Whoever has followed news from the Middle East in the international or Arab media for the past two years cannot have avoided either boredom or despair. This region seems to produce only news of constant killing, slaughter and bombings without anything remotely different on the horizon that could give rise to hope or room for optimism.
Even when Arabic TV presents news — and I say this without any note of pride — it is usually with tapes and recordings of threats and bombings or with tapes and recordings of kidnappings or the execution of hostages. Indeed, all of this must be included in the news but it nonetheless inspires nausea. The word “death” is constantly repeated on a daily basis. Deaths and killings have become our daily bread. If we compare the news of violence and death in the region today with the same kind of news a decade ago, we will find an alarming and unprecedented increase regardless of whether we are talking about the numbers or the geographical area. The past certainly had its share of bloody events and wars that took the lives of millions; still the violence did not seem as random as what we witness today.
The problem with all this violence is not only political or economic; there are serious psychological and sociological effects as well. What is so dangerous is that it has become a norm, a way of life, something that people accept without flinching because they have become so used to it. And for something like this to become any kind of norm is confirmation of how wrong things are. The younger generations are nurtured on this violence and it moves insidiously into their subconscious.
The clearest illustration of this is the phenomenon of suicide bombings or random explosions; they have become an accepted and approved symbol of resistance while not so long ago they were rejected and denounced. Those who justify this random violence forget that they are losing themselves before they even hope to hurt their enemies. Normalizing bloodshed turns them into beasts which cannot be controlled. Most likely, they themselves turn against their own communities and people, turning everything into an arena of battle and blood.
What may be a hopeful sign is that people are becoming bored by all this violence and it is losing whatever effect it initially had. Perhaps the reason is that it is a way to death while the instinct of the human race is for life and the struggle to survive.
