World War II. Our vows towards the U.N., towards the Declaration of Human Rights. It works pretty well, pretty good. Our time, despite the doomsday preachers, is the most peaceful in human history that ever was. This place called North Korea is a disgusting remnant of human brutality, inhumanity, total brainlessness, and madness gone wild.
I don’t believe in war, I don’t believe in murder, but wiping out this freakin’ little, fat fuck would be on the top of my list. This regime is Hitler at his best. No, it’s worse! Generational punishment?
Below is a poem I once wrote after a CNN report I saw on the news. Anderson Cooper had interviewed an escapee, maybe the only one ever, of one of North Korea’s camps. It’s called “Auschwitz”, because it reminded me. Seeing those camps, and they are still there to look at, no other thoughts come to mind than tears. There is no more reason.
Syria is only a tiny part. Think Africa, and all the shit going on in those countries. But North Korea trumps it all. Absolute pure evil. This is not a country, this is madness.
Auschwitz - A Lamentation
Breathing freshly burned flesh,
down your lungs,
freedom, in the horror
of those alive an hour ago.
Ashes fertilizing the fields,
human ashes,
growing the same
terrifying monsters.
Auschwitz - The Monument of Evil.
North Korea - Camp 14
Human monsters,
human prisoners.
Fresh air,
but the stench of death remains,
freedom,
inside,
not human,
prisoner.
Dead.
Auschwitz - sworn to never happen again…
Lies? Reality?
Fresh air,
I breathe,
the air of America…
Maybe it’s the same air, I don’t know,
it does feel different.
If we could all breathe the same air we would all be the same.
But no. We are not.
Auschwitz, North Korea, … why do we watch and lament?
Any thoughts? Any help? Any wisdom? Any anything?
I have no personal attachment to Asia as I have to the Middle East, but my emotions towards this madness are just as strong. When will this end? What can be done? Philosophy doesn’t easily solve this, nor politics, nor anything!!! … I want to leave home and simply go there, but what will that do? One more dead, that’s it. I want to know of possible answers. Are there any out here?
Unfortunately we have a long way to go before we become civilized as a species. There are major atrocities across the world, some wholesale or terrible, especially in foreign countries, but how often do we see an older person in raggedy, dirty clothes pushing his/her entire belongings in a shopping cart, and who gets most of his/her meals from restaurant trash barrels?
Occam
I wish I had some wisdom to add here, but what can we do? Yes, what is going on in North Korea is atrocious, but we have too many problems in the U.S. to go around policing the world. Those problems include propping despots to do our budding, thus enraging the citizens of many countries. Also, after the misguided war in Iraq, we don’t have to budget left to maintain our own infrastructure, much less acting as the guiding moral light around the world.
Things are effed up in this world, and our country is partially to blame. Are we to invade North Korea and ignore Syria? Why should we intervene in either country when our government has shown through the years that it cannot make morally rational decisions, instead choosing politically expedient paths?
We need to clean our own house before we try cleaning the rest of the world.
BTW, I love your poem.
No, there is nothing we can do.
Relax.
Unfortunately we have a long way to go before we become civilized as a species. There are major atrocities across the world, some wholesale or terrible, especially in foreign countries, but how often do we see an older person in raggedy, dirty clothes pushing his/her entire belongings in a shopping cart, and who gets most of his/her meals from restaurant trash barrels? OccamHi Occam, ... yes, you're quite right, long way to go. But we're doing better, even though the U.N. is often belittled. Organizations like Doctors Without Borders or Amnesty International are doing a very great job as well. I got a little worked up after seeing the news of this little fat boy's ex-girlfriend's execution, plus the rest of her band, and their families sent to camps, just like that. Didn't know what I was supposed to think. Happened just last week. Wonder what they're doing right now as I'm writing this, looking at the rest of their lives, and that of their kids, behind an electric fence they will never cross again... Yes, seeing a homeless, old man with a shopping cart full of his only possessions, in a country like ours, that does indeed leave you wondering. Michelle
I wish I had some wisdom to add here, but what can we do? Yes, what is going on in North Korea is atrocious, but we have too many problems in the U.S. to go around policing the world. Those problems include propping despots to do our budding, thus enraging the citizens of many countries. Also, after the misguided war in Iraq, we don't have to budget left to maintain our own infrastructure, much less acting as the guiding moral light around the world. Things are effed up in this world, and our country is partially to blame. Are we to invade North Korea and ignore Syria? Why should we intervene in either country when our government has shown through the years that it cannot make morally rational decisions, instead choosing politically expedient paths? We need to clean our own house before we try cleaning the rest of the world. BTW, I love your poem.Hi Darron... yes, we do have our own problems. Too many of them. And policing the world is indeed not the best thing to do. That's what the U.N. is there for. I agree, America, and Western colonizational thinking, has contributed quite a bit to the mess we're in. The whole Middle East right now is a product of British and French stupidity, and that many Muslims have a bad opinion about the U.S., not the West in general, should make one think. Haiti's poverty is also a direct result of Western policies, including the Vatican's, not wanting to accept them, shutting down their economy in the beginnings. No, I don't think invading any countries is a good policy. In my opinion, Iraq was only invaded because the son wanted to finish dad's business, dragging everybody into it. And if helping the Syrian rebels is based on "American interests", not human rights violations and war crimes (on both sides), we might as well shut up. That our government "cannot make morally rational decisions" is a good way of putting it. Oh, thanks for your comment about my poem :-) Michelle