The hypocritical attitude of some circles in the face of the recent human tragedies in the Middle East draws attention. Especially during the Israeli attacks on Gaza, those who cannot directly defend the US and Israel immediately resort to the refuge of “But there is a mullah regime there”. This approach tries to create a perception that if there is an authoritarian regime in a country, it is normal to bomb the children of that country.
Some media outlets are trying to render invisible the tragedy of millions of civilians by showing images of women dancing in Iran, showing either the old elite circles that left the country with the Shah or marginalized groups living in the West. The effort to normalize the killing of civilians with the propaganda of “Look, they are already like this” is presented in the most sterile packaging of the liberal-capitalist perspective: Human rights discourse inside, geopolitical interests outside.
Is it legitimate to kill children for the interests of the country?
This point of view is one of the biggest contradictions of modern diplomacy under the mask of “human rights.” Atrocities Legitimized in the Name of Civilization.
No geopolitical interest, no energy corridor, and no promise of “regime change” can legitimize the mutilated body of a child. What we are witnessing today, however, is a tragedy of selective humanism. If the victim does not exhibit “modernity” in accordance with the cultural codes of the West or does not serve the strategic partnership of the ruling powers, his right to life is reduced to a statistic and his death to an “inevitable collateral damage”.
Rhetorical Tools of Hypocrisy
This normalization process is usually built in three stages.
The Depersonalization of the Victim: “With discourses such as ”they were already under the mullah regime,“ ”they did not embrace democracy," the civilians killed are stripped of their individuality.
Cultural Packaging: Through black-and-white photographs of the former Shah or images of minorities living Western-style lives, the masses of the people are presented not as “in need of saving” but as “overdue”.
Security Fetishism: The “survival” and “security” needs of states override international law and the most basic moral laws (jus cogens), and child deaths are marketed as strategic necessities.
Consequently, the Liberal's Collapse of Conscience
Killing children, no matter under what flag or for what ideological justification, is the gravest crime committed in the common conscience of humanity. Applauding or silently endorsing attacks against the civilian population of a country, using the form of government of that country as an excuse, is the very slaughter of the values of “democracy” and “freedom” that are allegedly defended.
The truth is that when the bomb falls, neither ideology nor regime debate remains. All that remains is the stain of blood that accumulates on the hands of the modern world when it talks about “human rights”. Any point of view that indexes a child's right to life to the regime has in fact given up its own humanity.
Can Firat Acisu