A kick in the ass

I don't normally write about topics in the news, for various reasons--namely, a) everyone has an opinion and who wants to read another one, b) I'm so plugged into the news that I wouldn't even know where to begin writing about the things I learn most of the time, and c) it always takes me forever to analyze and digest something enough to make a coherent statement about my thoughts on the matter, and by then there are fifty thousand and three other news stories grabbing attention. In short, I've got an RSS feeder that keeps me plugged in whenever I'm at a computer, and during the workday, that's every minute except lunch--and half the time, I eat at my desk. So I'm all, you know, up on the news and shit.

This morning on NPR, Steve Inskeep interviewed by phone a woman being evacuated from the Gaza Strip. I'd link you to it so you could hear it, but it's not up yet, but if you go to npr.org it should be up by 10 a.m. or so, if you're interested. What struck me about this story was Steve Inskeep's manner. He was asking the woman on the phone about her moving process, and she broke down and cried about halfway through the interview. She's lived in her digs in the Gaza Strip for 25 years, and is now being told to leave by the Israeli government because...well, that's complicated, and her tears and anger are a testament to just how complicated the situation is. What rather disturbed me was that Steve Inskeep started asking her questions in a rather blunt way. He told her she knew this was inevitable, that she was going to have to leave, and asked her if she understood that. He also asked her if she felt she owed it to her government to go without protest.

I don't know how much of his bluntness was due to that crap a while ago (which is still going on, but not as much in the spotlight) about NPR being biased toward Palestinians, but I thought as I listened to this, Christ, Inskeep, you're talking to a woman who has lived where she has for twenty-five years. Of course she doesn't want to leave, regardless of whether she should or shouldn't have been there in the first place (and that topic is such a mess I wonder if anyone will ever be able to sort it out). She's crying because she has to leave her home. She just told you how much she loved her home. And you're asking her if she thinks she owes it to her government to leave, when she just said that the only way they found out they were being evacuated was from the news, not from any official statement from her government; they didn't come themselves, just let the media let these people know they had to leave their homes. Do you know what this woman said to Steve Inskeep? It cracked me up. She said, "I owe my government a kick in the ass."

I couldn't help laughing. Sure, I could understand that she felt pain and anger and fear, and I can also understand that the Palestinians have pain and anger and fear, and I have a great appreciation for how tangled up ordinary people have become in this huge political wasp's nest mess that is the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. But that statement right there summed everything up. She owes her government a kick in the ass. For so many reasons.

I think I owe my government a kick in the ass too, but at least I'm not being forced by armed men to leave my home.

Okay. Time to work.