Life imitates pop-culture in Gaza
Sharyn Lock at Tales to Tell:
Tonight, we collect two men carrying a little girl of 13 months. She is still warm, but EB finds no pulse. If I understood correctly, she has had breathing difficulties since she was born, and in the rocket attack that just happened, her mother held her so tight she wasn’t able to get enough air. I ask to clarify this story several times because I want to think I’ve misunderstood.
Reading this brought me back to the scene in the movie finale of M*A*S*H, where Hawkeye is haunted by memories of being trapped in the rear of a truck, as a Korean woman strangles a chicken in order to stop it from making any noises and drawing the attention of the enemy. Ultimately, this recollection is revealed to mask a repressed memory, in which it was not a chicken, but an infant that was suffocated to halt its crying.
I make this association not to reduce the sadness or horror of Sharyn Lock’s reporting. In fact this scene is for me one of the most haunting moments in television, film, and literature that I can recall, and I shuddered when I heard that it had happened in Gaza, and that these things are happening now.