That we may hate

As we've argued, the contemporary Left's dependence on scenes of victimization in order to make political attacks against the "hegemony" of normal Western life, creates a need for victims, a need that various sacrificers - priests of all sorts and stripes - are willing to fill. In other words, the defense of the victim, once the hallmark of Judeo-Christian civilization, has morphed into an addiction, a pervasive White Guilt, that does less to defend legitimate victims (whose legitimacy is not explained rationally, lest one undermine those who service the addiction, and that leads a minority to become jaded about any and all victim claims) than it does to create them.

How many people, facing medical emergencies, may have died from the latest victim stunt, pulled by Hamas, in which the international media willingly colluded? As Bob Owens writes at Pajama's:

The recent blackout in Gaza was reported dutifully around the globe with Israel’s responsibility for the lights-out nearly always leading the story. The fact that it was Hamas that cut off electricity to Gaza City and then staged the candlelight protests against it was no secret — yet the U.S. media stuck to the Hamas-driven narrative...

And how many thoughtless do-gooders will write a cheque, or lend their voice, to organizations enabling Palestinian fascism because they are shocked to "learn", from the Boston Globe, that Israel isn't providing half a ton of flour per person per day?

Or how many people fell for this apparent Palestinian media stunt that Wretchard and Richard Landes are revisiting?

Anyone remember green helmet guy, or the al-durah affair?

After the victimary left and the unelected promoters of "international law" and transnational bureaucacy, have successfully eroded the Western nation-state as the actor primarily responsible for mediating international conflicts and wars, will we have less or more violence? If you hope that systems of democratic accountability can help erode our addiction to victims, should one want more or fewer Israels, more or fewer groups like Hamas?

We might try to strike up a sane debate. But with whom? If you hate Jews, no lie is too evil, and the mainstream media reports them.

Seattle, Washington Paper Misses the Big Picture

Bill Hobbs, a blogger of some note from what I see below, runs the details of Seattle's latest Left-wing nose-dive into the pavement of unreality. OK, so it ain't haiku, just some mixed metaphors. You want haikus? Go to the bottom of this post and see what the hippies running the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper did rather than run photos of "persons of interest to the FBI." A hint? Rather than run photos of possible terrorists wanted for questioning in light of normal and prudent nervousness about concerns of terrorist activities on Washington's State Ferry system, the Seattle P.I. ran, not photos of those men wanted for questioning by the FBI but a haiku contest!

Seattle P-I: Haiku Contest Was 'Bad Call' - But We're Still Not Publishing Photos! By Bill Hobbs | August 22, 2007 - 18:41 ET

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is apologizing for its decision to run a haiku contest about its decision to not run the photos of two men sought by the FBI for questioning related to possibly terrorist-related activities involving the Seattle-area ferry system

The paper's "online reporter" Monica Guzman writes on the paper's "Big Blog":

The paper's decision not to run photos of the two Seattle ferry passengers sought by the FBI didn't take long yesterday to become part of a widespread debate that provoked readers around the country.

It also spread throughout the blogosphere. While most blogs pointed directly to the debate, some made some poignant comments about the topic of yesterday's Daily Haiku contest, a topic that -- considering the sensitivity of the issue -- was probably not the best we could have come up with.

While the Big Blog mixes fun and news on a daily basis, in this case we undermined a serious issue and a serious debate, and made it seem as if we in the newsroom didn't acknowledge its importance.

So thanks to all the bloggers who pointed this out. We agree it was a bad call and will learn from the experience.

P.S. -- We're not going to pick a winner.

****

Seattle PI Continues to Refuse to Aid FBI in Terror Probe By Bill Hobbs | August 22, 2007 - 08:31 ET

The Seattle Times today has published the photos of two men the FBI wants to locate and talk to in regards to their suspicious behavior aboard several Puget Sound ferries in recent weeks, while the Seattle Post-Intelligencer continues to refuse to do so - even though the photos have now been widely published in the Seattle area and nationally via other media outlets and the blogosphere. As we discussed yesterday, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer offered a haiku contest related to the case , but refused to help the FBI locate the men by publishing their photos.

Today's Seattle P-I has a second story on the investigation, but again refuses to publish the photos even though, as its own story says, "The release by the FBI on Monday of photographs of two men who had been spotted in "suspicious" behavior on state ferries comes at a time when authorities are getting increased reports of unusual activity on the nation's largest ferry system."

The paper's justification for continuing to refuse to publish the photos:

The P-I elected not to publish the photos, citing civil liberties and privacy concerns, which editors felt outweighed the newsworthiness of the images. "We have no confirmation that these men's behavior was anything but innocuous, and to forever taint them by associating them with terrorism under these circumstances is not consistent with our policy," said David McCumber, P-I managing editor.

****

Ah, well, at least the paper's haiku contest is giving its readers a chance to vent about the situation, in the three-lines/5-7-5 syllables construction of a haiku. Six of the best so far:

Possible danger?
Political correctness!
Paper fails duty.

How irrelevant
The Post Intelligencer
Goodbye dinosaur

Our lives endangered
Sanctimonious P-I
Editors -- BONEHEADS!

A magical place,
where 9/11 never
happened. Seattle.

PI wants Haiku
To justify its dumbness
Task Impossible

[More.]