#Losing hope The longer I live, the more I have my doubts about humanity.
by Chris D., Unknown News Jan. 12, 2009
Hundreds dead in an unending assault going on for weeks. Trapped like rats in closed
borders, Palestinians have nowhere to escape from the devastation as Israel claims it gives
phone calls to the individual occupants of houses about 15 minutes before all Hell breaks
loose and calls that fair warning for evacuation. The western world is split in three as
I used to believe that
people could pull together and change the course of the world, it was a matter of opening
their eyes, taking responsibility, and realizing their own power.
The longer I live, the
more I have my doubts about humanity, and about just how much longer I'll live to
continue doubting.
everyone rushes to take a side. The side that supports Israel wholly and unconditionally,
absolving it and damning the Palestinians. The side that supports the Palestinians wholly
and unconditionally, absolving them and damning Israel. And the side that says to just let
them kill each other and save the rest of us the headache because it's not our problem.
Whose problem is it? Who's to blame?
Is it the Israelis, who continue this slaughter citing fear of the random small scale
mortar and missile assaults that have claimed fewer than two dozen lives over the last
year? Who have broken as many truces and cease-fires as any of their enemies? A government
that has enjoyed an inordinate amount of favor from international super-powers preventing
any kind
of diplomatic deterrent from the countries it is at odds with? Whose territories
were all carved from the very countries they now war with almost daily? Their fulfilled
promise of inflicting a Holocaust upon their enemies is heinous, hypocritical,
intolerable, and ultimately wrong.
(Territorial sovereignty has been the basis of Israel's ongoing conflicts, complicated by
Britain's unilateral award of the land to the fledgling nation as reconciliation for the
Holocaust. Religion was worked as a tool of propaganda but is not at the center of the
fighting as many believe. There are many soundbytes of leaders declaring that they don't
recognize Israel's rights to exist, what they are referring to is their legitimacy as an
independent nation. Well, I can't speak for everyone, but that's mostly what they're
referring to rather than inferring genocide.)
Is it Hamas that's to blame, or the Palestinian government? If they truly had control over the seemingly
random rocket attacks then they should most certainly be held to task over the deaths they
caused, not only in Israel but in the areas from which they staged the attacks. These
rocket teams launched their strikes from populated areas and moved on to let the citizens
take the heat, fuelling the fierce rhetoric concerning human shields that doesn't seem to
account for the fact that the shield is being battered long after the one who held it has
fled the scene and gone into hiding. This is undeniably cowardly and a baiting tactic,
daring Israel to retaliate against the most vulnerable of targets in lieu of their actual
enemies.
Is it the UN that's to blame? They have been quick to punish the smallest and weakest of countries for
aspirations that irritate members of the Security Council. They have been quick to act for
the sake of political agendas and slow to act in humanitarian interests. Formed to prevent
any one country from declaring total superiority over the world, they have invariably
attempted to enforce that control instead. In the wake of a series of illegal invasions
This might be the last you hear of me for some time.
I'm going to try that whole 'living in ignorance' bit for a while since it seems to be all the rage these days.
I'm just going to keep my head down, worry about my own problems, and let everyone else deal with their own.
Maybe I'll be happier ...
they have stood idly by, or have simply chosen to give their voiced support to the side
with the strongest backer. The US into Iraq, Georgia into Ossetia, Israel into Gaza. When
a situation arises that can't be solved with a few simple threats the UN resorts to
holding it's breath, making concessions to international laws for the sake of convenience.
Letting bullies get away with extortion for the sake of avoiding a confrontation.
Are we all to blame perhaps? We've allowed the world to go mad. We've bastardized our
principles for the sake of our interests. We've closed our eyes to evil to preserve our
peace of mind. We surrender control for security and absolve ourselves of responsibility
by means of our lost control. We distance ourselves from everything through
disassociation, it's not our problem or it's someone else's fault. I used to believe that
people could pull together and change the course of the world, it was a matter of opening
their eyes, taking responsibility, and realizing their own power. The longer I live, the
more I have my doubts about humanity, and about just how much longer I'll live to
continue doubting.
This might be the last you hear of me for some time. I'm going to try that whole 'living
in ignorance' bit for a while since it seems to be all the rage these days. I'm just going
to keep my head down, worry about my own problems, and let everyone else deal with
their own. Maybe I'll be happier, assuming there's nothing I can do about the things that
horrify me, and have a little more peace of mind if I just pretend that it isn't happening
at all if it only happens where it doesn't affect me directly. If so many people are
content living as sheep watching the rest of the flock get fleeced and only complaining
when it's their turn to get shorn and eventually lined up for the butcher's block then far
be it from me to parade around in my shiny black coat.
Chris D.
Excellent questions, and we have no answers.
I do hope that taking down time gives you some inner peace, which seems to be the only peace we're allowed. And of course, I also hope you'll come back eventually -- occasional voices of sanity, maybe yours, could be the butterfly effect for a better future. It's not likely, but it's the world's last hope, so we'll be right here flapping our wings until the end.
