Selective outrage
The universal fight for human rights is increasingly undermined by selective outrage in our communities. We see an outpouring of emotions when tragedies unfold in places such as Ukraine or Israel, but this same intensity is often absent when it comes to genocides and systemic oppression in other places. The lack of empathy and attention to the suffering of minorities in our own country, as well as regions such as Gaza, Myanmar, South Sudan and many more, is deeply troubling and leads to dehumanization of entire populations.
Why do we feel compelled to rally around certain conflicts while ignoring others? One critical factor is that media coverage, often shaped by geopolitical interests, can influence where we direct our attention. The way certain people are portrayed can affect our emotional response, often coloring our perception of their suffering. Conflicts involving non-white populations, especially in Africa or the Middle East, tend to be underreported or framed in ways that depersonalize the victims, making it easier to ignore. This selective outrage perpetuates the idea that some lives matter more than others. All people deserve dignity, justice and protection.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously stated, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” To build a world rooted in justice, empathy must be universal. True advocacy must challenge us to speak out for those suffering, regardless of politics, race, religion or culture.
Saher Mirza, Interfaith Coalition in Support of Human Rights, Virginia Beach
Fair shake
Our president is being lambasted by people who say they have the best interests of America in mind. But are their criticisms really fair? Sure, some seemingly bad stuff ultimately detrimental to our nation is happening now. It appears to be directly related to the policies of the Trump administration, but that could be just coincidence.
Are the massive layoffs of federal workers really hamstringing government efficiency and even imperiling the lives of millions around the world? Admittedly, people in charge of stopping epidemics before they become pandemics are being laid off or reassigned, but so what?
That happened to a lesser extent during his first term as well. The Trump administration removed two thirds of our Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff from a public health agency in China, who were there for the specific purpose of preventing pandemics. And then COVID happened. But it wasn’t President Donald Trump’s fault, just ask any Republican. Nothing like that pandemic had occurred for over a century, so it was obviously just bad luck.
Our president couldn’t catch a break back then. This time things are different. This time, Elon Musk and his team of geniuses are helping him out. Many of them are young, some barely out of their teens, and they’re smarter than everyone else, which means the future of America is in good hands. Not only that, but Russia, America’s number one geopolitical foe, is completely on the side of the Trump administration and vice versa. So how could anything go wrong?
Gary Ollila, Chesapeake
Federal debt
It’s time everyone stopped whining about President Donald Trump’s effort to eliminate “fraud, waste and abuse” in the federal government. We are spending ourselves into debtors’ prison and it has to stop.
The national debt is more than $36 trillion. Last year we borrowed $1.83 trillion. That’s more than we spent on defense and Medicare combined. We paid more in interest than on either of those programs. The president hired Elon Musk to tackle this problem. Of course he’s not elected. Neither is anyone else who works in the federal bureaucracy. This is going to hurt. Get used to it.
Richard Hawley, Newport News