Well, I'm not sure how much there is to "take" on. A man kills 30 some people, including someone I know personally, a close friend of one of my best friends. Pretty clear-cut atrocity to me.
I will say that I try not to let stuff like this get to me very much. Not in a heartless-I-don't-care-about-them way, but a not-letting-fear-run-my-life kinda way.
After 9/11, or after the Madrid M-11 bombings (I had a friend there too, but she's fine) it's a shame that people changed their actions and beliefs out of fear. America gave Bush a blank check and initiated some of the greatest atrocities over seas in decades. Madrid swung the immanent election to the underdog opposition party.
Fear is the signature on that check, and I for one refuse to sign my name.
2 comments:
thanks for responding to this. first, let me just say how utterly sorry i am for your, and your friend's, loss. i really admire your unwillingness to let fear rule. i used to be a bit more (just a bit!) like you. that all changed when i became a parent. i know how fucking cliche that all sounds but it really did.
oh and about the whole president bush thing? i concur 100%. detest the bastard, in fact. i know you have been "tv-less" for a while, but do you ever catch Real Time With Bill Maher? he and several political experts were debating the war in iraq one of his guests had this to say:
"We all do bear a responsibility, going back to 2003, for this war in Iraq. Republicans rubber-stamped everything George W. Bush wanted to do in '03, '04, '05, '06. And there are a lot of Democrats who were timid. They were timid because they were being told that they didn't love America, that they weren't patriots, or they were soft. Now, the question is, what are we going to do, going forward? – Joe Scarborough"
Maher said this:
"Excuse me, this president is resolute. He's on the rag. He stopped having press conferences, which is basically saying, "I'm not talking to you!" He acted all crampy at the debate: "It's hard work!" I kept waiting for him to say, "If you don't like how I do your shirts, then iron them yourself!" He even ran for president like a girl, promising to "restore dignity to the Oval Office." What man gives a rat's ass about restoring an office? A real man thinks the Oval Office lost all its integrity the day Monica Lewinsky stopped coming in there to blow the president.
And then - let me finish - and then in the one area - and I'm talking about Iraq here - the one area where he could use being a little in touch with his feminine side, he acts like the typical stupid male who gets himself lost when he's driving, won't admit it and won't stop and ask for directions. Always insisting, "Please, I know what I'm doing! - Bill Maher"
But he DOESN'T know what he is doing and he is too much of an arrogant asshole to get us the hell out of there. i personally believe this whole thing has become entirely personal now. like he is going all "old testament" on their asses. it isn't about neutralizing terrorism...how can it be? right now we seem to be the biggest terrorists of them all!
UGH.
I agree that we can't let fear run our lives - if this event demonstrates anything it's that sometimes crazy people do horrible things, and we just can't always prepare for them.
it's a sad, horrible thing. Hopefully it doesn't give authoritarians reason to follow it up with more stupid things.
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