to those who believe hurricanes in the US have nothing to do with genocide in palestine
western individualism, a lack of empathy, and the interconnectedness of all human suffering
Climate warming denial seems to be on the same page of genocide denial and more so that one only worsens the other. Those who accept the very real and palpable effects of global warming, but still somehow fail to see how the man made weapons and war-driven machine are aiding and abetting in such a disaster, may as well be joining into this denialism. The liberal mainstream branding of climate activism that often borders greenwashing, seems to specifically veer away from touching base on these more ‘controversial’ topics, like they can somehow have a productive conversation and course of action with the same people responsible for funding and dropping thousands of bombs on a population. Bombs which are not limited in their harm to that population alone but to the rest of the world collectively, because as one may or may not have guessed, bombing people is bad for the environment actually.
When someone’s brand of activism is exclusionary, the notion of having consideration and care for others simply to have empathy and compassion is one that is often lost. To get said person to care then, you must connect the other persons ‘vastly different’ suffering to their own and that of their cause. You cannot fight the mega corporations responsible for polluting and littering the planet, but then not oppose these same corporations for providing military grade weaponry and the ability to harm people en masse through other means.
If it must be repeated to drive the point home, the common denominator in mad made human suffering is the drive of a capitalistic society. The profit made off of killing hundreds of thousands of people in the middle east is often shared by the same people who profit off of destroying rainforests. In all these situations their value for human life is non-existent because this handful which seems to wield most of the control, care about themselves only. It does not matter that they may die tomorrow and leave a legacy of destruction in their wake. Leave behind irreversible climate effects to be felt by generations after them. It does not matter that the cost of millions of lives is the enjoyment and comfort of their one, insignificant life. Do not expect these people to be plagued in their sleep or roll in their graves, maybe the less sociopathic have this small weighing of the conscience, but most are cold blooded and have no use for human emotions.
Comfort yourself with whatever your belief may be, I will clutch onto my faith in an existence of a hellfire in the after life because by God I cannot rest knowing that these individuals may escape justice twice. Know that no retribution provided in this world will measure up to the evil they’ve done and know that even then some payment would be welcome but these people are never asked to suffer or face consequences. They dish out punishment like it’s nothing for those undeserving, less deserving, same individuals who have created prison industrial complexes for their same means, once again, profit. If you do not believe in hell, believe in something greater, because the restraints of reality are maddening, this is not a fairy tale with a happy ending just because there should be some reckoning doesn’t mean there ever will be. History is our greatest teacher and many of those who were at the reign of suffering centuries ago, remain, is there an end to this? They say evil lives longer, this statement is confirmed everytime I look at the face of aging men in office next to a headline of how many children died at the hands of their bombs.
Accept this evil which seems too large to be true. Know what you are up against so that you can make sense of the rest. Some of you may have been deceived for longer, I like others, was not given this blanket of false reality because our identities forced us to see the truth too young. Maybe this is new to you, the good guys turned bad, democracy a myth, and freedom fighting just a guise for imperialism. Wrap your head around it quick, all roads lead to this truth and the shock will render you actionless.
Let’s put it to the side, this type of evil does not change and will not because we simply will it, force is a necessary tool. Let’s talk of its side effects; individualism. This fickle thing seems to be the accepted way of life in the west and people are dying for it, killing for it. This same concept lets you turn your head to the side when you see gaza getting bombed, the increasing death toll is none of your concern, a genocide that “does not involve you” even when it’s your tax dollars paying for it. Suddenly the ground shakes and the waves roll in, hurricanes drown cities neighboring you, cry out for help at this unimaginable pain, look to a government that does not care to help you, understand that you are alone. Understand that not minding the business that doesn’t pay you is a lie. Human suffering is your business, do you feel realities reflected when evacuation is prevented and those waiting their impending death sprawl names and birthdates on still intact limbs? Are you drawing parallels yet? Does it make it easier to know that the same people are responsible? You look around and no ones reaching out, those who are worse off than you can’t help and those who can are doing the same as you once did, turning a blind eye and minding their business.
Most won’t care until doom is a delivery on their doorstep and even then they may look around for someone else to hand it over. Still deny it’s part of a bigger problem. You may be a victim of a climate disaster in the west and still deny that your experiences have any semblance of similarity to those in the south. That human suffering is an independent endeavor. Suffering that may look and sound so different than yours chalked up to a simple headline. The broadening of the picture is too big a headache and troubling a reality to realize. Even in your troubles that may feel independent; illnesses, losses, accidents, and an endless list of misfortune, some would think it to strengthen this thing called empathy and have us look outward for connection but most reserve an internal look and in this isolation, in the depth of their own pain, still champion that of others. Is it a human trait to root for evil?
This isn’t meant to be a ‘gotcha’ or ‘told you so’, that ‘how could you not think people begging you to care about genocide for a year to your cold indifference would ever catch up?’ I don’t mean to be cruel when I look at people in the states, all of varying circumstances, who may have just lost their homes and loved ones and point to the proof that ‘it could happen to you’ and the myth that it wouldn’t is shattered. The truth is some of these people may have cared about others all along and some will continue to not care about anyone but themselves despite this ugly awakening. I don’t believe my empathy towards others to be dependent on how much they feel towards me but I do want to highlight the hypocrisy of individuality in these situations.
The conclusion of this madness is that man made destruction does not exist on one spectrum, that the impending doom of climate disasters is not existing in a reality different to that of genocides and the military complex. That directly, the endless dropping of tons of bombs and destruction to land, plants, and all kinds of habitats will lead to a kind of climate effect we may have never before witnessed. And indirectly, the people rooting for these causes and actively creating the circumstances they exist in are one in the same. This thought process of not caring if it doesn’t happen to you, feeling secure that it may never happen to you, and an overall lack of compassion seems to be a specific western privilege. Not only does it permit bad things to happen to those in the global south along with those marginalized in the west, but eventually it will find its way to those most privileged as long as they do not belong to this sect of evil, which can only be a small percentage rendering the rest powerless. If empathy is not enough of a driving force, and for most it is not, let it be known that the types of twisted new violence you encourage or turn a blind eye to elsewhere because you believe those people to be beneath you or not worthy of your care is only practice until you may be at the end of the same barrel.