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By chance, I ran into a dear former professor of mine, on the day his most recent book was published. We had a few moments to catch up; in a few short months we’ve found ourselves in entirely different worlds.
He wondered how I even happened to be in the neighborhood since I was so rarely there anymore; I responded humbly that I was meeting with my own volunteer editor, in hopes of getting my writings from Iraq published. He mentioned that the market may be saturated already.
I wonder if it is. It’s true, I’ve waited a while before pulling things together; although I don’t think anyone’s written anything like mine. Or, perhaps the bigger question is, are we ‘saturated’ with Iraq? Have we heard so much about it we can’t bear to think of it anymore? And can we afford the luxury of not thinking about it anymore?
Recently Rick Ufford-Chase was here to visit, having recently completed his term as Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA). He is now director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, and focusing efforts on direct accompaniment human rights work in Colombia, and possibly now the Philippines. He said to us, “Being overwhelmed is a luxury the world cannot afford.” This must remain true for us. As we insulate ourselves further from frustrating news and retreat into our comfortable homes and lives, the world dies around us, often through methods we quietly fund through our own tax dollars.
Jesus told us about the repulsivity of those who were neither hot nor cold but lukewarm: too comfortable to care; disengaged almost entirely.
Bruce Cockburn sings, “When you think you’ve lost the difference between right and wrong, just go down/where the death squads live.”
The death squads are in Iraq now; we helped them to be there. And death squads are all too often a U.S.-originated weapon of choice throughout the world.
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I think many people are 'saturated' by Iraq, but I think the world in general is 'saturated' by news coverage. Even five years ago, we did not have the coverage we have today in many respects, and I suspect five years from now, what we think of as 'saturated' might be simply 'overwhelming' today.
On the other hand, some of it is being apathetic and lukewarm. Many people see so much so often that they are numbed by the coverage and simply want to live their own lives in their own shell. Forcing others to care, or even to take notice is a tough thing. And then, what do they see? What is manufactured and rehashed twenty different ways and perhaps the real stories are lost in the nuggets of spin and sound.
I would not be too harsh on the lukewarm masses though... Jesus may have been right about being repulsed by the attitude, but it is merely a natural reaction to being so overwhelmed, and that being optimistic. The cynic would think they just do not care. It is probably something in between, but certainly trying nonetheless.
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