Selective Humanism

By Serop Stepanian, Toronto, 5 January 2025

It has been more than four-hundred and sixty days since the Palestinian freedom fighter attack on Occupied Palestine. More than 50,000 Palestinians and an unknown number of Palestinian fighters have been killed and Gaza looks like a post-nuclear explosion wreck. Several months ago Lancet, the British medical journal, estimated that the actual number of Palestinian civilians killed was 180,000. That number climbs every day as the ironically-named Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) “mow the field” in its own bloodthirsty parlance

The Viet Nam War lasted twenty years (1955-1975). About 50,000 American soldiers were killed in that war. Vietnamese civilian casualties were 1.3 million.

During the Vietnam War, particularly in the ‘60s, scores of famed American and British songwriters wrote anti-war songs. Among the singers were superstars such as Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Neil Young, Judy Collins, and bands like The Seekers. Seeger sang Where Have All the Flowers Gone and Bring Them Home. Dylan’s The Times They Are a Changin’ and Blowing in the Wind topped the charts. Mick Jagger sang about war and children in Gimme Shelter. The Plastic Ono Band contributed All We Are Saying is Give Peace a Chance. There were many more songs which protested against the bloodshed in Viet Nam.

But so far—four-hundred-and sixty days after the start of the ethnic cleansing/genocide– no major American or British singer has sung about the victims of the vicious Israeli assault on Palestinian civilians, including health workers, journalists, aid workers, teachers, doctors about the deliberate targeting of children by the IDF–“the most moral army in the world.” Maybe even more moral than the Salvation Army. The massive U.S. recording industry, which releases hundreds of songs every year, has remained deaf and blind to the barbarism of the IDF. Among singers, the only exceptions have been bassist Roger Water of Pink Floyd and barely-known singers such as Macklemore, Hozier, Cold Play, and CM Punk. Water has appeared frequently on TV exposing the barbarity of the IDF and condemning the brazen impunity the killers continue to enjoy. Waters has said condemning Israel is not sufficient: it should be followed by action.

It goes without saying that no Western radio station would play anti-Gaza genocide songs since selective humanism is the rule of the day and career termination is a distinct possibility. Instead of airing songs about the Gaza Genocide, North American radios play asinine Taylor Swift opus. Although she has written more than one-hundred songs, Swift has ignored the Palestinians’ misery. While hundreds of Palestinian civilians were being killed by Israeli air and ground forces, Taylor sang songs ironically titled Wildest Dreams and Cruel Summer. Seats to her concerts sell for $10,000 and much more on the black market. Although her net worth is $1.5 billion and her recent Eras Tour grossed $2.2 billion, Swift has neither donated money to the Palestinian victims of the Israeli invasion nor has she sung about the babies killed by IDF sharpshooters. Ironically, she has written a song titled Don’t Blame Me.

Don’t worry Ms. Swift. We will not blame you for not condemning the Zionist savagery. North American song recording companies, which dominate the global music scene, song publishers, the media, and especially AIPAC-led Zionists would nip in the bud Swift’s career if she dared speak of the horrendous truth about the Palestinian victims. Shortly after she condemned Israel, award-winning actress Susan Sarandon said Hollywood had blacklisted her. It’s no secret Hollywood has always been a Zionist den producing such pro-Israeli movies as Exodus, Cast a Giant Shadow, The Juggler, Judith…

Fifty years ago, many Americans could criticize their government’s invasion of Viet Nam. Now, Americans can’t criticize a foreign government which has launched a genocide of Palestinians…a fact that the whole world except some people in the West recognize.

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