tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11224468.post115444977681937842..comments2024-02-15T07:19:24.972-05:00Comments on The Daily Doubter: Quote of the dayUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11224468.post-1154778707928144222006-08-05T07:51:00.000-04:002006-08-05T07:51:00.000-04:00We are also too indifferent when a leader of a cou...We are also too indifferent when a leader of a country kills their own people at times. Have you ever seen Eddie Izzard’s stand-up <I> Dressed to kill?</I> It’s brilliant.<BR/><BR/>Here’s a taste of it:<BR/><BR/>And [Hitler] was a mass-murdering fuckhead, as many important historians have said. But there were other mass murderers that got away with it! Stalin killed many millions, died in his bed, well done there; Pol Pot killed 1.7 million Cambodians, died under house arrest at age 72, well done indeed! And the reason we let them get away with it is <I>because they killed their own people</I>, and we're sort of <I>fine</I> with that. “Ah, help yourself,” you know? “We've been trying to kill you for ages!” So kill your own people, right on there. Seems to be… Hitler killed people next door... “Oh… stupid man!” After a couple of years, we won't stand for that, will we? <BR/>Pol Pot killed 1.7 million people. We can't even deal with that! You know, we think if somebody kills someone, that's murder, you go to prison. You kill 10 people, you go to Texas, they hit you with a brick, that's what they do. 20 people, you go to a hospital, they look through a small window at you forever. And over that, we can't deal with it, you know? Someone's killed 100,000 people. We're almost going, "Well done! You killed 100,000 people? You must get up very early in the morning. I can't even get down the gym! Your diary must look odd: “Get up in the morning, death, death, death, death, death, death, death – lunch- death, death, death - afternoon tea - death, death, death - quick shower…"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11224468.post-1154475894169307342006-08-01T19:44:00.000-04:002006-08-01T19:44:00.000-04:00I can see how we evolved so that we can suffer and...I can see how we evolved so that we can suffer and mourn a loss close to us, while lacking the capacity to invoke that kind of emotion for those distant. <BR/><BR/>Otherwise we would all be incapacitated with grief since there is tragedy every day. <BR/><BR/>It seems by nature, we are wired only to suffer the death of those we love or know well -- though sometimes we can empathize with strangers if it strikes a chord. Too bad we were not endowed to have a bit more empathy for those outside our identification horizons (but looking back there was no real evolutionary advantage to it -- at least not enough to outweigh the short term benefits of xenophobia) Just a tad bit more might have allowed us to avoid the tragedy of our war torn history.<BR/><BR/>It's also what Donne was getting at with:<BR/><BR/><I>No man is an island,<BR/>Entire of itself.<BR/>Each is a piece of the continent,<BR/>A part of the main.<BR/>If a clod be washed away by the sea,<BR/>Europe is the less.<BR/>...<BR/>Each man's death diminishes me,<BR/>For I am involved in mankind.<BR/>Therefore, send not to know<BR/>For whom the bell tolls,<BR/>It tolls for thee.</I>Alanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02954868392244517945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11224468.post-1154464649630304072006-08-01T16:37:00.000-04:002006-08-01T16:37:00.000-04:00It's sad but true. It's a thought that has haunted...It's sad but true. It's a thought that has haunted me ever since reading a section in William Shawcross's Deliver Us From Evil about the most horrible things imagineable taking place on a daily basis in parts of Africa.Hume's Ghosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13551684109760430351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11224468.post-1154463314259840882006-08-01T16:15:00.000-04:002006-08-01T16:15:00.000-04:00Or as articulated in Star Trek ("The Immunity Synd...Or as articulated in Star Trek ("The Immunity Syndrome"):<BR/><BR/>Soock: I've noticed that about your people. You find it easier to understand the death of one than the death of a million.<BR/><BR/>You speak about the objective hardness of the Vulcan heart, yet how little room there seems to be in yours.<BR/><BR/>McCoy: Suffer the death of thy neighbor, eh, Spock?<BR/>You wouldn't wish that on us, would you?<BR/><BR/>Spock: It might have rendered your history a bit less bloody.Alanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02954868392244517945noreply@blogger.com