BY SEAN HEALY
What do you call it when someone regards the lives of people with one particular skin colour and nationality as being worth more than the lives of those with another skin colour and nationality?
US President George Bush professes outrage at the deaths of an estimated 6000 innocent people in New York. But what do you think his reaction will be when, on his orders, the US military takes the lives of probably even more innocent people in Afghanistan?
CNN and other US television networks devoted around-the-clock, frequently weepy, always outraged, never reflective coverage to the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. But how much coverage do you think they will give to the human tragedy that will unfold in the Middle East when the US bombing starts, and how much to portraying the war as a real-life video game?
When people from the Middle East were named responsible for the carnage of September 11, politicians, military "analysts" and media commentators were quick to blame their actions on the "mindless" hatred of the US bred by "Islam" and to justify all-out, "who cares about civilian casualties?" retaliation.
One man has already been killed in "retaliation" in the US because he was dark-skinned and wearing a turban, even though he was a Sikh.
But if the culprits of the World Trade Center attack had proved to be white Canadians, do you think George Bush would now be preparing to bomb and then invade Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver?