I've been trying to ignore everything. On purpose. I'm sorry. But what can I do?
I guess not be silent, for starters, even when it's clear that speaking will do no good.
What the hell is happening in Jenin? Can we get some neutral observers in there? I'm not asking for peace, but can't we try to prevent an atrocity? By either side.
No matter what your beliefs, can't we agree we need correct information? And more of it?
One side says the Palestinians are leaving the bodies of their fallen comrades in the streets on purpose. To sway international opinion. The other side says that Israeli snippers have the whole camp pinned down and that it is impossible to even get to their wounded. They claim that ambulances are being shot at. They even claim the Israeli's tricked a group of elderly men and women out of hiding with offers of fresh water, captured them, and strapped them to the front of advancing tank columns. That sounds outrageous, and I don't have a lot of faith in either of the sources I just pointed to (but I like that you can at least tell where their sympathies lie.) But what if it's true?
My point is just that we need more information. I'm not talking about peace keeping forces, or anything like that (although maybe that's a good idea,) I just want some neutral unarmed observers on the ground. I'm aware that this is the sort of thing the U.S. government would never allow. So maybe it's a lot to complain that Israel won't allow this. But I complain about the U.S. too. I mean when I'm not trying to ignore everything because I feel powerless. And hopeless. And dumbstruck by the brutality of humans.
What the world needs is a cheap wireless ip-enabled video camera with one of those crank to charge batteries. Then we could just drop (or smuggle) cases of them into war zones. I'm sure the people on the ground would be filming. Not sure how to keep the world's air forces from knocking out the base stations you'd need. Maybe they'd have to be peer to peer. A giant mesh of witnesses. You'd need a ton of them then, but if they were cheap enough....
That might actually help a lot.
Back to transparency and encryption. If everyone could see what everyone else is doing all the time, then nobody could pull anything sneaky. But how would we feel about those eyeballs on us? Either we all straighten out, or we make hypocrisy look good. There are no neutral observers; the notion that we could fill that role is a function of power, not perspective. The lies told by both sides are addressed to that power, in a vain attempt to exchange their shame for ours. There's plenty to go around, so smile for the camera.
human shields. also, people with cameras these days tend to get shot. nothing neutral about that perspective on power.
So the willingness to die is both the problem and the solution. Someday we'll all be willing to live, or just too tired to die. What's the opposite of a suicide attack? Giving birth on the battlefield? As they used to say, make love not war.
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I guess not be silent, for starters, even when it's clear that speaking will do no good.
What the hell is happening in Jenin? Can we get some neutral observers in there? I'm not asking for peace, but can't we try to prevent an atrocity? By either side.
No matter what your beliefs, can't we agree we need correct information? And more of it?
One side says the Palestinians are leaving the bodies of their fallen comrades in the streets on purpose. To sway international opinion. The other side says that Israeli snippers have the whole camp pinned down and that it is impossible to even get to their wounded. They claim that ambulances are being shot at. They even claim the Israeli's tricked a group of elderly men and women out of hiding with offers of fresh water, captured them, and strapped them to the front of advancing tank columns. That sounds outrageous, and I don't have a lot of faith in either of the sources I just pointed to (but I like that you can at least tell where their sympathies lie.) But what if it's true?
My point is just that we need more information. I'm not talking about peace keeping forces, or anything like that (although maybe that's a good idea,) I just want some neutral unarmed observers on the ground. I'm aware that this is the sort of thing the U.S. government would never allow. So maybe it's a lot to complain that Israel won't allow this. But I complain about the U.S. too. I mean when I'm not trying to ignore everything because I feel powerless. And hopeless. And dumbstruck by the brutality of humans.
What the world needs is a cheap wireless ip-enabled video camera with one of those crank to charge batteries. Then we could just drop (or smuggle) cases of them into war zones. I'm sure the people on the ground would be filming. Not sure how to keep the world's air forces from knocking out the base stations you'd need. Maybe they'd have to be peer to peer. A giant mesh of witnesses. You'd need a ton of them then, but if they were cheap enough....
That might actually help a lot.
- jim 4-09-2002 3:56 pm
Back to transparency and encryption. If everyone could see what everyone else is doing all the time, then nobody could pull anything sneaky. But how would we feel about those eyeballs on us? Either we all straighten out, or we make hypocrisy look good. There are no neutral observers; the notion that we could fill that role is a function of power, not perspective. The lies told by both sides are addressed to that power, in a vain attempt to exchange their shame for ours. There's plenty to go around, so smile for the camera.
- alex 4-09-2002 4:35 pm
human shields. also, people with cameras these days tend to get shot. nothing neutral about that perspective on power.
- dave 4-09-2002 5:10 pm
So the willingness to die is both the problem and the solution. Someday we'll all be willing to live, or just too tired to die. What's the opposite of a suicide attack? Giving birth on the battlefield? As they used to say, make love not war.
- alex 4-09-2002 6:09 pm