{"id":33675,"date":"2024-10-04T20:01:36","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T14:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/?p=33675"},"modified":"2024-10-04T20:03:16","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T14:33:16","slug":"is-our-conscience-dead-by-major-general-rajiv-edwards-vsm-retd-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/?p=33675","title":{"rendered":"IS OUR CONSCIENCE DEAD? – by Major General Rajiv Edwards, VSM (Retd)"},"content":{"rendered":"

IS OUR CONSCIENCE DEAD? – by Major General Rajiv Edwards, VSM (Retd)<\/p>\n

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The \u2018Gaza Strip\u2019 or \u2018Azzah\u2019 as it is referred in the Bible, is a mere 1.6 percent of Israel\u2019s land mass; a narrow piece of territory 40 kilometer in length and 6-8 kilometer in width. With a population of about 2.3 million living in an area of 365 square kilometer, it is one of the mostly densely populated places in the world @ roughly a little over 6000 people per square kilometer. Collateral damage is unavoidable in war; in Gaza it is inevitable! In International Humanitarian Law, if there is anything called the Principle of Distinction, Proportionality or Precaution in Attack, in the \u2018Strip\u2019 it doesn\u2019t apply!<\/p>\n

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  1. On 07 October, it will be a year since the \u2018Kargil-ish\u2019 miscalculation by Hamas\u2026.some may even term it as Carlo Cipolla\u2019s \u2018golden law of stupidity\u2019!\u00a0 Be that as it may, the ferocity of relentless \u2018collective\u2019 retribution by Israel in its so called \u2018war of no choice\u2019 on Hamas, seems to suggest, at least for the time being, that, no matter what the costs and clamour, closure is nowhere on the horizon! \u00a0In the context of the avowed end state, both sides would do well to remember that often times, \u2018disappointment resides in the gap between expectations and reality\u2019!<\/li>\n
  2. Just like everything else in this brutal war, the casualty statistics too are contentious\u2026as if a couple of thousand less or more would provide solace to the soul! \u00a0In Gaza as on date, it is about 41.000 dead and over 95.000 injured. But then, if you are chasing \u2018whole\u2019 numbers, you would be missing the woods from the trees!\u00a0 An autopsy of the figures reveals that the dead in children are over 16.000, which has exceeded the most in one year, than in four years of conflict worldwide. \u00a0Add to this, approximate 34,000 injured, 21,000 missing (half conjectured to be still buried under rubble), 17,000 orphaned and 1500 with permanent disabilities; the largest cohort of pediatric amputees in human history. \u00a0To all intents and purposes, this is not collateral damage!\u00a0 And, death is only the tip of the iceberg\u2026.children who survive are not unscathed; they are \u00a0likely to pay a high price psychologically, emotionally and behaviourally. \u00a0UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres remarks that, \u2018if there is hell on earth, it is the lives of children in Gaza<\/strong>\u2019.<\/li>\n
  3. Fatalities to children in any conflict, in any part of the world, and there are many, is most contemptible\u2026\u2026.in Gaza it is the frequency and the disproportionateness which is so horrific! The irony amidst the despair is the verbal jousting between the belligerents to apportion blame \u2026.. as if seeking \u2018acquittal\u2019 for the\u00a0 macabre carnage of\u00a0 children!\u00a0 The most heart rending \u00a0images of children shock us into disbelieving the most plausibly constructed justification for continuation of the bloodbath. Paradoxically, there appears to be more number of people theorizing and dissecting the ongoing war, than those lamenting the consequences on the children!\u00a0 As Aesop stated, \u2018the injuries we do and those we suffer are seldom weighed in the same scales<\/strong>\u2019.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. The ongoing conflict is driven by several factors and religion is perhaps one predominant element. Elie Barnavi, a former Israeli Ambassador to France avers, that his country, \u2018has gone through the entire sequence of European wars, but in reverse order\u2019, implying what began as battle between states, is now more religious in character. Be that as it may, the instinctive behavior to take sides in any conflict based on Tocqueville\u2019s \u2018enlightened self interest\u2019 is quite understandable.\u00a0 However, the impassiveness on the suffering of children due to their religious identity is utterly inexplicable and indefensible.\u00a0 It is what psychologists call, \u2018schadenfreude<\/strong>\u2019 or the absence of empathy\u2026..the joy and satisfaction over the misfortune of others<\/strong>. \u00a0Woefully<\/strong>, most toddlers would never know the sordid truth<\/strong>, that they were <\/strong>\u2018branded<\/strong>\u2019 for the faith, which they knew nothing about<\/strong>!\u00a0 True religion is the life we lead, not the creed we profess.<\/li>\n
