“I Don’t Care”
25th May 2021
Severian really doesn’t care.
I’m told Hamas is firing rockets at Gaza, and that Israel is striking back. I don’t care. I used to care what happens in the Middle East, on the not-unreasonable theory that the total destabilization of the planet’s most oil-rich region, and a massive international trade hub, is the kind of thing that starts world wars. But dressing your airborne troops in red high heels, ordering strongly encouraging your embassies to fly the “black lives matter” flag*, and instructing your ambassador to publicly take a dump on his own country are also the kind of things that start world wars, so what’s the diff?
Needless to say, I also used to care about what happened in the Middle East on the theory that one should try to uphold civilization and resist barbarism, but I knew that was foolish even as I was doing it. Hamas et al might be stone-age savages, but all they want to do is commit genocide. I heard some egghead advocating five ideas more repugnant than that every day in the ivory tower. Needless to say I consider genocide bad, but at least Hamas knows which bathroom to use. From the perspective of “the long-term survival of the human race,” which is worse? We lost the “uphold civilization” battle the minute we started subsidizing student loans.
Can’t say he’s wrong.