "cheerleader", first saw that with Glenn Greenwald re Iraq: was stigmatized for "warmonger", and picked a euphemism.
Love your article, but the truth of it is heavy on my heart.