How the script has changed with the Paris Bombings for Beirut, Lebanon

There are many articles about why people have seemingly (or really) cared more about France than Lebanon. Here is one more, but not as an explanation in general, but why specifically I feel far more solidarity with France than Lebanon, and why I will continue to do so in this case. Hint – It has nothing to do with Religion or the Color of Ones Skin.

1. The constant chatter about caring more is a complaint against human nature and, frankly survival. Yes, all needless death is sad. But if we were to get spun up about every.single.atrocity, we would not be able to do anything other than shake our heads in sorrow every moment of the day and be overwhelmed. Search the news and databases, and you can find something nearly every minute of the day. We have to pick and choose, not based on value but on sanity. I guarantee there are tragic deaths today, and you can make your Facebook meme to bemoan them being ignored. But if you mourn every single one equally, even if one had the time and effort, it cheapens the end result. We become saturated and end up feeling helpless. Better to focus and take action against the group responsible for both sets of deaths than complain about comparative value.
2. For those that claim racism, or that people hate Islam. Nothing is further from the case for me. But what is clear, for me, is that while people needlessly died both in Paris and Beirut (and in Kenya, of course [oh and Afghanistan <and the drug wars in Mexico>]), here is the difference, and you can see it in the whitewashing of the news over the last few days (seriously Google the Beirut Bombing and look how the story and headlines have changed over the week.). The ISIS attack in Paris was 100% against a civilian populace. The Beirut Bombing was a Hezbollah target. That’s right, ISIS targeted Hezbollah, in a Hezbollah stronghold in the Hezbollah controlled area of Beirut. This was NOT an attack against a civilian populace, but an attack against another Terrorist organization in an area known to shelter those terrorists, and at a minimum, a large populace passively (and many actively) supporting Hezbollah goals (who use Iran’s slogans of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”). Granted, there are innocents in both places. War and death are horrible, but the Context makes this different. From Reuters “The explosions were the first attacks in more than a year to target a Hezbollah stronghold inside Lebanon, and came at time when the group (Hezbollah) is stepping up its involvement in the Syrian civil war — a fight which has brought Sunni Islamist threats and invective against the Iran-backed Shi’ite group.” (even in this, the news whitewashed Hezbollah as an Iran-backed Shi’ite group, and not a “Iranian State-Sponsored Terrorist Group). So when everyone says “What about Beirut?” I mourn for the innocent, but if you want to truly look at this, it is a Terrorist Group using civilians to hide from another Terrorist Group that doesn’t mind the collateral damage. I don’t feel bad for Hezbollah, Iranian Proxy Terrorists that have directly murdered over 300 Americans with multiple Embassy Bombings, the Hijacking of TWA 847, and other incidents. This isn’t against Islam, this is against murderers of my fellow Americans and Marines and those that harbor them. I mourn for those that were sadly included, but I don’t mourn for the City or the Country like I do for Paris, France.
3. France? America’s First Friend. Our BFF, even if at times we don’t like their Speedos or snobbery and they don’t like our loud obnoxiousness. Lebanon? At a minimum, tacit supporter of the killing of Americans. At best, a Frenemy. Doesn’t mean I think all of Lebanon is bad, or that someday I won’t hope that they will be a true friend to America, or again, that everyone deserved to die, but if you want to know which country I am going to hold a candle for, I’m going to hold it for France. Their waiters may be jerks, but they don’t cheer for the Terrorists when Americans die. Lebanon?  I mourn for a world where a country has Hezbollah as part of their legitimate, elected government.