Mass Murder.

As I close my eyes and drift away to a land where there is love, health, peace, and blessings. I wanted to take the time to think and reflect. 

     I have written about the dire famine in Yemen and also the Khashoggi murder case in previous writings, but with the release of the new Times cover that included a photograph of the journalist on the cover with the slogan: "The Guardians and the war on Truth", an evocation erupted. I wondered once again about the media attention, and how what is deemed important to a media source, contributes to the molding of human thought, and human consciousness. In a sense this is an example of cultural constructions, and influences that are being ingrained within human cognition. Being cognizant of the constructions, simply allow us ourselves to make choices, of allowing or disallowing what we want our thoughts to focus upon. However, the irony is that even if we agree or disagree with something, we are still giving the issue some sort of focus within our thoughts. This is neither good or bad, as long as we ourselves understand that we should be able to think for ourselves. To formulate opinion and thought, based upon what is being presented to us, or what we interact with. 

     I do believe that journalism or writing just like I am is necessary, to continue to push forth thought and social progress. We can of course also see how publications such as the Time's magazine, or events such as the Time's cover reveal can evoke mass opinion and thought. I also wondered what if we saw the starved. The ones who are dying in Yemen on the front cover of this magazine? How would that influence public thought or opinion? Journalists themselves have been critical of the amount of attention the Khashoggi case has received as compared to the dire situation in Yemen. Both of which involve the USA and Saudi Arabia.

     But I leave this though open-ended for now, as I continue to think about how politics, believe it or not also does influence publications. Such as what appears on the cover of the Time's magazine. Maybe too much Yemen exposure would also jeopardize  political affiliation, relationships from the USA, who have been involved, supported, and manufactured the violence in Yemen for years. Who provided support and assisted to create the famine, and what we can call the Yemen genocide. 

     Media exposure is also careful not to alarm the public, and thinks about how much political tension it should create or not. Media is also integral to the social construction of instututions and public thought. While the Yemen situation has been downplayed, by placing a higher emphasis on the Khashoggi case, we also derive more questions, as to how human life is valued, or if the Khashoggi emphasis was purposely constructed to hush the U.S. and Saudi contributions, and support for the Yemen war. Even if the U.S. has decided to withdraw from Yemen, we can question why now? And also what responsibility is borne upon the shoulder of the U. S. after withdrawing? 

     The lack of media attention and using the Khashoggi case only raveals how the Yemen war is purposely being silenced to protect the interests of specific nations, and sectarian groups who have killed, starved, and created a Yemen genocide. 

It should also be noted that these views and my opinions are not for the purposes of taking sides, but rather for the purposes of political accountability and the responsibility, that arises when contributing and creating to mass murder, with the use of starvation as a weapon of war.  

My thoughts to share with love & kindness.
​
Notes: These thoughts were originally hand-written on December 18th, 2018.
Image 1 - Canva Creation 
Image 2 - Web Link
Image 3 - Web Link
​Image 4 - Web Link