Yesterday Joss Whedon (aka the creator of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and ‘Firefly’) had himself a mighty rant/impassioned speech about the murder of a 17 year old Iraqi girl named Dua Khalil.  Her murder was videotaped by the same men who kicked, stoned, and beat her to death in a public street.  Instead of helping her, they whipped out their camera phones. 

There were security officers standing outside the area doing nothing, but the footage of the murder was taken – by more than one phone – from the front row. Which means whoever shot it did so not to record the horror of the event, but to commemorate it. To share it. Because it was cool.

The whole thing is impassioned and tragically beautiful, but this is my favorite part:

All I ask is this: Do something. Try something. Speaking out, showing up, writing a letter, a check, a strongly worded e-mail. Pick a cause – there are few unworthy ones. And nudge yourself past the brink of tacit support to action. Once a month, once a year, or just once. If you can’t think of what to do, there is this handy link. Even just learning enough about a subject so you can speak against an opponent eloquently makes you an unusual personage. Start with that. Any one of you would have cried out, would have intervened, had you been in that crowd in Bashiqa. Well thanks to digital technology, you’re all in it now.

Amen Joss, amen.  He also links in his post to Equality Now, a feminist activist group which he and his mother have supported for years. 

Finally, they have arrested four of the men who participated in this brutal killing.  Call me a cynic, but I doubt they will get more then a slap on the wrist, if that.