Its been almost a year since my last post! Anyhoo here are some thoughts that I felt were better suited to this medium than Facebook.
I think what happened recently at Ft. Hood was a sad and terrible event but I think a lot of people will take what happened out of context. When someone goes on a killing rampage, whether it be adolescents at a school, a mother and her children, or a disaffected ex-employee at his old work, many individuals (the media especially) try to make sense of what was going on in the killer's mind. They try to apply logic and reason to his or her actions. They try to analyze the situation and figure out what could have been done and who is to blame. This is an impossible task and an exercise in futility.
These people are defined by their insane actions. For every one person that commits such atrocities, I guarantee there have been thousands who have had similar thoughts and never acted on them. It is often natural to be angry or enraged (at times) but to commit to action that terrible anger is abnormal and inexcusable. I will be the first person to acknowledge the line between sanity and insanity is a tenuous one, however; I believe once that line is crossed it is impossible to analyze that person's actions in the light of logic or reason.
On another note, and I've mentioned this before, the individual involved in the Ft. Hood shootings also failed in his task for a number of reasons. His actions were the expression of a selfish, small minded individual wholly consumed in his megalomania. The reports try to indicate that he was upset because of an anti-Muslim attitude in the military and that he was also angry about what he felt were irresponsible and unjust wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan. By engaging (supposedly, but most likely) in the actions that he is accused of, he only perpetuated those attitudes and actions that he was so hell bent against.
Firstly, his actions only increase anti-Muslim attitudes within the military. Those who were previously suspicious of different cultures will only become more intolerant. Secondly, his murderous rampage perpetuates the stereotype of the Islamic war against the West and makes the efforts of those trying to withdraw the U.S. from the Middle East only that much harder.
As a last point, I feel that people don't look to the past as much as they should. During World War II a number of minority groups strove to demonstrate their loyalty to their country despite the terrible things that had been done (and were currently being done) to their people. The Tuskegee Airmen distinguished themselves despite rampant racism and continued the legacy of the African Americans who served their country in the Civil War. Perhaps more poignant and more applicable to the current conflict, the 442nd Infantry Regiment was an Asian American unit comprised mostly of Japanese Americans who fought in Europe. The unit became the most highly decorated military unit in the history of the United States Armed Forces, including 21 Medal of Honor recipients. They did this all after their families were stripped of their land, their businesses, and their homes and after their grandparents, parents, and siblings were confined in internment camps.
The actions of one insane, selfish individual are just that, individual actions. We should not let his deeds tarnish the image of the thousands of U.S. service men and women who put their country before themselves and their duty before their own personal needs.
Woo... long time no post. Anyhow, you know how awesome / scary the President's new Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, is? This is an excerpt from the New Yorker's 6 page article on Rahm:
"I noticed that over his left shoulder, on the credenza behind him, was an official-looking name plate, which he said was a birthday present from his two brothers. It read, “Undersecretary for Go Fuck Yourself.”"
Haha, and thats from his brothers! The full article here
Barack Obama was just sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America. Now its time for the country to get down to the hard work ahead :)
So not to jinx things but Barack Obama appears to be kicking some major ass right now due to 1) the failure of the McCain campaign and 2) the utter devastation inflicted upon the world's economic markets. I was looking through some YouTube videos and I ran across Barack Obama's talk at Google on November 14th, 2007. It runs an hour in length but its really pretty amazing to watch in full. If you want to see what type of person Barack Obama is and what some of his policies are this is a great way to learn more.
On another note, if you're voting in this coming election cycle (and you should be), be sure to Vote NO on Prop 8.
