The Normalization of a Terrorized Iraq

BY SAM SMITH

Insurgents bombarded Sunni and Shiite civilians and policemen with suicide bombs and gunfire throughout Iraq today. The wave of attacks drew light on the reality that democratic elections and new leadership have done little to quell religious tensions in one of the worlds most conflict-heavy nations. The day's death toll has climbed to 68, making it the deadliest day in Iraq this year.

Despite the unsettling news, little surprise, even interest has been reflected by the governments and medias of the so-called 'Western World'. With record numbers of American troops dying in Afghanistan, erratic stock markets rising and falling like never before and a increasingly gripping fear of another recession, its no wonder news of death in Iraq is easy to ignore.

And ignore they have. During MSNBC's hourlong news cycle, not one mention of the historically deadly attacks made the forefront. Nothing at all was said about the matter between 11am and 12am. News of Jessica Alba's baby girl and Mike Huckabee's guitar-playing skills were clearly more important. MSNBC's website, which has been reporting on the Iraq attacks all morning, and to their credit, made it a top story, felt for some reason that going on the air about the tragedy was not important.

This is part of a far larger pattern when it comes to the western media. Not only does news of suicide bombings and dead kids depress a populace that craves anything but a reminder that Americas failings in the region have left it unstable, but it reminds us that we cannot successfully police the world like we used to. Perhaps its more simple than this, however. A public that has heard this sort of news for over a decade has become disinterested. There is no captivation factor in Iraq anymore.

Whatever goes on in Iraq is normal. Missing limbs and smoke rising from a dusty skyline is normal. Skeletons of blown apart buildings and mountains of rubble is normal. We've seen it all before and its just normal now. We're desensitized to it, thus no longer infatuated if we ever were. The media is tired of the story, and maybe we are too.