He cries for Americans alone: Our wars and violence destroy families — those kids deserve Obama’s tears too

www.salon.com|Ben Norton

At news conference Tuesday, Obama announced he’s taking executive action to address gun violence. Tears fell from his eyes as he dramatically spoke of the tragedy, as he lamented that American children are dying.

But what of all the countless other children killed by the U.S. government, overseen by the Obama administration? Do they not get tears too?

Gun violence is a horrific problem in the U.S., and Obama is right; it is not normal. No other country has such an extremely high incidence of gun violence. If there is an element of truth to the myth of American exceptionalism, it is that America is exceptionally violent.

And there is no doubt that Obama’s tears are genuine. It is indeed a horrific tragedy that American children — or anyone else — has to die from senseless gun violence. The president no doubt feels genuine remorse at this deplorable reality.

But genuineness and moral hypocrisy are not mutually exclusive; one can feel genuine sympathy about one form of injustice or oppression while ignoring or even actively carrying out another.

Gary Slutkin, M.D., was never a misfit. A physician by training, a “very conventional training,” he added, Dr. Slutkin had devoted himself to designing behavior change and epidemic control programs. As a chief resident at the prestigious San Francisco General Hospital, Slutkin worked on a tuberculosis prevention program. After two years, new cases of TB infection in the surrounding area dropped by over 50 percent, and the rate of those completing TB therapy increased from 50 to 95 percent.

Next stop was Somalia. When Slutkin told his mentor at San Francisco General Hospital where he was going, his mentor told him it was the biggest mistake he could ever make, that he was jeopardizing his career.