The world of air travel in Europe was forever changed by the March tragedy that tore so many innocent and helpless people into a violent death. What the German suicide pilot Andreas Lubitz did on that Germanwings flight one year ago was unprecedented in this part of the world and has forever left people wondering whether the man behind the cockpit door is in fact a madman.
Sad as that incident was, when it comes to killing people in Europe, it’s hardly more than a blip. The premier league of premature deaths sees different players. German doctors rank fairly well, killing north of 19,000 people each year through malpractice. The top scorers are substances like alcohol and nicotine, accounting for more than 150,000 deaths annually in Germany alone.
So why are people even talking about ISIL and their negligible death toll? And when I say negligible, I mean only in Europe of course. In Syria they do a proper job and finish off those 30-odd Brussels victims before breakfast.
Are these recent puffs in Brussels terror? No, not on the global scale of suffering. Go to the Middle East where Israel commits its crimes against humanity on a daily base. Go and see how Palestinian women die in childbirth by the side of the road because Israeli soldiers deny them access to hospitals. Go where soldiers execute people in the streets. That’s terror. Every single day.
Or go to Africa where women are being raped and killed in ways so brutal and atrocious, you don’t even want to know about it. That’s terror. Every single day.
Belgiums are wailing, asking what they did to deserve the bombings. If I believed in karma, I’d say it might be payback for what you did in Rwanda 90 years ago. But I don’t believe in karma, so I’ll have to say you did nothing. It was your American friends who destabilised Iraq and gave birth to ISIL. And supplied them with billions worth of modern weaponry.
Maybe it’s time we stop messing up the world so that our children can enjoy it in peace. But of course a scared population is so much easier to govern. Anybody read 1984? Orwell was ahead of his time in many ways.
Man, I really miss the bullshit-free mountains.
