Israel and Gaza: Removing the Imperial West's Goggles

Frankly, I have never been more disgusted in my entire life than I am with the way in which the media portrays the crisis in Gaza. Although I have been mulling over this for several weeks, I read a fantastic blog on this today over on James Crossley's Earliest Christian History blog. My sentiments couldn't have been articulated more clearly; thanks to Professor Crossley for beating me to it. As he points out, when will we start the narrative being woven? This is the point. The media, with wall to wall coverage, begins the narrative with Hamas lobbing puny rockets at Israel. But that is not where the Gaza crisis begins! It began in 1948 when the Palestinians had their land high-jacked and were relegated to the slums of Gaza. However, this isn't the narrative that gets told. No, we Americans have legitimated our own world domination through God and thus we have also legitimated Israel's occupation of others land and terrorism against the Palestinians theologically, with the Bible. Yes, that is right. Here in America, because of our faithful friends the dispensational looney tunes who believe Israel raping the land from the Palestinians is God's ordained end-time scheme, have used Jesus to justify war against those on the margins. I'm ashamed. Ashamed of so many Christians who can't see that Jesus never justifies war. Ashamed of so many so-called Bible believers who have a naive theological system they are protecting, yet most are unable to perceive that they have been given biblical goggles that are not biblical (maybe mine aren't either, but certainly closer to the historical Jesus is the way of peace regardless of empire)! Ashamed of the American media, who has no problem showing the utmost bias, almost as if they don't have a bias (much like fundamentalist) when it comes to American politics, but fail to offer cogent, moderately balanced reporting when it comes to presenting both sides of a conflict. And day by day, hour by hour, the media continues to cast the same narrative that it is all the wicked Palestinian terrorists fault. Never are Israel's practices called into question, I mean seriously, they were just totally minding their own business when these nutty Palestinians started persecuting them, right? I think not.