why I only take the news in small bytes these days...

[lagilman]

In the course of the day, news came about the shooting at the Holocaust Museum. A friend asked me if I was upset. I shrugged. "Of course I'm upset. But that there are crazy white-power bigots out there who want to kill all the Jews is not exactly news," I tell her. "I'm sad for the family of the police officer who was killed, I'm angry it happened at all, but come on, I made you watch "Fiddler on the Roof" almost a decade ago. What part of 'they tried to kill us, they failed, let's eat' did you think was a joke?"

My friend, whom I have known for almost half of my life, looked at me thoughtfully. "All of it," she admitted.

Welcome to reality. I am a Jew. There are people who think I am sub-human, that I am a Christ-killer, that my people 'made up' the Holocaust, that I shouldn't be allowed to date their sons or go to their schools or breathe their air. They hate me as much as they hate Blacks, or Asians, or transgenders or homosexuals. One more shot fired, one more brick thrown, and all I can think "he was 88 years old. Please god, his children and grandchildren learned differently."

Hate is pointless. It doesn't make you better or smarter or richer, or give you the high moral ground. It just eats energy and, taken too far, kills people.


In lighter news, here's today's math:

exercise:
20 minute weights workout @ gym, plus 2 miles walking

writing:
1900 new words on Vineart2
900 new words (more or less) on MUSTANG

food consumption:
6 cups of coffee
half a box of triscuits and 6 oz of cheese
1 tablespoon peanut butter

Oh. Yeah, that would explain the fuzzy clarity I'm experiencing...

(yes, Mom. Dinner is in progress even as I type)

Comments

[wolfsilveroak.livejournal.com]

I've been to the USHMM. It sticks with you for life.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

I hear you.

[icedrake.livejournal.com]

Damn. And the one day I, a BBC addict, wasn't paying attention.
Pass the hamentashen, please.

[wedschilde.livejournal.com]

i just don't get the whole hate other people because of X thing. i really don't. it just doesn't make any sense.

:::sighs:::

[wedschilde.livejournal.com]

i do think that the guard who defended the museum and its patrons with his life is a hero. much honour to him. :::nods::

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I've been shying away from the news lately . . .

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

It's pretty crappy news, but as you say, not exactly a surprise that there are such people (although I hesitate to use that particular noun in this instance) out there. After the events of the last century, not to mention the previous ones...

We went to a memorial in Prague years ago and it was an exceptionally sobering experience.

[lagilman]

Even FOX News is getting freaked out by its own viewers' emails. http://bit.ly/4XX1L

[lagilman]

I visited Yad VaShem many many years ago and it left a rather strong mark on me (that was not matched, actually, until I saw the Oklahoma City memorial, which has much the same feel of anger, sadness, and determined remembering to it).

The Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation is effective, but in a completely different way.

(I wish I could say that there might someday not be a need for such things, but I'm of the 70% trash, 25% neutral/5% noble view of humanity)

[sorek.livejournal.com]

I kept thinking the shooter's reported age must have been a typo. How many 88 year olds are able to use firearms?!?

[wedschilde.livejournal.com]

I am very glad that he called out against the tone of those emails. I am definitely not a Fox News person... far from it but there has to be lines drawn. Hate speech is a scary thing because there's often not a big jump from speaking to doing. Always scary.

:::sighs::

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately age is no limit on craziness.
Also on gun use. There are many responsible seniors who are hunters, but then there is the odd lunatic-urban paranoid, hermit survivalist, or extremist of any ilk and any age.
This is beginning to feel more and more like the insanity of the 60's riot summers, with individuals with a lot of destructive power instead of mobs.

[lagilman]

I can deal with the individual lunatic. The individual lunatic can be put down. Mobs infect and spread.

(vampire vs zombie horde, if you will)

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

I am getting the impression that we do have a mob-created in extremist chat groups. These crazy individuals are just the stones that are thrown by that mob - even if the mob part has its existance in virtual reality. That is why it is so difficult to combat.