I went to bed pretty depressed last night - I woke up about 3:00 in the morning and just could not fall asleep, I was so disturbed by the images of what was done at Fallujah. There are a few incidents that have disturbed me similarly through out my life -
- The stories of India-Pakistan partition, tales of massacred families. One book made me cry so hard for so long that my mom hid it fromm me for about three days.
- The Holocaust - especially the Diary of Anne Frank. In a creepy coincidence, I share my birthday with Anne Frank. I read the book in the Spring of the year in which I was due to turn 16, whioch was when she wrote the diary and died just before she could turn 16.
- The Lynching of the Israelis at Ramallah - I could not wipe away from my mind the glee with which people were showing off their blood-stained hands to the mobs.
- The Rape of Nanking - again, another situation where people forgot that the other side were people too and treated killing, raping and torturing them as a sport.
- Fallujah, where little kids danced around and poked burnt corpses as if they were nothing but rag dolls meant for play.
What was it about the most of these situations that really made me ashamed to call myself human? It was the pure joy and sadistic delight with which these sub-bestial beings acted and the way in which they treated their fellow human beings. It is the pleasure they took at the cruelty they inflicted on fellow human beings. I call it sub-bestial because animals wouldn’t do that. They wouldn’t kill another of their species to make a point or to just show how much superior they are to another of their own.
I used to buy into the thought that we human beings are somehow a much evolved species in the entire world and so deserve to lord it over all others. Now, when I see all this I am not so sure. It feels like evil is lurking in the heart of every human, simmering very close to the surface just waiting for a chance or an excuse to be unleashed. I maybe getting melodramatic here, but I really don’t seehow we can call ourselves any better than animals when we act like this.
It is just so easy to lose hope for humanity when things like this happen. It is easy for us to believe that humanity is a lost cause and humans are going to be evil regardless of how much they evolve - some just manage to control the evil within a little better than otherrs because they probably have a bigger incentive to control it. If you were out in the wild, you can be sure you can be killed by a “hungry” animal. In the human jungle, you don’t have to watch out for hungry humans, just a psychopath who finds happiness in carving you up slowly.
I keep thinking is this really the kind of world I am bringing my newborn into…then I realize he is human too as am I. Someday he is going to grow up and make his own decisions. He is going to touch some lives directly or indirectly. He is going to affect them in ways he might not even understand. Maybe if this one person can be a good and safe person to be around, maybe I will have done a little more towards pushing the evil side back down a bit…
Posted by shanti at April 4, 2004 9:28 AMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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Ofcourse evil has to lurk in each individual so that he/she knows to differentiate it from the good! And when he/she has differentiated it into 2, not knowing which is which….comes the point when he/she makes the decision…! The force behind good or evil is the same, (like energy cannot be created or destroyed, takes one form or the other)The force just takes one form in one individual and the other in another! :nice:
Posted by: pseudofreud at April 4, 2004 11:30 PM
That is really good commentary, Pseudofreud! I think I do agree with you, though I am not really sure just how many people are even capable of or willing to choose good over evil.
Posted by: Shanti at April 5, 2004 7:37 AM
The capability or the will to choose what you think is right over wrong is termed sooner or later by people or ourselves as DESTINY! Its all in a circle like when a dog tries to grab its tail by the mouth and goes round and round!
Posted by: pseudofreud at April 5, 2004 10:23 AM
What was particularly disheartening about the Fallujah lynchings is the mooted response of the American media and the Arab world. Let me rephrase that - the misguided reaction of the American media. For months now, we have been fed a steady stream of reports on how we do not understand the frustration of ordinary Iraqis, and if we simply stopped and listened, we would get much more cooperation.
Bullocks - these four Americans were not military men and women. They were trying to build up a country that has been misgoverned for 20 years. A section of Iraqi society saw an opportunity to strike, and instantly make themselves a power to be reckoned with in a post June 30th government.
It is for this reason that such violence cannot go unpunished. If all it takes to be considered a leader in Iraq is to murder innocents (a phenomenon not uncommon in the Arab world), then our odds for success become slimmer. On the other hand, if the US convincingly demonstrates that murder will not win you a seat at the table, that should hopefully dissuade other would-be warlords.
The reaction from the Arab world, well - that is becoming an example of continuosly lowering expectrations. For all their notions of refined manners and worldliness, most Arab civil societies are superficiialy so. They expressed shock when the Iraqi army caved, they expressed shock when Iraqis looted their museums and offices, and they expressed shock at Fallujah. For a group of nations that find honor in blowing up pizza parlors and buses, and urge negotiation and understanding with despots, shock should not be the reaction. The actions at Fallujah are just another manifestation of the principle that having control over violence is the surest route to achieving ones goals.
Posted by: KXB at April 5, 2004 11:35 AM
Shanti, Your post shows how much the incident has affected you. As a mother, I can only say that watching and even thinking about these kinds of incidents, increases your blood pressure and its not good for the baby at this stage.
Posted by: ripples at April 5, 2004 11:37 AM
KXB, I agree with you that there needs to be a strong response to whatever happened. I also hope that the response is tempered with common sense so that people who are not already with the thugs turn towards them. Condemnation for the deeds though, should be unequivocal from all quarters of concerned people - Arabs, Americans or the world, because the inability to do so only makes others wonder if they approve of it instead.
Ripples, thanks for the concern - this was one of the reasons why I have been keeping away from political discourses for a while now. This incident was a just a little too much for me to stay detached. Hopefully, it will get better.
Posted by: Shanti at April 6, 2004 9:27 AM
this kind of thing breeds in ppl who have themselves been the victims of these atrocities and feel revenge is sweet.u kiled my father and mutilated his corpse now let me have my revenge. a four yer old has to witness his father being beaten up and his mother gang raped, his whole life hatred builds up in him. when he grows up he becomes a suicide bomber. whos fault is that. that how u get million mini usamas springing up.
shanti its time u opened ur eyes and looked at the oppression ur precious america is committing worldwide and then comment on those poor rotting corpeses in fallujah, what abt the baby whos was killed in fallujah, what was his crime.get thise F******ing soldiers out now b4 the world loses another baby
Posted by: moses at September 25, 2004 3:12 PM