Monday, February 21, 2011

Damned if You do And Dead if you Dont

In the matter of US embassy employee Raymond Davis and the politics of Pakistan...

If any ordinary person in the republic of Pakistan were to shoot two armed robbers in self defence they may or may not be seen as righteous and guilt free under the laws of that land. They certainly would not, after exoneration by the police and justice officials be the subject of international attention and widespread public displays of outrage. In fact, outside of immediate family or their clannish ties no one in Pakistan would give a shit and the legal outcome would most likely rest on the social position and ability to bribe officials of the arrested party.

Granted that Mr. Davis does possess a certain status that would make him more likely to be treated with kid gloves by Pakistani officials, but that does not mean that he would or should have become the subject of widespread attention.

But in the islamic republic, the outlook of the populace is largely determined by the point of view of mullahs and imams with an axe to grind and the intent to instigate mayhem. Coupled with a salacious and sensation driven press on the local and the international scene .... the end result is something that far exceeds the actual scope of the violent incident. Had the tables been turned the local response would likely have been little more than a shrug of the shoulders and a few "he had it coming" sort of comments followed here by a few lines of press, some political "outrage" and then shrugging of shoulders as the pols and pundits move on to things more opportune.

In our current situation the unfortunate Mr. Davis has become a pawn in the game of news reporting and public politics.

Flares into Darkness offers The Sort or Reasoned Analysis You Will NOT See in the MSM...

OMMAG

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