Ignorant

[rowyn]

I'm still catching up. I'm about a hundred-sixty or so entries back, or about three days.

It's a pity that friends' lists only go back two weeks. They offer an interesting glimpse at the past. At what trivial memes swept LJ at various points, and at what serious topics caught everyone up.

As I've been catching up, I've seen an awful lot of posts about American torturing Iraqi prisoners, and about Arab terrorists executing an American hostage. More to come, I expect.

It's a little surreal at times, to find, sandwiched between posts full of weighty thoughts on torture, terrorism, good and evil, someone who's just writing about how her day is going. "I have chocolate! Yay!"

I wish I had chocolate. At the moment, I don't even have grape tomatoes.

I'm not going to offer my opinion on what's going on in the world. I actually don't know what's going on in the world. I've not been followng most of the links to political/global commentary in LJ, and skimming past reproduced articles and editorials. I'm not currently reading any newspapers or newsites. I don't watch TV and I don't listen to the radio. I feel a bit bad for being so ill-informed. I'd feel worse about it, except that even when I try to follow events closely and keep on top of what's happening, I still feel like I don't know what's going on. It's just then I have a lot more versions of reality to chose from.

One of the few links I did follow was zaimoni's link to a blog interview with an Iraqi doctor who had interned at Abu Ghraib (I'd like to find out how all Arabic words look in Arabic, then put them all in Arabic fonts when I post about them. I can't pronounce them anyway). The doctor talked about how well-treated the prisoners had been under the Americans, while he was there.

It was curiously ... plausible. Human nature is such a funny thing. I find it perfectly believable that American soldiers would torture Iraqi prisoners, and also perfectly believable that American soldiers would treat Iraqi prisoners with respect.

I can even believe that both things could happen at the same place.

No, I don't suppose I've ever known what's going on in the world.

Comments

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

One probably wouldn't guess it from my entries, but the business in Iraq DOES take up a significant portion of my thought processes - particularly since I almost religiously check through the news sites whenever things are slow (but not slow enough, say, for me to crack open Word and start editing "Just Trust Me" logs). Plus, I listen to NPR on the drive to and from work.

But I just don't have anything to add to the discussion.

I would hardly want to claim that my LJ presents a balanced view of my life. There are plenty of things I simply will not talk about in such a public forum. And there are many things that I think about, but about which I hardly think I have a noteworthy opinion to share that hasn't been shared before so many times over.

Hence, I might very well make something not far from an "I love chocolate!" post, even on the same day that I've just read about Mr. Berg. There's an awful lot that goes into a day. It doesn't all necessarily go together very well.

(Food analogy: I eat broccoli. I eat ice cream. I don't eat them both at the same time, if I can help it.)

I have Chocolate Chip Cookies!

[kelloggs2066.livejournal.com]

Want one?

I've picked up a new phrase from good ole Mako for ignoring the news: "Ostrich Time".

I like it.

Sometimes you just have to tune out the news, sit down and draw and contemplate cute fluffy bunnies.

So, have a hug and a cookie and think about pink noses, floppy ears and fluffy bunny feet.

Re: I have Chocolate Chip Cookies!

[level-head.livejournal.com]

In fact, I am doing that right now. Excellent idea. ];-)

===|==============/ Level Head

[krud42.livejournal.com]

I envy you. ;P

My posting has become more frequent on OD recently... I think that is usually inversely proportional to the amount of things I'm trying not to think about. Oh wait, not inversely. The more things I'm trying not to think about, the more entries I write to distract myself. Directly proportional. That's what I meant. It's too bad I'm too lazy to back up and delete my mistake.

I don't know why, but I'm still just not getting the hang of LJ... it must be just me.

Abu Ghraib

[telnar.livejournal.com]

One of the things that the US is being criticized for at Abu Ghraib (among other places) is not following the Geneva convention rules when dealing with irregular combatants. The Geneva convention is designed (among other things) to prevent interrogation beyond name, rank and serial number. Because of this focus, it prohibits treating prisoners better than others as a reward for providing information. The (3rd) Geneva Convention, though, only applies to uniformed combatants in a regular army. The vast majority of those that the US is now fighting in Iraq could be summarily executed when captured without violating the Geneva convention. Many human rights organizations have criticized the US for not giving prisoner of war status to this group. Oddly, treating them too well would be considered an offense by some of these organizations.