Humanity in History and in War (I have a headache and this post is really quite disjointed and weird, and I can't tell if it makes sense, but, here you go uber.) (513 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: blog
Rating: 1 on 11 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by La Nuggeta (View user info) at 2004-05-27 14:47:25 EDT
Dehumanization
---> we're all people with families and emotions and jobs, regardless of when we lived or where we lived.
***
In the year 1910 Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum aquired what would become one of it's most prized possessions; the funerary box of Djedmaatenshankh. The coffin is a beautiful specimen-Djeds face was rendered with care, and the curves of her body draw ones eyes to the intensely beautiful hieroglyphs that adorn the casket. Because of the detail put into her coffin, we know that she was a chantress at the temple of Amun, in Karnak. Not only was her entire life was devoted to singing songs of praise to the god Amun-Re, but her husband lived a life in service of the same god- he was the doorkeeper of the temple.
Each day Djed woke from the room she shared with her husband, and prepared herself for her god. Many purification rituals would have been required of her... did her mind stay on Amun-Re during this time, or did she worry about cleaning her house, and preparing dinner? Did she chastise herself when her mind wandered to the ordinary, when she was supposed to be reveling in Amuns power and glory? Was her singing a "job" for her, or did she feel exaltation, knowing that she was living her life for Amun?
This woman walked each day through the halls of Karnak. The very same temples that are crowded today with German and Asian tourists, flash bulbs popping, cigarette butts being ground into the dirt, brows being wiped... 3000 years earlier these temples were full of pious Egyptians, tending to the care of their many gods.
Push the button to fast forward history a bit, say, to the 1800's. The temple has crumbled a bit... the roof is missing, yet the pillars in the hypostle hall still stand tall, reaching towards the sun (the sun, which has lost it's divinity... it's no longer Ra... it's simply the sun now). Some Egyptian men loiter about the area... sitting in the shade of the monuments. They aren't talking about Amun-Re, or Isis, or Osiris... no, they are talking about Allah now. A Scottish man sits in the distance, quickly scratching away at a drawing. There is a man standing over the artist, holding an umbrella. Two men stand off in the distance behind him, tending to a camel and mule. The men with Mr. Roberts (or, as they call him, "Misser David") aren't interested in him... they've been traveling with him for weeks, and by now they are used to his pale skin (which is darkening day by day) and light hair. The Egyptians loitering about, however, have never seen a man lighter than themselves. Like the Egyptians of Djeds time, these men have no concept of "race". Of course they notice the difference in skin tone, but they have not yet developed the modern tendency to categorize people based solely on their skin-color and facial features. Fortunately for them, racism is a relatively modern ill of society. Not one person in the scene we are observing knows that David Roberts is working on something very important. Not even David knows what he's doing. He's making the only visual record of Egypt before it is destroyed by tourism.
Each one of these people has their own story, their own humanity.
The fat American woman who is walking through the temples today has her humanity. I want to hate her for her sloth. I want to hate her because she's bitching about the heat. I want to shake her and make her realize how amazing her surroundings are. I want to tell her the story of Djed, in detail, with embellishments... just to get her to realize that there is more to life than the comfort of sitting in a cool room with a donut in each hand.
Yet, she has her own life, her own history, her own beliefs.
The man with leathery skin, running after me, hounding me about buying an amulet from him... he's human, too.
The men who beheaded the American, they are also human.
Is anyone truly at fault for what they do? Or are we all simply programmed by our surroundings? Are our lives in our own hands, or are we destined to be a certain way and think a certain thing based on our experiences?
Hitler- Human.
Stalin- Human.
Vlad- Human. (props to reallybored, his post got me thinking) http://www.ubersite.com/m/34345
What events shaped these men? Is Hitler really at fault for fulfilling his destiny? Did he choose to murder so many people, did he choose to change the fate of the entire world... or was it bound to happen simply because the events in his childhood... a culmination of the people who raised him, taught him, loved him, hated him... things they said, did they get filed away in his brain, then did he fit these things together, like pieces of a puzzle, and say, "Eurkea... the Jews are overrunning Germany, I must do something!"?
The men who cut off the Americans head. What happened to them to allow them to do such a thing? Were they raised by un-educated religious zealots? Did the people who surrounded them in their youth talk of The American Devil?
I swear, people, I have a point.
When we invaded Japan, the Japanese were terrified. Their government had told them we were awful, sub-human beings. We would kill babies! We would eat their mothers! They dehumanized Americans.
