by DzM Wed Jun 07, 2017 5:43 pm
firehazard wrote:[T]he response of the same Tories to the latest attacks is to propose a ripping up of human rights legislation, and thus encroaching on some of the liberties which we all share. Which is sort of doing the dickheads' job for them, if you think about it.
Once I get out of the micro-view of these disasters (the innocents killed and wounded, the dickheads that thought it was justified, etc) and start looking at the macro-view, this is what gets me the most depressed. It's like there are two giant horrible forces racing each other to see who can come up with the most horrible way to build a world for all of us to live in. On the one side you have these nihilistic dickheads that think killing innocent people is a valid way to express themselves, or authoritarian dickheads that are ready to through individual liberty out the window in response.
I am sadly resigned that random attacks and violence are going to happen in our world. It's terrifying, and infuriating, but there's not a lot I can do about it other than keep living my life. I try to comfort myself by saying that other parts of the world have it much, much worse than I do and even in those places the odds of dying or being maimed in a intentional terrorist attack are lower than being hit be a car (or in many parts of the world, of dying from a lack of clean water or a steady supply of nutritious food). I refuse to let myself be paralyzed with fear over what a small handful of nihilistic dickheads do. I hate that I am resigned to the fact that these kinds of events happen and will go on happening, but that's the world I live in.
I am frightened and infuriated that after every single one of these events, though, there are heads of government ready to pounce with PATRIOT Acts and "if our human rights laws prevent us from taking action, then we will change those laws," and that there are a cadre of citizens urging them on out of a misplaced and misguided sense of terror. Warrantless wiretaps? No problem! Indefinite detention? The writ of habeus corpus is for wusses! Extrajudicial assassination of not only foreign citizens, but our own too? Well that just sounds reasonable! Black site torture and execution? Well that didn't work well int he past, but I think it's just 'cause we didn't torture hard enough! Kindness and compassion for people fleeing dire circumstances (including genocide, mass rape, starvation, arbitrary execution, etc)? But they're weird, talk funny, and are just downright FOREIGN! (And going back a little in time: The whole community is to blame for what these dickheads are doing, so I think we're pretty much justified using machine guns against crowds at stadiums. After all, SOME of those people were probably thinking of doing bad things to us!)
I am horrified at the people that would take opportunities like this to strip away the rights of the individual. I am horrified at the people that allow themselves to give up their own rights and elect incompetent strong-men for the promise of "safety" (which, no matter how many rights are given up, seems to always be elusive). And I am disgusted at the peoples and nations that take these opportunities to turn inward and embrace tribalism mixed with a "fuck the others" mentality.
As for the dickheads prompting all this - I can't understand them at all. Their depraved level of nihilistic rage is unfathomable to me. These are, literally, people that want the world to burn. They can't possibly think that if they use just one more truck to run down just a few more tourists people will say "You know what? We were totally wrong about these guys. They seems OK!" or fly just a few more airplanes into a few more office buildings the world will say "Well shoot. I think we've totally misunderstood these guys. Let's take a fresh look at their grievances." I can't wrap my head around how anyone, of any religion or cultural background, can somehow convince themselves that their cause is so just, so worthwhile, so justified that they will choose to kill themselves while killing smiling, laughing, joyful people. How they can say "Yes, YES! Look at these monsters! They are so low, so evil, so depraved that I am willing to kill myself just so long as I know that I'll be killing them too! It will be TOTALLY WORTH IT, because they will be dead and their governments will be more restrictive and my remaining friends and family member's lives will be made more miserable! Everyone I see, and everyone I know, will be made more miserable or dead from the action I am about to take!" To these dickheads all I can say is "Fuck you. We're still here."
[quote="firehazard"][T]he response of the same Tories to the latest attacks is to propose a ripping up of human rights legislation, and thus encroaching on some of the liberties which we all share. Which is sort of doing the dickheads' job for them, if you think about it. [/quote]
Once I get out of the micro-view of these disasters (the innocents killed and wounded, the dickheads that thought it was justified, etc) and start looking at the macro-view, this is what gets me the most depressed. It's like there are two giant horrible forces racing each other to see who can come up with the most horrible way to build a world for all of us to live in. On the one side you have these nihilistic dickheads that think killing innocent people is a valid way to express themselves, or authoritarian dickheads that are ready to through individual liberty out the window in response.
I am sadly resigned that random attacks and violence are going to happen in our world. It's terrifying, and infuriating, but there's not a lot I can do about it other than keep living my life. I try to comfort myself by saying that other parts of the world have it much, much worse than I do and even in those places the odds of dying or being maimed in a intentional terrorist attack are lower than being hit be a car (or in many parts of the world, of dying from a lack of clean water or a steady supply of nutritious food). I refuse to let myself be paralyzed with fear over what a small handful of nihilistic dickheads do. I hate that I am resigned to the fact that these kinds of events happen and will go on happening, but that's the world I live in.
I am frightened and infuriated that after every single one of these events, though, there are heads of government ready to pounce with PATRIOT Acts and "if our human rights laws prevent us from taking action, then we will change those laws," and that there are a cadre of citizens urging them on out of a misplaced and misguided sense of terror. Warrantless wiretaps? No problem! Indefinite detention? The writ of habeus corpus is for wusses! Extrajudicial assassination of not only foreign citizens, but our own too? Well that just sounds reasonable! Black site torture and execution? Well that didn't work well int he past, but I think it's just 'cause we didn't torture hard enough! Kindness and compassion for people fleeing dire circumstances (including genocide, mass rape, starvation, arbitrary execution, etc)? But they're weird, talk funny, and are just downright FOREIGN! (And going back a little in time: The whole community is to blame for what these dickheads are doing, so I think we're pretty much justified using machine guns against crowds at stadiums. After all, SOME of those people were probably thinking of doing bad things to us!)
I am horrified at the people that would take opportunities like this to strip away the rights of the individual. I am horrified at the people that allow themselves to give up their own rights and elect incompetent strong-men for the promise of "safety" (which, no matter how many rights are given up, seems to always be elusive). And I am disgusted at the peoples and nations that take these opportunities to turn inward and embrace tribalism mixed with a "fuck the others" mentality.
As for the dickheads prompting all this - I can't understand them at all. Their depraved level of nihilistic rage is unfathomable to me. These are, literally, people that want the world to burn. They can't possibly think that if they use just one more truck to run down just a few more tourists people will say "You know what? We were totally wrong about these guys. They seems OK!" or fly just a few more airplanes into a few more office buildings the world will say "Well shoot. I think we've totally misunderstood these guys. Let's take a fresh look at their grievances." I can't wrap my head around how anyone, of any religion or cultural background, can somehow convince themselves that their cause is so just, so worthwhile, so justified that they will choose to kill themselves while killing smiling, laughing, joyful people. How they can say "Yes, YES! Look at these monsters! They are so low, so evil, so depraved that I am willing to kill myself just so long as I know that I'll be killing them too! It will be TOTALLY WORTH IT, because they will be dead and their governments will be more restrictive and my remaining friends and family member's lives will be made more miserable! Everyone I see, and everyone I know, will be made more miserable or dead from the action I am about to take!" To these dickheads all I can say is "Fuck you. We're still here."
