Bhopal to Baghdad
Today is Monday, 3 December 2007.
Before the USA/USE conquest of Iraq, the latter was hardly free of corruption. However, thanks to the incompetence of the operational execution of the Bush-Cheney regime’s voracious appetite for oil and glory, corruption is now the almost-universal rule, not the frequent exception.
Heck of a job.
Check out this article in yesterday’s The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/world/middleeast/02baghdad.html
And all that misery is on top of, e.g., 4 to 6 hours of electricity daily, on a good day. Makes it sorta hard to keep those Hot Pockets cool. Or operate Grandma’s iron lung.
Some folks say, Why don’t you do something, instead of just whining?
Pointing out evil and injustice is in itself doing something.
I refuse to put a knife to the throats of those who close their eyes to the realities of injustice and misery, in the hopes of changing their attitudes. I’ve spent almost four decades, as a practical experimental social engineer, attempting to find a strategy (not involving violence) by which to convince the citizens of the greatest empire in the history of the planet to stop looting the planet. (US are 5% of world population; US consumes 20% of everything consumed.)
I’ve failed utterly thus far, but I decline to end the attempt.
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Today is the anniversary in 1984 when a poorly-maintained Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, India released a cloud of poison gas. More than 3,000 were murdered in the instant, more than 20,000 died of complications, and hundreds of thousands suffered health problems.
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Added in the evening, for the benefit of "Anonymous":
Before the USA/USE conquest of Iraq, the latter was hardly free of corruption. However, thanks to the incompetence of the operational execution of the Bush-Cheney regime’s voracious appetite for oil and glory, corruption is now the almost-universal rule, not the frequent exception.
Heck of a job.
Check out this article in yesterday’s The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/world/middleeast/02baghdad.html
And all that misery is on top of, e.g., 4 to 6 hours of electricity daily, on a good day. Makes it sorta hard to keep those Hot Pockets cool. Or operate Grandma’s iron lung.
Some folks say, Why don’t you do something, instead of just whining?
Pointing out evil and injustice is in itself doing something.
I refuse to put a knife to the throats of those who close their eyes to the realities of injustice and misery, in the hopes of changing their attitudes. I’ve spent almost four decades, as a practical experimental social engineer, attempting to find a strategy (not involving violence) by which to convince the citizens of the greatest empire in the history of the planet to stop looting the planet. (US are 5% of world population; US consumes 20% of everything consumed.)
I’ve failed utterly thus far, but I decline to end the attempt.
_______________________________________________________
Today is the anniversary in 1984 when a poorly-maintained Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, India released a cloud of poison gas. More than 3,000 were murdered in the instant, more than 20,000 died of complications, and hundreds of thousands suffered health problems.
_______________________________________________________
Added in the evening, for the benefit of "Anonymous":
posted by HH at 1:27 PM
3 Comments:
"Pointing out evil and injustice is in itself doing something."
Those that can, do. Those that can't, whine and point from the cheap seats. Guess we all have our purpose.
That "those that can, ... seats" thang.
Is this a quote which loomed impressive in junior high, or did you recently read it on the marquee at a particularly discount fundamentalist church?
Not to go too excessively Judeo-Christian on thee, but there is a tradition in which truth is spoken to people, and they then cannot deny that they have the responsibility themselves to decide if they wish to follow good or evil. (This is also known as "pointing out", or the prophetic tradition. You got a problem with it, whine at, e.g., Jeremiah. Oops: he's known as "The Weeping Prophet", which you would probably vilify as whining.)
This is distinct from the Rambo-Reagan false Jesus, who puts bullets in the heads of all who don't bow down to his interpretation.
On a personal note: "Cheap seats" is a cheap shot. I always sit court-side, in the defendant's section.
Further deponent saith not. (Until next time.)
Hey Anonymous,
I think what HH is saying is: He CAN and he DOES.
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