From: tsm@fastmail.ca   
      
   On Jan 30, 2026 at 8:33:51 AM EST, "Julian"  wrote:   
      
   > They say you should never meet your heroes, a rule that is not always   
   > correct. But I did have a salutary session some years ago when a friend   
   > in New York asked me if I wanted to meet a comedian I really do admire.   
   >   
   > I had been looking forward to the meeting, but unfortunately it took   
   > place during the summer of 2020. If you remember those far-distant days,   
   > this was a time when America was obsessing over the story of alleged   
   > disproportionate police violence against black Americans. One of the   
   > cases was that of a woman named Breonna Taylor. Although the case for   
   > the police’s actions and the victim’s innocence revolved around a number   
   > of issues, the main one was whether officers should have shot when they   
   > did. As ever, this involved highly specific ballistics issues and a   
   > considerable amount of hindsight. For two hours I sat with my comedy   
   > hero discussing post-mortem reports and bullet trajectories.   
   >   
   > Certainly I have had funnier meetings. I went away dismayed for a number   
   > of reasons. One was the fact that this seemed such a bizarre way to   
   > litigate a case. Yes it was important, but is it healthy for everyone to   
   > obsess over it in such minute detail?   
   >   
   > The thought recurred to me this week with the shooting of a second   
   > protestor by ICE officials in Minnesota. These officials are currently   
   > going after a good many people who broke into America illegally and have   
   > then continued to commit other crimes while in the country. The point of   
   > why the American taxpayer should continue to fund and allow this is a   
   > sore one for many. Other Americans – mainly on the left – believe that   
   > ICE either should not perform these raids, or should conduct them with a   
   > greater degree of decorum. As a result, prominent Democrat politicians   
   > and others have been encouraging protestors to stand in ICE’s way,   
   > something which already led to the death of Renée Nicole Good three   
   > weeks ago.   
   >   
   > The nature of this second shooting – of an anti-ICE protestor called   
   > Alex Pretti – has now returned America to the ballistics obsession.   
   > Online rumours claimed that the ICU nurse had fired at officers with a   
   > gun he was carrying. Then it was suggested that his firearm may have   
   > accidentally discharged.   
   >   
   > The story has led the bulletins around the world. And it made me wonder   
   > again about this state of things. Yes, it is important to Americans who   
   > their federal officials take shots at, and why. But why are these cases   
   > getting so much more attention in the news cycle than, say, the reported   
   > shootings of tens of thousands of brave protestors on the streets of Iran?   
   >   
   > The answer is, in part, a very simple one: visuals. As with the handful   
   > of black people killed by US police during the 2010s, these recent ICE   
   > killings benefit from taking place in a society where almost everyone   
   > owns a phone camera. Think of the number of angles the world was able to   
   > see of the death of George Floyd. Members of the public had cameras;   
   > police turned out to have bodycam footage.   
   >   
   > It is the same with those killed while trying to monitor or stop ICE   
   > going about their duties. Within minutes of the event, the news has gone   
   > around the internet. People are able to analyse the footage for   
   > themselves and reach their own conclusions. Then a second angle video   
   > comes out, sometimes a third and so on. Law enforcement officers’   
   > footage will emerge, too. Within 24 hours everybody can be an expert,   
   > not just on the shooting, but on how differently they might have reacted   
   > were they the federal agent in such a situation coming across a handgun.   
   >   
   > Which returns me to the subject of Iran.    Why hasn’t there been a   
   > greater global outcry about the untold number of protestors being gunned   
   > down on its streets by regime thugs intent on suppressing the   
   > anti-regime movement? Why, even weeks after Donald Trump gave warning   
   > that the world would not stand by and watch Iranians being massacred,   
   > has nothing been done to support the protests?   
   >   
   > I am afraid the explanation is that we haven’t watched the violence   
   > unfold in real time, because of a difference between free and unfree   
   > societies. Censorship works. If you search online, you can find footage   
   > of the aftermath of the Iran massacres. There are even some tapes that   
   > appear to show the Basij militia and other regime forces taking aim at   
   > the crowds. But the mullahs were clever at the outset of these   
   > uprisings. They turned off the internet and other communications   
   > channels, and as a result the world has had to rely on small bits of   
   > footage smuggled out by dissidents.   
   >   
   > All this is happening in a visual culture where if something hasn’t   
   > appeared online then it effectively has not happened. What are mere   
   > reports of tens of thousands of Iranians being killed if we lack the   
   > visuals?   
   >   
   > Of course, one reason for the lack of balance is that the violence is   
   > happening in one country – America – and the other in a theocratic   
   > dictatorship. But it is also the fact that when the mullahs flick the   
   > switch and carry out massacres in effective darkness their trick works.   
   > The US President and others warned the Iranians not to execute   
   > protestors in public. There was talk of the suspension of some public   
   > hangings. But there has been no reported let-up in the public shootings   
   > of thousands. The only thing we have lacked is the crucial footage of   
   > every interaction that might have caused the world to feel forced to   
   > know – and act.   
   >   
   > More footage is coming out. The window seems to be closing when outside   
   > intervention, plus the domestic pressure inside Iran, might have   
   > coalesced. If that is the case then it is obviously a tragedy for the   
   > Iranian people. It also says something tragic about our own culture.   
   > Dictatorships manipulate – that is their operating procedure. But for us   
   > to allow ourselves to be manipulated is another thing entirely.   
   >   
   >   
   > Douglas Murray   
      
   "Seeing is believing, but feeling is the truth"   
   -Thomas Fuller   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)