What a bunch of sick bastards.
I just visited the website where that AC-130 gun camera video is posted ( http://www.hk94.com/weblog/index.php?p=62&c=1 ).
I didn't watch the video because I can imagine the horror of it well enough, but I spent about 20 minutes wading through about a quarter of the bloodthirsty comments posted by the mental defectives who think killing is great fun. I'm aware there are people like that - I've seen too many examples of their kind to be naive on the subject - but somehow reading this venomous murderers' chorus made my blood run freshly cold and wonder what it is exactly we're trying so hard to preserve.
Let's assume for a moment that by some miracle our movement is able to make Bush's war machine grind to a halt. We will have (at least temporarily) saved millions of innocent Iraqis from slaughter - and this is certainly reason enough to keep on opposing - but who will save us? Who will save a country where unadulterated mindless hate is the prime currency of such a large part of the population?
One of the most important US goals in its occupation of Germany following the war was the ideological re-education process called "de-nazification." Who will de-nazify America? And without this sort of process, will America ever be worth living in or fighting for?
Bit of a rhetorical rant, I know, but reading all that hateful spewing makes me want to 1) vomit, 2) move to another country, or 3) start slitting nazi throats - not necessarily in that order, and any one reaction not necessarily exclusive of any other. What a twisted, sick world we live in! add your own comments
Hacktivism (english)
Cinque 6:40pm Sat Feb 22 '03
comment#239576
One answer. Also, if it's any consolation, no doubt 99% of those (young white male) characters fit into the couchborne killer category. They'd probably vomit if they even saw a dead body on a battlefield.
RE: 'de-Nazifying America' (english)
skeptic 6:57pm Sat Feb 22 '03
comment#239580
i think it was Jimi Hendrix Experience bass player Noel Redding, upon the group's first touring visit to the States circa 1967-68, who remarked that America seemed to him like "a modernized, jet-propelled version of Nazi Germany."
structurally, America has become more like Albert Speer's vision of the Fatherland than he could have dreamed possible. We have millions of miles of concrete interstate Autobahn, an invincible war machine, a submissive, TV-anaesthetized population, plutocratic government, etc.
the only thing that might 'de-Nazify' this country is a massive, across-the-board economic collapse--
which is nearer than you think.
Education is the key (english) karlof1 7:05pm Sat Feb 22 '03 comment#239583
The majority of the types of people whose comments you read probably never went to college. Only about 25% of the people in the USA graduate with at least a 2 year diploma. This leaves the remaining 75% who never learned how to think or write or examine US history critically without the tools and knowledge to be true citizens and defeat the poraganda system. (Yes, I know I'm generalizing.) Of course, almost all of our past and current perpetrators of crimes against humanity went to college and often got advanced degrees, but I would argue that they constitute a very small percentage. So for the most part, a college education results in what I'll call a compassionate human. This sort of outcome can also happen at good high schools, which means high schools with knowledgable compassionate teachers regardless of where the school is located.
For those who scoff at the above, people have to be taught how to hate, as the song from South Pacific so aptly put it. Thus, people can be untaught because knowledge and wisdom correctly applied can almost always overcome ignorance. As an educator, I see this almost every day when an individual student is confronted with factual information that changes his or her moral compass to one of respect and love toward fellow humans. And I would say that having a functional moral compass is the key to being the type of Good person philosophers and religious leaders talk about. Of course, it does society no good to have people with dysfunctional moral compasses in positions of power. Like Nazi Germany, this is a fundamental root of the USA's problem; it has lacked True moral leadership as demonstrated by True moral ACTS, not words, since the Great Depression. To paraphrase Ghandi, a civilized United States would be a great idea. We have an unprecedented opportunity to do just that. But capitalizing on the opportunity will mean an extraordinary amount of work and dedication to learn, to teach, and to love--an effort unseen as yet in humanity's recorded history.
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=239567&group=webcast
