Blessings and Atrocities

Blessings and Atrocities
Psalm 128-129

On the satirical Web site The Onion, one of last week’s headlines proclaimed, “Lack of Media Interest Makes Genocide Cover-Up Unnecessary.” The “story” explained that an African warlord had declared that global disinterest in the wholesale slaughter of one of the ethnic groups in his country had made him regret the effort he put into covering up the atrocities— burying the corpses in secret mass graves, burning villages to destroy evidence, and so on. He had expected media scrutiny or a U.N. fact-finding mission. “Next time, I’ll leave them lying where they fall with the machetes still in their heads.” The Onion specializes in bad taste, but its report makes one say, “Ouch.” Genocide in Sudan raises little interest in the West...