These days, I have been so concerned by what is going on in the USA that I have started watching CNN and MSNBC (yes, I am biased) on YouTube. At first, I liked the idea of getting an uninterrupted flow of information. I was fascinated by how anchors have a few minutes to wrap up the news of the day with a personal opinion. I was intrigued by the way the guests are seated or connected. I was amused by how they argue passionately and conclude by a very polite “it’s always a pleasure to talk to you”. The dynamics on TV are, in a way, different from what I am used to.
But after a few days of immersing myself into this surprising world of now familiar faces, and especially after the report of the disappearance (and now murder) of Jamal Khashoggi, I’ve started to be profoundly irritated by the tone the anchors were adopting. One sentence that comes, over and over again? “The United States should be a moral leader of the (free) world.” And they don’t seem to perceive that this statement is actually highly problematic. They position discursively the USA over all other nations. “Obviously, the USA have a more developed democracy than anywhere else in this world!” Well… are you sure?
I am not here to simply spit on the United States by saying that they are a neocolonial power, trying to impose its worldview on the rest of us. I do think this would not be entirely false. But I want also to underline the fact that the USA have also been implicated in many problematic actions (from supporting dictators when it suits their agenda to turning an blind eye to allies bombing civilians in the Middle East, to only talk about relatively recent events) and that those anchors seem to be wiping that part of the national history.
History is an essential element of identity building and power plays. As Yuval Harari would argue, it is a myth that glues people together, that gives them a feeling of belonging together. It is essential in order to maintain a somewhat coherent social fabric. And most importantly, it is a social construct. It can be shaped and re-shaped according to what is at stake. It is important to remind people that dropping a nuclear weapon on the heads of civilians in Japan was necessary to preserve the lives of hundreds of US soldiers. Intervening in Latin America? Well, who would want to be surrounded by hordes of fanatical socialists? Keeping Guantanamo Bay open? For the population’s safety. Human rights are as much a construct as history, paraphrasing Harari once more. In a way, it is similar to religions. It is a net of ideas that were elevated to the rank of obvious natural laws. There is nothing natural to being “born equal in dignity and rights” (Art. 1, Universal Declaration of Human Rights). Nor in concepts of “race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status” (Art. 2, idem). I am not saying that human rights do not matter. I think they have helped improved the lives of many of us and are effectively protecting many others. But we pay attention to those human rights in different ways, depending on where we situate ourselves and who we look at.
According to the Declaration, the life of Khashoggi is as valuable as any other (human) life on this planet. But listen carefully to the pitch that those anchors give you. It matters even more because he was contributing to the Washington Post. “He was an US resident!” “The president might say that he is not one of ours since he is not a national, but he is one of us because he was working for a news outlet on our territory.” There are quick mentions of other journalists being killed every year around the world, but somehow (maybe because of their profession?) they do not seem to talk much about many other people who are being repressed, starved, tortured and/or killed. Just the bus of children in Yemen, bombed by a questionable ally.
I feel uncomfortable listening to them. I am not saying that it is intrinsically wrong to be offended by the death of a journalist and by the cover-up that is happening. But placing yourselves as the leaders of the free world and, especially, the guarantors of human rights on this planet is simply infuriating.
Superficial Hypermodernity 