Chin stroking time

From the top story in the LA Times:

Blacks in Libya face beatings by rebels, rights groups say

By David Zucchino

African migrant workers and black Libyans are targeted by fighters who suspect them of being mercenaries hired by Kadafi.

... Across eastern Libya, rebel fighters and their supporters are detaining, intimidating and frequently beating African immigrants and black Libyans, accusing them of fighting as mercenaries on behalf of Kadafi, witnesses and human rights workers say.

  

I noticed that English-language reporters could quite easily grasp the unfairness of the government of Bahrain electing a new people of foreign mercenaries to thwart majority rule -- I guess because both the natives of Bahrain and the immigrants/mercenaries are Arabs or at least Muslims. So, the media's crucial Who?/Whom? sensors don't get tripped in Bahrain. Therefore, they can think about Bahrain in a straightforward, principled manner: You know, it's really not fair for the government to import foreigners to win elections over the native majority. (Not being good at analogies or at self-critical thinking, they don't notice how this line of thought could also apply to the U.S.).

But in Libya, Kaddafi's mercenaries are largely black immigrants, so that snarls everything up for the American press when attempting to do their Who? / Whom? calculations:

Kaddafi: Bad
Rebels: Good

Immigrants: Good
Mercenaries: Bad

Blacks: PlusGood
Being mean to blacks: Double Plus UnGood

Rebels being mean to Kaddafi's immigrant black mercenaries: Does Not Compute!

It's very complicated, isn't it?

My old articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer