Opinion | The Gaza Genocide—the beginning of the end of the American era
By Philip Yeung, university teacher
PKY480@gmail.com
There are no winners in the Gaza war. The biggest loser is of course the Palestinians, dismissed as "children of a lesser god". Their pathetic lives are worthless in the eyes of Israeli and American decision-makers.
A European critic got it right. Human rights do have a skin color, the darker the skin the less the rights.
Gaza has now produced its first martyr, Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old US airman who chose self-immolation in front of the Israeli embassy in America to protest the Gaza genocide. Overshadowing the horrific public suicide is the ugly reaction of Jewish-controlled US media which immediately labelled the protester a mental case---the ultimate belittlement of his act of ultimate sacrifice. He died for nothing. This is the final insult to human decency. Thus dehumanized, his martyrdom is still-born. American politicians and their media are practiced players of this game. Had China been the target of the deadly protest, it would have faced crippling sanctions and a tidal wave of condemnation, with the poor man instantly declared humanity's biggest hero. Congress would have sprung into action for another round of brutal China-bashing. How low can America go?
Israel and America, cohorts in crimes against humanity, stink like pariahs in the civilized world. Next to Gaza, the trumped-up charges of Xinjiang "genocide" and "forced labor" now ring so hollow and hypocritical. There, one is dealing with the re-education of ex-terrorists for release into society. Here, it is bombing hospitals, schools, churches, mosques and killing women, children and aid workers and recipients in broad daylight. It is like comparing apples and oranges. Emboldened by America, Israel is impervious to world opinion and telling the world to go suck an egg. It has suckered Biden into his biggest blunder, turning him into a eunuch. Gaza may be the game-changer in the 2024 election. America has the bigger guns, better bombs and the almighty greenback, but its pulpit to preach to the world has disappeared into the ether. With its repeated cruel vetoes of UN resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire, it has become a moral midget. The American era is over.
China needs no lecture from America. The US society is a mess: the homeless and drug addicts have colonized downtown streets in major cities; shoplifting, ironically called "zero-dollar shopping" is a fast-spreading epidemic victimizing shop-keepers; mass killings recur weekly and gun deaths are hardly newsworthy. Yes, it is a free country: you have the freedom to choose being robbed, stolen from or killed by gun violence or road rage. You can choose death by addiction too.
Busy slapping labels on China, America forgets to look in the mirror. China's moral lapses are imaginary, its threat is purely hypothetical and its global behavior, alongside America, is squeaky-clean. America is good at this game: first, label your opponent, then let the pliable media do your dirty work. If you lie often enough, the falsehoods become truths. Case closed.
America, land of the free, is now banning Chinese from owning property in Florida and barring Chinese students from hi-tech studies at its universities. The champion of free trade is arm-twisting US businesses into decamping from Hong Kong. And Trump is more than a sideshow. The former president accused of rape, fraud and even insurrection, scandals which, previously, would have buried any politician, is now front-and-center as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and may book another 4-year tenancy in the White House.
The US has lost its moral bearings, and its sense of fair play. It is soulless. By enabling the Gaza genocide, America is amoral. Its behavior is tackier than that of a banana republic. At least, banana republics make no ethical pretensions. America goes rogue but demands respect and compliance. Its mouth may be moral, but its fists are furious. If you want to know how much American hypocrisy can hurt, just ask the 30,000+ dead Gazans.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Philip Yeung:
Opinion | The Ugly American is a twin brother to the Ignorant American
Opinion | A bitter lesson in Canadian democracy
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