Seriously, how can people be so angry with life that they can spout such lies and slander? I know that the last two sentences of the previous paragraph were difficult to write for me. For those of you who are even now forming ugly thoughts of me in your minds, let me put your fears to rest. I don't believe that the 9/11 attacks were a conspiracy. They were committed by men of a foreign nation with the intent to cause harm to our civilian infrastructure. And yet, I did intentionally mean to place quotes around "terrorist". This term has been coined by politicians to refer to men they don't understand.
Honestly, it's just silly. A man blows himself up, killing hundreds of people, and he is branded as a terrorist. A soldier shoots a civilian in a war zone, and he is labelled a murderer by our press and thought of as a monster. That's simply not logical. We have invented a term to appease our collective conscience. "Oh, that man was a terrorist. He didn't know better."
To quote a somewhat well-known American, "War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over." ~ William T. Sherman
Now you think I just look for cool quotes to justify my point of view, and yes, I admit that I know where to look. But that doesn't make it less true. War is a disgusting practice. Humans kill other humans. It's all about terror and confusion. Every soldier who fights in combat is a "terrorist". His goal is to strike fear in the heart of his opponent so that he can win.
Yet, we brand a specific style of war as "terrorism". We compartmentalize it. Throw it in a box and get it far away from me. "Those men from that one country far, far away, are like that." We attempt to forget that humans are not good. Why do we do this? Because it interferes with the majority's concept of a "good life". We want everyone to get along and live their lives in peace. But peace isn't an option. Humans are not good. Humans are irrational, emotional, aggressive, vindictive, manipulative, and selfish (not to mention ignorant).
Violence erupts between two human beings far more often than it erupts between two nations, but we choose to view our leaders as war-like and spiteful. Some are. But there are a number of men and women who are trying to protect the interests of their constituents (formerly subjects, when kings and queens ruled the earth).
I guess this is a long-winded way of saying, violence is all around us. Terrorism is all around us. We can't just sit back and pretend it doesn't exist. So long as there are two men and a single woman on this planet, violence will be a part of life.
This post is already quite lengthy, so I will stop here. But perhaps at a later date I will talk about my views on the "War on Terror".
Oh and the second reason today is important: This is the last day that I am unemployed. Tomorrow will mark the first day in my life that I will be employed by a company, while not actively attending an academic institution. So, yeah. Big day.
~The Piebald Penguin
