FM: John Whitbeck
While the rap video at the link transmitted below was
released less than 24 hours ago, it is highly
noteworthy that, as I write, it has already had more
than 16 MILLION views.
This is a dramatic demonstration of the reach and
power of social media in the United States and, while
this video is being offered through X, helps to
explain the urgency of the U.S. Congress to shut down
TikTok
(https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/06/romney-admits-push-to-ban-tiktok-is-aimed-at-censoring-news-out-of-gaza)
while also potentially diminishing the electoral
impact of the Taylor Swift endorsement of Joe Biden so
feared by the Trump campaign and so hoped for by the
Biden campaign.
As others have noted, the widespread student protests
against the Gaza genocide in the United States and
Europe are unique in that the protestors have no "skin
in the game", as Americans say -- that is, unlike
Black supporters of equal civil rights and draft-age
men opposed to the American war against Vietnam, their
activism is not motivated by any personal
self-interest. Indeed, they well know that their
principled protests put their personal self-interests
at serious risk.
These protestors are motivated by pure morality and
justified moral outrage and represent humanity at its
best, which is why they are being so brutally
repressed by humanity at its worst, as represented by
the purchased political prostitutes running the
governments of the United States and most European
countries.
To those who object to my use of the word "purchased",
I would argue that it would be far worse, morally and
ethically, for anyone to support ethnic cleansing,
racism, apartheid and genocide as a matter of genuine
personal conviction.
In this context, while much is made of the fact that
Joe Biden has received more "pro-Israel" money than
any other living American politician, he gives the
impresion, potentially true, of supporting ethnic
cleansing, racism, apartheid and genocide, when
practiced by Israel, as a matter of genuine personal
conviction.
On the other hand, there can be no doubt that the only
genuine personal conviction of Donald Trump is his
conviction of his own wonderfulness. Accordingly, if
he were ever to view it as being in his own personal
self-interest to declare American independence from
Israeli domination and control, one may be confident
that he would not hesitate to do so.