I feel like i'm watching the beginning of WW3 on CNN every time i turn it on. I can't even turn it off really because that's the one of two english channels i get. It's very depressing. There are so many things that are screwed up right now. I used to support Israel, but i can't anymore...at the very least not in this. I saw a good quote on CNN tonight about the situation.
It used to be an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
And we all know that kind of justice leaves the world toothless and blind
But this situation is more like a thousand eyes for one eye and a thousand teeth for one tooth
How true that seems. I know that's simplistic and a bit unfair to both sides, but there seems to be no justification for the amount of retaliation Lebanon is paying for what Hezbolla has done. A few hundred Lebanese dead for two soldiers being kidnapped? A few hundred more injured. And that's not even mentioning the destroyed infrastructure. It takes months to build and only seconds to destroy. Even when and if this is over, the ramifications will be felt for years to come...maybe even decades. Everyone talks about wanting peace, but that's all it is: Talk. What they really want is victory...at any price neverminding becoming what that which they seek to fight.
A very goood friend of mine wrote an essay on the matter which i thought was very good:
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
Embracing Reality.
We suffer a great distortion of heart and mind when we seek war and
speak of peace. Once again, we shall have the war many want. The
logic, the justification, the rhetoric are all rock solid, spelled
out by our leaders and expounded upon in our news each day for all
to absorb. The explanations are firmly rooted now, enough to
withstand the silly calls for restraint or an alternative. Once
again, war is the reality we choose. Let us live it fully.
We have all witnessed -- and many have suffered -- the parade of
turbulent violence and war that has plagued the Middle East for
decades, even centuries. Recently, my America has taken the lead in
unleashing the chaos of war and oh, what a brilliant result!
In the last 25 years, the spoken agenda of both sides of this
conflict has been the quest for peace. Friends, it is not peace
that is desired, it is victory. The words reveal the truth. The
goals we choose are to destroy Hamas, annihilate the Great Satan,
obliterate Hezbollah, and wipe Israel or is it Iran -- off the
face of the earth. The explicit desire is to vanquish and
subjugate those that threaten us for only then, we have convinced
ourselves, shall we have peace.
These exercises are pursued with complete righteousness and
commitment on all sides. We draw justification for violence from a
well endlessly replenished by past bloodletting. Each side clings
to a narrative that fully explains the destruction of our cities
and homes and the death of our fathers, mothers and children. It
is, we are reminded, an unfortunate but unavoidable part of war.
We are nourished by the solid thump of a 155 mm Howitzer round
pounding a far-off position. The scream of a rocket arching toward
a Jewish town is too irresistible to stop. The glory of blowing
oneself up on a bus is the pinnacle of a life well lead. We relish
in the satisfaction of a perfectly placed air strike and the
slaughter of the infidels drinking tea in a cafe. These are the
truths we choose and we breathe them into our childrens hearts so
they will know the path to glory.
As we turn our eyes from the truth of our atrocities, we wrap our
actions in the right to self-defense and the right to resist
occupation. We seal our commitment to violence with the words of
our God. Death becomes God's will.
So off we go now, careening into another tragedy, clinging to the
fantasy that this time, war and violence will deliver a decisive
victory. Israel will no longer exist, the great Satan will be
destroyed, Palestinians will reclaim their land, Hezbollah -- or
the next manifestation of the dangerous and radical fundamentalists
-- will suddenly no longer be radical, fundamental or dangerous.
We bask in the warmth of our familiar fantasies, horrified to be
sure, but determined nonetheless.
"What else can we do?" proclaims Israel and my own America. We
must go on, we must have this war because there is no other
option." Soaked in desperation and hopelessness, punished by
subjugation and humiliation, "What else can we do?" declares the
spiritual leader as an Arab teenager straps a bomb to his chest and
slips onto a bus.
In our world, all alternatives to war in the Middle East are
nothing but illusions because we have chosen to look no further
than what we know. While we speak of peace, we have chosen war, and
perhaps that is the best we can do.
But as we live out this next sad chapter of destruction, let us at
least dispense with the fantasy of decisive victories, vanquished
foes, and peace. Let's surrender the illusion that Israel will
disappear or that the radicals will see the light and open a fruit
stand. If we are to war, let's dig deep into the reality of our
choice and let the blood flow! At least then we can live in an
honest relationship with reality.
I hate this whole situation. It's depressing and tragic and i feel so helpless about it. The world could be going to hell around me and there's nothing i can do about it. Poor Lebanese and Israeli civillians. The world has gone to hell around them and there's not a goddamn thing they can do about it. People make me sad. I'm going to need to listen to some classical music or look at some good art to remind myself of the redeeming qualities of humanity. Peace out.
Very depressing, really.