Saturday, February 6, 2016

Merchants of Death


Jeff—Saturday

Above is my view for the next few days, a golf course in Palm Springs, California.  Not that I’ll be playing on it.  Just sitting in the sun, writing, and trying my best to put cold, snowy January out of my mind…before I return back East to cold snowy February.

About the only risk I have to contemplate at the moment is an errant golf ball.  Not much of a chance of that. 

That was until I read the Greek newspapers, and felt as if I’d been hit smack dab in my…well, uh…you pick the spot.

No, it wasn’t the massive general strike on Thursday that brought Greece to a screeching halt, not the farmers vowing to keep the nation’s main highways blocked with their tractors, not the EU representatives insisting Greece’s government reduce its pension obligations if it wants the third round of billions in promised bailout funds, and not even the masses of demonstrators vowing to bring down the government if those reforms are enacted.


All of that is expected, old-hat activity.  What yanked me back to reality was a special report by Yiannis Papadopoulos in Greece’s paper of record, Kathimerini, with a title that tells it all: “Fake life vests soak up chances of survival for shipwrecked refugees.”


Yes, dear readers, while refugees keep coming in an undiminished flow, while Europeans try coming up with ways of wresting away from them whatever valuables the human traffickers, thieves, and corrupt officials along the way did not take, they now fall prey to those who sell them certain death in the form of life jackets made of sponge-like water absorbent or non-buoyant materials.


It is as callous an act of human greed and indifference as I can imagine, and those who create these death jackets—especially in children’s sizes—deserve a truly special circle in hell.  But what of the Turkish authorities who permit their manufacture and sale to rage on?  It is not as if the places of manufacture and sale aren’t known; the reporter found them without difficulty.

And if some are caught, they face only a fine.  Even though the manufacturer bears more guilt than the sea for each death, for it is their death vests that ultimately drag each trusting, unsuspecting victim to the bottom.



They should be tried for murder.

The world should be outraged and demanding this death trade be stopped.  But no one does. No one cares.  We’re all complicit.

Damn, am I angry.


—Jeff

15 comments:

  1. And rightly so, Jeff. This is unspeakable. Surely there is something we can do? Social media campaign. SOMETHING!

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    1. I wholeheartedly agree on putting together any program that challenges the holier than thou attitude of allegedly civilized nations that allow this to go on in exchange for their own political objectives.

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  2. Turkey continues to strike me as a land between two worlds: part of NATO, gaining benefits of alliance with the 'west', while still being rooted in the violent, dictatorial worlds of the Middle East and southwestern Asia, where they talk two different philosophies out of the corners of their mouths, and follow neither reliably. The country is like the intersection of three great tectonic plates, where the people get ground up by the pressures, and the laws that are enforced are whatever are convenient. (No, I'm not talking about the U.S., I'm talking about Turkey...)

    I stand with you in outrage, Jeff. Not surprise, but definitely outrage.

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    1. Your views are shared by many. But no one acts on them. Each nation is concerned about its own perceived national interests without regard to the overall impact on humankind.

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  3. I had just been on my soapbox yesterday asking why hasn't more focus been on Turkey, the departure end of this tragic exodus and less on Greece, the arrivals gate? I am reposting this one Jeff as we all should do. . .

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    1. Thank you J&J, but geopolitics historically trump compassion.

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  4. OUTRAGE!!!!! My friends are sharing my posts.

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  5. It's sad to say that very little shocks me about this situation anymore. I have reposted.
    Is there any campaign going on we can put our collective weight behind?

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    1. I wish there were, as I'd jump right on the bandwagon. Regrettably, I don't know of any or how to get one started.

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  6. profiteers of death...the great one of a kind arthur miller nailed them with "all My Sons"...but the story is never over, until profit cannot be made from putting others in harm's way.

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    1. But it sure is important to call them on it, and not allow them "to go gentle into that good night"... to quote another great one of a kind.

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  7. Wow. I hope there's a special circle of hell for these particular evildoers. It's bad enough to stand by and do nothing as people suffer and die. I don't even have the words for people who facilitate death in those who hope to escape.

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