  5. \u00a0\u00a0Research reveals that globally there is an overall decline in empathy<\/strong>, with the average person being less empathetic than a decade back. Several factors have contributed to this phenomenon. The complex transformation in society and technology, including perhaps COVID, are namable. Digital technology can numb users on biological, cognitive and social levels preventing empathy and compassion. \u00a0Social media in particular, has sought to isolate users by being addictive and constricting and \u2018breeding narcissists\u2019, who reflect hypersensitivity towards themselves and insensitivity towards others.\u00a0 We cannot sit by and ignore what is happening in other parts of the globe simply because we exist on the \u2018right\u2019 continent\u2026..if not financial or material assistance, we can at least learn, as a civilization, to empathise and have compassion. The situation in Gaza is ostensibly a growing stain on our collective conscience!<\/li>\n
  6. Ironically, those who justify atrocities on children on \u2018absurd\u2019 and \u2018dangerous\u2019 assumptions, are mulishly bigoted! \u00a0Not only that, the incautious use of isolated biblical texts or decontextualised themes also can be perilous! The fact is that the cumulative impact of sustained ethnic-political violence on children is likely to make them \u00a0grow up with high levels of post traumatic stress disorder\u2026\u2026the psychic numbing to violence, compassion collapse and\u00a0 aggression\u00a0 as a preferred way to solve problems. The children in conflict zones urgently need \u2018psychological first aid\u2019, not more violence! \u00a0The warring sides need to take heed that, \u2018violence begets violence\u2019 or as the scriptures reveal, \u2018sow the wind, reap the whirlwind<\/strong>\u2019! \u00a0In their uninhibited and punitive tit for tat, they may well be queering the pitch for many future generations. \u00a0This is likely to further widen the civilisational divide, which as \u00a0Samuel Huntington posits, will be, \u2018the greatest threat to world peace, and an international order!<\/li>\n
  7. Ironically, it is in the interest of the global powers to segregate lives into those who can be grieved and those who cannot; those whose mourning justifies the influential global defense-arms industry and those whose mourning undermines it.\u00a0 To put it simply, it is the censorship of grief<\/strong>.\u00a0 Little wonder then, that the voices of concern seem to be like whistling in the wind! Our capacity to mourn lives that are geographically displaced from us reveals a lot about who we are as people. If we are not feeling outrage, distress and grief, then maybe something is wrong, and we must question why we are not moved to action.<\/li>\n
  8. Many nights as I lie in bed, the blood smattered faces of the innocent children in conflict zones criss-cross the smiling images of my two grand children, and my heart is weighed down with deep sorrow! Long after the war in Gaza gets over, \u2018the true cost will be measured in children<\/strong>\u2019s lives – those lost to the violence and those forever changed by it<\/strong>\u2019.\u00a0 I for one cannot even fathom the helplessness and rage I would feel if I were on the receiving end in such a conflict zone!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    (Major General Rajiv Edwards, VSM** (retd) is a historical researcher and commentator on societal issues.\u00a0 He is apolitical. Views expressed are personal)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    IS OUR CONSCIENCE DEAD? – by Major General Rajiv Edwards, VSM (Retd) The \u2018Gaza Strip\u2019 or \u2018Azzah\u2019 as it is referred in the Bible, is a mere 1.6 percent of Israel\u2019s land mass; a narrow piece of territory 40 kilometer in length and 6-8 kilometer in width. With a population of about 2.3 million living …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}