This happens quite often during times of war. Propaganda, baby!
GodChicken posted a few weeks ago ( http://www.ubersite.com/m/30017 )... saying something about "Urban Warfare". More than anything else in this war... THAT made my heart skip a beat. Yes, we are at war with these people, but... they are PEOPLE. We often forget about he human face behind the war machines. People say that Hitler was evil because he didn't emphasize. Vlad was a monster because human life meant nothing to him.
Yet, how do you feel about the men who beheaded the American? Can you sympathize?
User Reviews
Submitted by Insanethemind (user info) at 2004-06-01 19:33:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
lose the goddamn elipses...
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2004-05-28 22:40:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I don't even remember who you did the post about, it's just the idea that bored me.
And your posts usually do make me laugh.
Submitted by I_Have_a_Kristen_Fetish (user info) at 2004-05-28 07:20:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Fetish, that's cuz I hated that post! Sorry... I've come to expect so much more from you!
---
Did you really hate the post, or the person it was a tribute to?
So much more from me? I write about sucking out piss, looking up some girls shirt, etc. Come on now... What could you have expected.
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2004-05-27 16:31:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Fetish, that's cuz I hated that post! Sorry... I've come to expect so much more from you!
And...
"What religion has been more widely perverted? Now that should send your pointy liberal head spinning. "
Which religion has been more widely perverted? Do you mean, widely misconstrued? Or do you mean widely what? What the hell do you mean?
And everyone responds differently to things. You can not say that you are who you are NOW completly independent of how you grew up. Sure, some people do go through traumatic things, and they become BETTER people because of it...
Other people have minor (non traumatic) things happen, and they precive it different, which alters the course of their lives.
Similar to a common argument. Say, you come home from work, tired as fuck, rough day... got a demotion, etc etc etc... you walk in the door, and just head right to bed, without saying hello to your wife. Then she gets worried that you're mad at her. She thinks, "maybe he's mad because I didn't do the dishes?". She then gets mad at you, for getting mad at her, and then she wakes you up, and you get pissed because she woke you up, and on and on and on...
I'm using that as an example of how people take life in different ways. What "really happened" and what YOU THINK really happened are never the same. Two people could see the same event, and have TOTALLY different takes on it.
I still don't know what you're talking about though, with the religion thing. Every religion has been misconstrued, and every religion has it's ills... Not one more than another. It's just a matter of timing.
Submitted by I_Have_a_Kristen_Fetish (user info) at 2004-05-27 16:23:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Don't feel bad, my last three post have had few reviews... Except you ruining my perfect +2...
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2004-05-27 16:21:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Nick Berg's parents blame Bush.
Submitted by Flak (user info) at 2004-05-27 16:17:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
.........................................................................
"What events shaped these men? Is Hitler really at fault for fulfilling his destiny? Did he choose to murder so many people, did he choose to change the fate of the entire world... or was it bound to happen simply because the events in his childhood... a culmination of the people who raised him, taught him, loved him, hated him... things they said, did they get filed away in his brain, then did he fit these things together, like pieces of a puzzle, and say, "Eurkea... the Jews are overrunning Germany, I must do something!"? "
.........................................................................
This is the classic liberal claptrap. Blame it on their childhood as if they had no choice. How do you answer for people with terrible nightmare childhoods who pull themselves up by the bootstraps and make good and decent adults? If you are really looking to place external blame for the Nick Berg murder perhaps you should examine Islam. What religion has been more widely perverted? Now that should send your pointy liberal head spinning.
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2004-05-27 16:14:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Holy crap. This post is getting no reviews.
Where's my attention?!
Where's my fame and glory?!
I think it must be stupid/bad, but nobody wants to break the +2 chain.
Or maybe the title is too long.
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2004-05-27 15:24:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
There was an interesting interview on Fresh Air today on NPR with a former CIA operative who is now a professor at Penn State. He was stationed in Pakistan as an undercover operative in Afghanistan. He has some rather interesting insights on what happens to make people join these groups.
Submitted by youarsoghey (user info) at 2004-05-27 15:13:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by PopCorn80 (user info) at 2004-05-27 15:00:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Taking lives, killing people no matter who is right or who is wrong..Its still killing.
On a grander scale, I know what you mean. Each person has a story. A story of thier lives. What led them to be who they are? why?
We were just talking about this so you know what I'm saying..
Excellent post