The Privilege to be Blind

Talking to an Israeli friend this morning. He said somewhat casually, "Yea, I didn't even know there was a war. A friend asked what I thought about it, and I had to ask him, what war?"

I laughed in shock and said to him, "Isn't that incredible!"

He replied that it wasn't really because he doesn't pay any attention to the news.

So, I elaborated, "No, isn't it incredible that you are bombing the shit out of people less than an hour from your house, and you don't even know about it. You shouldn't have to turn on the news or look at the papers. You should know about it because at night you can see the light in the sky. Everyone is talking about it. Come on! Just think about it, you have the privilege to ignore the news, to ignore the violence. And what a privilege!"

He responded that most people have that privilege to which I retorted rather rudely, "Not the more than one million people in Gaza whose houses and schools and families you are bombing the shit out of!" And it's true, right? I mean, every life is sacred. But 10 dead, with only three civilians and four of the soldiers being killed by "friendly" fire, the loss--while tragic--is minimal compared to the more than 1,000 Gazans dead and 5,000 wounded. I guess my point is that at least my friend can ignore afford to ignore it.

Although he did mention that an emergency alarm was sounded in Jerusalem today. He said he was scared to death and didn't know where to hide. Turns out it was a mistake and went off accidently. The contrast is just absurd.