“I’ll be just fine, says planet”

This is a great article from The Daily Mash.  I came across it via Paul Kingsnorth’s brilliant blog and it fair made me chuckle so it did.

T’is a quick read and well worth it.

Where’s the Outrage?

First of all, I apologise for the negative, melancholic even, tone of this blog lately (well it is Good Friday, isn’t it).  Anyway, if I have any readers left at all, all I can say is sorry, I think the Sophie Lancaster case and the Iraq anniversary have really got to me.  Normal service will be returned soon.  In the meantime – I’ve started so I might as well finish singing my blues . . .

Last week I started a conversation with my friend at work about the increase in teen violence.  I was thinking in particular about the murder of Sophie Lancaster.  I was furious, utterly dismayed and very surprised when my friend’s response was . . . shit happens.

Yes it does.  And when we hear about these attacks we feel saddened for a minute or two then we shrug and get on with our lives.  And of course, we do need to get on with our lives.  We can’t dwell on the woes of the world all the time. 

But when it reaches a point at which we are so de-sensitised to the hatred . . . when we just accept these things as an inevitable part of our society . . . when we stop being outraged by such cruel and gratuitous acts of violence just because shit happens, that’s when we stop caring.  And when we stop caring, they’ve won.

See the dehumanisation of the innocent

Hear the cries of the desolate
See the tears of the exploited
Hear the sighs of the weary
Sense the fear of the abused
Hear the wails of the torture chambers
Feel the anguish of the refugee camps
Sense the shock and hurt of the defenceless victim
Feel the pain of the killing fields
Heal the sorrow of the unloved child

See the smug arrogance of the leaders and the perpetrators

See it and be outraged.  Because while there is outrage, there is the will to beat it.

Tales from the East

My belly-dance teacher is on the road.  It’s her daughter’s gap year and they’re both travelling the world (well, some of it) for six months.  They are keeping a journal of sorts and they email little snippets every week which would be very interesting if only the envy would stop blinding me. 

Earlier this month they were in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.  They visited the War Remnant Museum (apparently, the locals call the Vietnam war the American war) and were shocked and sickened by the images they saw.  Agent orange has certainly left it’s legacy.  They told me kids are still being born with terrible deformities and the landmines are still injuring people, with many amputees being reduced to begging on the streets.  It’s hard, she said, not to feel completely anti-American.

This week they were in Delhi, getting jiggy with the locals and taking part in some Punjabi dancing with a local family which they said was . . . “ banging and the food was great.”  They also went to see the Taj Mahal which was every bit as impressive as the photo’s.  Tomorrow they are going to an elephant farm.  They met a couple of art students today, whose family happened to own an elephant farm.  They wangled an invitation and tomorrow they are going to visit the farm to see the forty elephants and a four-month old calf – after which they will join the family for dinner, watch a game of elephant polo and join the festivities for the start of the Holi festival.

Sigh.

Anyhoo,  I’m looking forward to their next journal entry.  It’s almost as good as being there . . . without the cockroaches.