And while I’m at it, I don’t care about George Zimmerman, either – about his day in court, about his encounters with law enforcement, about his failed relationships.
I don’t care about Bill Cosby.
I care about the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement that Congress is considering.
I care about the secrecy surrounding this agreement.
I care that its “secret” is that it will “lower wages” and protect “the top wealth sector” (as Noam Chomsky observes).
I care that the agreement will undermine food safety, medicine, intellectual property, and other important regulations.
I care that it will compromise our already-compromised democracy.
I care that – to the men and women who have been locked behind closed doors with Michael Froman (our Citibank-groomed U.S. Trade Representative) – what everyday people think about the trade agreement doesn’t really matter.
I don’t care about Bill Cosby.
I care about Tamir Rice.
I care that six months have passed and yet investigators still haven’t questioned the police officer who killed him.
I care about the suffering of Tamir Rice’s mother and of Tamir Rice’s community.
I care about the fact that we too often fail to connect the dots between extreme economic inequality and the extreme policing of the poor.
I care that we don’t connect the dots because we don’t care enough about extreme policing of poor African Americans.
I care that the unemployment rate for African Americans is 9.6 percent.
I don’t care about Bill Cosby.
I care about Palestine.
I care that the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement includes provisions championed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
I care that these provisions treat the Occupied Territories as if legitimately held by the state of Israel.
I care that these provisions would penalize governments that want to boycott, divest or sanction commercial activity connected to the Occupied Territories and Israel.
I care that these provisions actually “encourage illegal settlement building” (as Rabbi Joseph Berman states).
I care that our African American president will probably sign off on a trade agreement that will support apartheid.
I don’t care about Bill Cosby.
And while I’m at it, I don’t care about George Zimmerman, either – about his day in court, about his encounters with law enforcement, about his failed relationships.
I care that some justice-seeking people have been celebrating the fact that Zimmerman was shot at by Matthew Apperson.
I care about how this celebration rationalizes gun violence, retributive violence, revenge.
I care that those who have been celebrating don’t sound that different from drone strike apologists.
I care about the myriad ways we have internalized war on terror logic.
I care that for some, justice, violence and hate apparently go hand in hand.
I care about the absence of compassion and about the possibility of “victims becoming perpetrators.”
I care about the violence of men, everywhere.
I care about justice and I wish for George Zimmerman and Bill Cosby release from fear, hatred, enmity, violence – theirs, and ours. I wish for them, too, a willingness to follow the path of truth and reconciliation, so that they might offer reparations to those whom they have harmed.
But I don’t care about them. I don’t care to be entertained.
I care about our nation’s involvement in the Iran/Saudi Arabia proxy war in Yemen.
I care about our unchecked drone strikes in Pakistan and in whatever other place the president chooses.
I care about our distractions, our quietism…..