07/07/05

I’ve had a great swell of emotion for the people of England today. I, for some reason, feel the need to express my most heart-felt condolences. Not that it helps… I can’t imagine the horror that these people must be going through at this time. In a rare moment, I even prayed today. I have been going through the same range of feelings that I did during 9/11.

Regardless of the rationale that was employed to conceive of this act, it is nothing short of insidious brutality. I believe that the people responsible must be apprehended and punished. Nothing that I can think of justifies this. Nothing.

I understand that for every action, there is a reaction. For every trade tower there is an Afghanistan, and for every Iraq there is a London. When is this going to stop? At what point will common sense prevail? Is there ever going to be a time when a sense of human decency prevents us from butchering one another?

Likely not I suppose.

I found myself looking at a graphic novel called V for Vendetta. An astute and talented man named Alan Moore wrote it. In a nutshell, it’s about a post apocalyptic England, where fascism is on the rise, and one man manages to take the government to task. It’s a very violent, but equally fascinating story. The lines between good and evil have been muddied to the point where it becomes difficult to figure out whom to root for.

That is where I am in all of this. I’m not sure whom to root for. The first world is broken. I’m not sure it’s even fixable. I’m not surprised that others hate us. We’ve become decadent, and greedy. We live in a wasteful society that consumes more than we need to. (And by insane margins…)

I am convinced that this terror thing is a case of double jeopardy. Both sides have fucked us all. The powers that be do not represent my interests. (Hell, of all the G8 leaders, there are 7 I didn’t even get a chance to vote for, and they get to make decision that will affect me… How does that work?) They never have. But the terrorists threaten the security of my world.

We need to find a way to sort this out. There has to be a more fair way of dealing with the conflicts between us. Otherwise, sooner or later, the jig will be up. Humanity will become like the dinosaurs, just a footnote in earth’s history.

Anyway… This is all reactionary blather on my part.

And for those of you that have read V for Vendetta…

England Prevails.