The happenings of the last few days are worth us spending some time to ponder and try to put things in perspective. If not anything else, some of us see them as lessons for and on humanity. A bit more comparison between the 2 phenomena in my previous mail below would hopefully be enlightening especially for those who a few years back thought that people warning them of the pending American, British and Australian designs to rob Iraq/Afghanistan were mere conspiracy theorists.
http://cckplanetblog.blogspot.com/2004/12/mobile-disaster-in-perspective.html
Like the African story on the ‘Hour of the Idiots’, it always come a time when idiots, no matter how much they try to avoid it, will have to face the truth. We should and must do that for we owe it not only to those before us who had helped build a better place for us but to those after us who can justifiably expect us to leave it no less than we found it. The 2 things we all should strive to leave behind in a state no worse off than we have are the environment and human ignorance. The latter is included only because of human’s capacity for supreme greed, arrogance and destruction that only awareness (the ‘other side’ of ignorance) can ameliorate. So here’s for the fools in us to think about.
Shock & Awe – Embedded Differently
When one event happened, early TV pictures showed the massive power of tidal waves sweeping everything aside or flinging people and things against anything firm enough to stand its ground. We watched in shock but strangely we felt no anger but renewed respect for the great powers of Nature. Later pictures of people crying and dead bodies strewn all over tugged on the sinews of our hearts and only the most insensitive ones can hold back those tears and shared sense of grieve for our fellow humans. In this event, there was nothing to hide, nothing can or need be hidden. As Nature made clear who is boss few dared to question.
When the other event happened, we were fed pictures provided by so-called embedded reporters who showed us awesome American & British firepower in what they arrogantly named Operation Shock & Awe, but none of the actual destruction to properties and lives they can only be intended for. They made not attempt to hide the fact that non-embedded reporters like those from Al Jazeera are taken care of surgically. Thus many of the less foolish among us had to rely on our powers of imagination to visualise the destruction and sufferings surrounding the deaths of the hundred of thousands of Iraqis. But instead of the shock & awe those Bush-like idiots intended, we had only anger and disgust for these people. Now we are told that those that dare to stand their ground against these idiots are mere terrorists.
Intelligence of Men of Science versus Men of War/Deceit
When one event happened, programs were shown explaining the workings of Nature, the tectonic plates behind the quakes & waves, and how only in June 2004, seismologists were warning governments in the region of the impending calamities that only the last few hundred years or so of modern science and our recognition of the powers of the logical and rational mind could have produced. Despite the lack of action by the governments involved to the warnings from the scientists, we felt enlightened and grateful for the work and intelligence of such men, and saw a chance that humanity can perhaps better survive such future disasters through the help of technology.
In the other event, despite years of ‘preparing world opinion’ the reasons for war were so lame that the whole non-Anglo-Saxon and non-Christian world, and America’s own weapons inspectors went against them. But they went ahead anyway, and pictures of great fireworks and demonstration of American/British technology were explained with much fanfare (as if it was some game show) by men in fatigue whose profession revolved around the art of war. Many governments went along with it. Some did it so quietly it was like walking around with their own face covered in self-conscious shame. Others supported loudly and with enthusiasm - like the Australians, a living proof of the theories of genetic inheritance (from the loud mouth hooligans that their criminal forefathers were). Despite that, millions of informed people around the globe went up ‘in arms’ in our little way and through the Internet and other un-embeddable media made sure that these liars do not get off scot-free. When the force of scrutiny and the world’s conscience were brought to bear on the Bush-like idiots, the excuse to kill & rob so many fellow humans was embedded lamely on faulty intelligence of men whose profession is the art of deception and deceit.
Mother of It All
One event created tidal waves of such magnitude that people had never seen anything like it before. An Indian man quoted by Los Angeles Times described what he heard and saw before his eyes as ‘they came like possessed beasts’.
The other event had the Americans proudly deploying a new bomb they created for Afghanistan & called ‘the mother of all bombs’ and promptly showed us the beast that possessed them.
Taunts & Contributions All Round
For one event, no government in the world had qualms extending their aid & help to the affected countries. But we do not see at its forefront the ‘greatest’ nation in the world. Without prodding, people from all walks of life instinctively came together to contribute in whatever way they could thus making the work of local governments and people from aid organizations like the Red Cross/Crescent just a little bit easier. Enemies left their animosities aside to help those in need as did Pakistan and India, and the Indonesian military and Aceh rebels. Few men will walk out of this event as lesser beings.
In the other event, the Bush-like idiots proudly pronounced that the world needed leadership against global terror that only it can provide but had to cajole, bribe and threaten others into joining them. They even used taunts like ‘you are either with us or you are against us’ and ‘those not in belong to the old world’. To rally their fellow idiots they even revived the millennia old idea of a crusade so entrancing to such idiots. If they had the gall to ask common folks on the ground in many parts of the world for contributions, they will likely get an earful. Many walked into this event as men and will walk out unable to exorcise the devil that will forever haunt them.
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