Comments on: Celebrating Murder http://www.deadissue.com/archives/2004/09/02/celebrating-murder/ At home drawing pictures of mountaintops Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:23:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Chris Austin http://www.deadissue.com/archives/2004/09/02/celebrating-murder/comment-page-1/#comment-10 Chris Austin Mon, 20 Sep 2004 22:13:46 +0000 http://deadissue.com/archives/2004/09/02/celebrating-murder/#comment-10 This is all indicative of human nature and the effect governments can have on our perceptions over time if the same thing is repeated enough times. The example with the Russians I used in the article was a personal experience. When I came home telling my father that students were visiting the USSR, he went into a sermon about how life was over there. By listening to him for about 10 minutes I had no doubt in my mind that none of those students would be coming back alive. He was wrong of course, but his emphatic explaination was so convincing...because he was my father of course, but I learned at a young age through this, that people like to think they know everything. It's comforting to be able to categorize things and drop them neatly into a numbered hole. Ignorance is bliss, I guess until you decide to get over yourself for long enough to realize that nobody's really 'chosen' in this life. I'd argued for a while a few years back about all of us being 'lucky' to have been born in the USA as opposed to Somilia, and it was often the most difficult thing to get people to wrap their heads around...as we've been brought up in a way to let us know that 'we rule!' To remove the mysticism and the sence of having been 'chosen' rather than just lucky as hell, well that would make us even with...'those people'. Perish the thought. There's a lot to be said for this dynamic of our nature, and I wish I had more time right now. Unfortunately I've gotta jiboo...get in my car and get busy becoming a slave to the traffic light. Thanks for posting a response...most weeks you can actually hear crickets chirping on this site...whether you have speakers hooked up or not. Peace - Chris This is all indicative of human nature and the effect governments can have on our perceptions over time if the same thing is repeated enough times. The example with the Russians I used in the article was a personal experience. When I came home telling my father that students were visiting the USSR, he went into a sermon about how life was over there. By listening to him for about 10 minutes I had no doubt in my mind that none of those students would be coming back alive. He was wrong of course, but his emphatic explaination was so convincing…because he was my father of course, but I learned at a young age through this, that people like to think they know everything. It’s comforting to be able to categorize things and drop them neatly into a numbered hole. Ignorance is bliss, I guess until you decide to get over yourself for long enough to realize that nobody’s really ‘chosen’ in this life. I’d argued for a while a few years back about all of us being ‘lucky’ to have been born in the USA as opposed to Somilia, and it was often the most difficult thing to get people to wrap their heads around…as we’ve been brought up in a way to let us know that ‘we rule!’ To remove the mysticism and the sence of having been ‘chosen’ rather than just lucky as hell, well that would make us even with…’those people’. Perish the thought.

There’s a lot to be said for this dynamic of our nature, and I wish I had more time right now. Unfortunately I’ve gotta jiboo…get in my car and get busy becoming a slave to the traffic light. Thanks for posting a response…most weeks you can actually hear crickets chirping on this site…whether you have speakers hooked up or not.

Peace – Chris

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.deadissue.com/archives/2004/09/02/celebrating-murder/comment-page-1/#comment-9 Anonymous Sat, 18 Sep 2004 22:25:16 +0000 http://deadissue.com/archives/2004/09/02/celebrating-murder/#comment-9 The following paragraph you write in your article Celebrating Murder: The enemy in today’s scenario is the ‘terrorist’, and besides the fact that they reside in a certain part of the world and use religion to recruit their members, there isn’t much that is said by our leaders about these people. The same can be said for the entire region in which they come from. I must say that I agree with this statement, but would also indicate that the same can be said of "them" toward our culture. The citizens of the Arab world have a skewed view of our people too. To believe that American citizen's are an evil people is laughable, or more aptly put, ignorant. We are the most donorous nation when it comes to charity, needy and food. To correct this problem of perception, one gal's thought is to open the channels of communication. There is a lot we can learn from each other as a people and we need to stop trying to fight over differences and explore more closely our similarities. Internet is a great tool for this, the problem is that these nations are too poor to have electricity nevermind computers or an ISP. We need a political leader who will help bridge the gap between our differences. Only then will the world truly become a better place The following paragraph you write in your article Celebrating Murder: The enemy in today’s scenario is the ‘terrorist’, and besides the fact that they reside in a certain part of the world and use religion to recruit their members, there isn’t much that is said by our leaders about these people. The same can be said for the entire region in which they come from.

I must say that I agree with this statement, but would also indicate that the same can be said of “them” toward our culture. The citizens of the Arab world have a skewed view of our people too. To believe that American citizen’s are an evil people is laughable, or more aptly put, ignorant. We are the most donorous nation when it comes to charity, needy and food. To correct this problem of perception, one gal’s thought is to open the channels of communication. There is a lot we can learn from each other as a people and we need to stop trying to fight over differences and explore more closely our similarities. Internet is a great tool for this, the problem is that these nations are too poor to have electricity nevermind computers or an ISP. We need a political leader who will help bridge the gap between our differences. Only then will the world truly become a better place

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