Feigning Outrage
By Apropos of the recent discussion of Marty Peretz’ unsuitability for inclusion in polite society, I’m reminded of this little gem that Matt Duss caught before someone apparently decided to take it off of the main page of the Spine. It’s still available, though, through the permalink.
I actually believe that Arabs are feigning outrage when they protest what they call American (or Israeli) “atrocities.” They are not shocked at all by what in truth must seem to them not atrocious at all. It is routine in their cultures. That comparison shouldn’t comfort us as Americans. We have higher standards of civilization than they do. But the mutilation of bodies and beheadings of people picked up at random in Iraq does not scandalize the people of Iraq unless victims are believers in their own sect or members of their own clan. And the truth is that we are less and less shocked by the mass death-happenings in the world of Islam. Yes, that’s the bitter truth. Frankly, even I–cynic that I am–was shocked in the beginning by the sectarian bloodshed in Iraq. But I am no longer surprised. And neither are you.
Ah, those Arabs. They just don’t feel like you and me.