From: fedora@fea.st   
      
   On Fri, 30 Jan 2026 13:33:51 +0000, 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.   
      
   This is the excuse.  Also not true, but the excuse anyway.   
      
   >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   
   --   
   Noah Sombrero mustachioed villain   
   Don't get political with me young man   
   or I'll tie you to a railroad track and   
   <<>> to <<>>   
   Who dares to talk to El Sombrero?   
   dares: Ned   
   does not dare: Julian  shrinks in horror and warns others away   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)