It's All About the Optics
How easy it is for the propagandists to control us!
As I read about the numerous standing ovations that Netanyahu received during his speech before Congress yesterday, my mind flashed back to Ancient Rome.
Roman citizens cheering as they watched the gruesome games in the Coliseum, in which the “criminals” were torn to bloody bits through various methods of torture. The bloodlust all in the name of law and order.
The same bloodlust that justifies the gruesome extermination of thousands upon thousands of Palestinians, with the reasoning that “Israel has a right to defend itself.”
The American politicians, who are able to stomach the atrocities committed by the IDF in Gaza and the West Bank as long as those dollars from AIPAC keep funding their campaigns for re-election, gave 24 standing ovations during Netanyahu’s 40 minute speech.
If a man like Benjamin Netanyahu had walked through their home and mangled their children’s bodies so much that they could never forget the way they looked afterward — I wonder if they would applaud still. I wonder if the screams of their family members burning alive in tents would potentially interrupt the thought that told them to clap, the thought that told them to give the man a standing ovation for his perfectly executed slaughter of thousands of human beings. CODE PINK ALERT
These are our elected officials, many of whom will be re-elected.
… Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions – everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses. Juvenal, Satire 10.77–81
Protestors filled the streets surrounding the Capitol, with a message of peace. “Stop the Genocide” plead the protestors, many of them Jewish.
Netanyahu answered by accusing them of being of being pro-Hamas and “standing with evil” and said they should be “ashamed of themselves.”
He was cheered by Congress.
The previous day, hundreds of Jewish protestors with the organization Jewish Voices for Peace were arrested for staging a sit-in to protest Netanyahu’s visit.
Our government representatives cheer on a butcher, yet call for the arrest of their own peaceful constituents.
We read about the Democrats who refused to attend Netanyahu’s address. The same Democrats who continue to vote for the funding for military support for Israel.
They vote to keep the weapons flowing that are slaughtering the Palestinians. Starving and dehydrated, and living in tents in areas they were herded into, by an army that views them as subhuman.
And US money supports this. Our tax dollars support this. Our politicians vote for this. They cheer the butchery.
Democrats will proudly point out that many of their Party refused to attend Netanyahu’s speech.
That’s not because they had a miraculous change of heart.
It’s all about the optics.
You see, they still continue to support Israel, though they realize that showing up for Netanyahu’s address might hurt them in the upcoming elections.
So, they have a kind of split-personality thing going on: Yes, we support Israel and will continue to vote to fund Israel in it’s genocide in Gaza, but we don’t want to be caught on camera supporting Netanyahu. That’s just not good optics.
Presidential candidate Kamala Harris didn’t attend, supposedly because of a prior commitment.
But we know where she stands on Israel. She takes plenty of money from AIPAC. Over $5 million. Don’t let her sudden expressions of compassion for the Palestinians fool you, she will continue to support Israel.
AIPAC hasn’t given her campaigns that much money over the years without expecting something in return.
And her husband, Doug Emhoff, is not fond of the pro-Palestinian protestors, and believes that support for the Palestinians is Gaza is a form of anti-semitism. In his eyes, anything anti-Israel, anti-Zionism, qualifies as anti-semitism:
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff marked the beginning of Hanukkah on Thursday in part by chastising a group of prominent university presidents for what he called an “unacceptable” lack of moral clarity after they declined to say if a call for the genocide of Jewish people would be considered harassment under their campus policies. (link)
The words of politicians (and their spouses) rarely reflect their actions once elected. But, right now, it’s good optics for the Democrats to soften their rhetoric regarding arming Israel.
After all, people have short attention spans, and will quickly forget all the bipartisan funding for arms to Israel, and will cling to any Democrat who they believe will save them from Donald Trump.
And you can count on the mainstream media to put the horror show happening in Gaza on the back burner while all eyes and news focus on the November elections.
If you really cared about the genocide in Gaza, you wouldn’t fall for all this crap that the Democrats are now focusing on. You would look at their voting for more and more arms to Israel over these past nine months of ethnic cleansing, and realize that their actions belie their words.
Only Rashida Tlaib was brave enough to attend the speech holding a protest sign that said “war criminal” on one side and “guilty of genocide” on the other.
She wasn’t worried about the bad press, like so many of the Democrats. She was more concerned with stopping the slaughter and starvation of thousands of innocent people.
But the mainstream media wants us to focus on Kamala. The news is Kamala, Trump, Kamala, Trump. No coverage of the mass starvation in Gaza.
For Democrats, who have been pooping their pants about the possibility of another Trump presidency, all attention is now on Kamala, who suddenly appears like an angel to save the election.
Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff — the optics are just so pleasing.
Interracial and interfaith.
Kamala: female (check the box) black (check the box) Asian (check the box) youngish (check the box) stylish (check the box)
Doug: modern, supportive husband who quit his job to support his wife (check the box) feminist (check the box)
Exactly what the Democrats need to distract the public from blaming them for enabling the genocide.
And, while I agree that interracial and interfaith families are wonderful, and that men and women on equal footing is great to see, this doesn’t translate into government policy.
But, as PR pros will tell you, the optics are everything.
People who comment on my article, will warn me that I am throwing the election to Trump by my criticism of the Democrats.
I disagree.
The Democrats, the DNC, threw the election to Trump by their own inaction on policies that the majority of Americans care about. (Remember the Uncommitted votes in the Michigan primary?) That should have told the DNC something, but yet they still clung to Biden as their candidate.
The mainstream media continues to throw the election to status quo candidates, because while they may give a few token interviews to alternative candidates, they give 99% of their attention to the duopoly.
They tell us that third parties can’t win. Why do we allow them to tell us what to think?
If most people were exposed to the platforms of the third-party candidates who are running in 2024, they would wildly approve.
In poll after poll, the majority of Americans want some kind of universal healthcare, want national policies for maternal and paternal leave, want better education for their children, want less money for the military and more money for humanitarian policies, for roads, and for bridges.
But the mainstream media, owned and controlled by the oligarchy, can’t allow the American public to hear the voices of candidates like Dr. Cornel West, a man who has dedicated his life to the disenfranchised people of the world.
Because, if the people were allowed to know what is possible, they would vote the duopoly out of existence.
Instead, the mainstream media focuses on Netanyahu and not on starvation and ethnic cleansing. They focus on Kamala and Donald Trump, and not on Rashida Tlaib.
Because, it’s all about the optics. It’s all about keeping the public distracted. It’s about elites who will later blame the voting public for causing their own disasters.