It kinda hit me that North America, my country, tried to recreate the narrative they perpetuated throughout the Iraq War: that Middle Eastern people are meant to suffer. We donāt want it to happen, but itās kinda inevitable isnāt it? They donāt have the resources. They donāt have the education. We need to save them from the wars we start and the devastation we profit from. They need us.
It worked during the Iraq War because, even though many Americans were against it, Bush successfully managed to insinuate that they were exceptions. He ensured your discomfort with the war wasnāt as simple as you disagreeing with the killing of innocent people, but instead a disapproval of your country. You didnāt respect America. You didnāt care about it. Suddenly, you also disrespected Americaās principles. You hated justice. You hated freedom. You didnāt want to help the people of Iraq because if you really wanted to, youād oppose terrorism, and youād support this war.
I wasnāt alive in 2003, but from the way itās been described, and from the music Iāve listened to and the recollections Iāve heard, the Iraq war didnāt represent the people of America. It wasnāt supposed to. Instead, it represented the values of America. It represented the things American politicians, corporations, and their supporters are willing to sacrifice and excuse for the sake of money, reputation, and power.
But it falls apart when you have to witness the tolls war has on people. When you have to hear their stories. When you have to learn their names. When you have to see emaciated bodies. When you have to see families screaming and crying; mourning on camera. When you have to see corpses belonging to the same people youād seen smiling and laughing and dancing not even days ago.
And the narrative completely shatters after you experience the dissonance between Gaza and Israel. When you see Zionists dancing near the homes they destroyed. When you see them partying a few miles away from the remains of churches, universities, and homes. When you see them in uniforms, hear about their white phosphorus and their bombs, and read about all of the human rights they get to violate whilst still getting a seat at the table where they can decide how many more homes they can destroy and people they can kill.
They then try to tell you that disagreement with this war makes you a bigot. Makes you prejudiced. If youāre against Israelās genocide in Gaza, and if youāve been against the ongoing apartheid, then youāre anti-Semitic. Think about the Holocaust. Think about the influx of hate crimes happening to Jewish people in your country. And you do think about them. Youāve been thinking about them. Thatās why it doesnāt work.
Because you know what anti-Semitism looks like. You also know what Islamophobia looks like. You also know what genocide looks like. It doesnāt have to be defined for you anymore. Youāre seeing examples of it every day. You can never forget what it means. And so the narrative fails because you understand that no one should experience this. Even if theyāre āsupposed toā but were they? You thought you were crazy or naive, but no. It doesnāt have to be this way. It never shouldāve been, and they were wrong for trying to convince you that it should. They were cruel. They were callous. They were evil.
So now, it doesnāt matter how many celebrities stay silent. It doesnāt matter how many politicians try to demonize you, and it doesnāt matter how many labels they try to assign you for opposing this war. Because you know it isnāt a war. It never has been. Itās a genocide, and contrary to their attempts to say otherwise, you should be against it. Because before youāre an American or a Palestinian or Jewish, youāre human, and if you still have any shred of humanity left, you canāt support this.
