AJC Co-opts Virginia Tech Professor’s Heroism
I was listening to the radio today, something I do less and less of, when I heard the sobering voice of the announcer speak about the heroic actions of Liviu Librescu. The announcer pointed out to me what most of the world already knows. Liviu was a Jewish holocaust survivor who gave his life for his students on Holocaust Memorial Day. Then came the tag line. This was a commercial for the American Jewish Committee. Why co-opt his heroism as your own AJC. Liviu didn’t save those kids because he was Jewish. He didn’t save those kids because he was a Holocaust survivor. He didn’t save those kids because he was a professor or because he was 75 years old. He saved those kids, and gave his life in doing so, because he was human. While Cho Seung-Hui showed us the darkest side of being human, Liviu showed us the brightest side. For me, Liviu is none of the things in his bio. For me, Liviu is the hope that we all should share for bright and peaceful future.
I speculate that the AJC like many media outlets grabbed onto the fact that Mr. Librescu was Jewish rather than the fact that he was just one hell of a human. Perhaps they wanted to honor his heritage, of course the extra publicity doesn’t hurt their cause either. Today we see that people cannot be separated from their religion any more than they can be separated from their country of origin or their skin color. The world wants to put us into little boxes so that we can be easily categorized and described. Muslims = backwards people that want everyone to be like them, U.S. Citizens = Spoiled brats with no moral values, Mexicans = poor people that are willing to do the jobs the spoiled U.S. citizens feel is beneath them, etc, etc… Media around the globe loves this because they no longer have to conduct true journalism. A few well spoken sound bites on what “everyone knows”, throw in an occasional fact (perhaps out of context), and you get The News. Well that’s my sound off. Humanity, the true grand experiment.
Drew…
In few years we will see a result…