Not that there is anything wrong in being emotional...the events as they happened, anyone who has a heart will get emotional. I am just suspicious of the obssessive mentality. That is more dangerous than any one realises. You see, the way i look at things, the main reason we have wars and conflicts is because we tend to dehumanise the opposition. It makes it easier to kill and plunder, easier for your conscience, when the time comes! Bush calls Syria, Iraq and North Korea pure evil. Bin Laden calls(ed!) America and the West pure evil. Serbs thought Muslims were evil. Hitler thought Jews were evil. Hutus thought tutsis were evil. I bet the west Pakistani army personnel who committed the atrocities thought Bengali Hindus and their 'muslim' 'sustainers' were evil. We have to be careful what sort of mentality we have because someday if we are in a position to inflict harm on others it will make it a whole lot easier if we think they are evil anyways and its ok to rape their women and kill their men. On the otherhand, if we know that they are humans like us, fallible like us, good and bad like us, then we will think at least before we repeat history. Unfortunately, education doesnot breed that kind of understanding. Communication between people. Not just communication but living day in and day out does. I was fortunate enough to live with a serb, a rwandan Hutu, an ethiopian and an Indian for two years when I was in high school. I am not talking about breeding a common global culture. Alternative perspectives are refreshing but life would be whole lot more pleasant if people just listened to other people and knew where they were coming from before making up their minds. We would avoid a lot of crap that happens these days. Not that you didn't know that already!
[Edited on 17-12-2003 by pompous]
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