The Crimean Tragedy, Again

The situation in Crimea makes me sick to my soul.  This land that was taken by imperialists from it’s rightful owners, the people slaughtered and forced from their homes to a frozen waste by the Soviets, has suffered in a way that is unimaginable to almost everyone.  Now the “civilized” world stands by while the same tragedy unfolds before it’s blind, stupid eyes.  If you love civilization, if you love liberty, if you love human dignity, if you have any ounce of compassion for your fellow human beings you will not let this stand.

Morally this is the same as if you see a child who lives across the street from you being abused and you do nothing.  Then, the next day, the child is abused again and you do nothing.  The next day the child is abused again and you do nothing.  This goes on and on for years and years.  One day the child is beaten to the point where the child can not stand and can barely speak and still you do nothing.  Then, the abuser is sent  to live next door and the child recovers a little.  Then, the abuser comes back to do it again, and still you do nothing.

How are people are capable of such callousness?  Who are we to think that we are better than monkeys?  The only way we can prove to ourselves that we are more than animals, more than unfeeling, unthinking, consumers, more than slaves, is to stand up for the rights and dignity of our fellow human beings.  Now is our opportunity to act.  Now is the time to show the despots of the world that they have no real power.  Now is the time to pick up a hammer and start smashing things.

Unknown Knowns

I recently listened to a podcast by Dan Carlin.  It was a very thorough and interesting account of the events leading up to WWI.  What strikes me most about those events is the old guard’s refusal to acknowledge that the world had changed beyond their control or understanding.  It was right there in font of their faces yet they decided to ignore it and carry on as before regardless of the cost.  The cost:  almost 17 million lives and hundreds of billions of dollars.

I think that today we are in a very similar situation.  The powers that be are trying to hold on to a dying system and if they hold on too tight we can have a global catastrophe on our hands.  The most recent financial catastrophe is just a taste.  This BBC article by John Gray sums it up nicely :  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25680144

P.S. Thanks for the title John.