Leaves Forget
The tired, tall and browning trees,
Greetings from Pimichimak.
-A.M.
SEPTEMEBER 22, 2004 The attacks against foreigners in Iraq, accused of complicity in the War on Terror, are supposed to be justified because of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. But what seems to be ignored by these incredibly tactless and largely unsuccessful fear mongerers is that they are beginning to not only create a general global abhorrence for their actions, but a regional one as well. It may be true that some fundamentalist or terrorist symapthizers do secretly or openly applaud these murders, in order to extract at least a degree of vengeance (in the form of fear and self-guessing) from the Americans, British, etc., but in the course of things such actions are deleterious to regional unity as well.
While the attack on Iraq was definitely not justified, although Sadam was most certainly not someone you would consider for the Noble Peace Prize, it is insane to suggest these grisly beheadings are reasonable because of either religious fundamentalist intents (it is the 21st century whether you nasty, cowardly bullies want it to be or not) or for political motivations (whereupon your violent actions, a supposed response to the U.S.'s violent actions, which are a supposed reaction to Sadam's violent actions, which were a supposed response to Kuwaiti or Iranian violent actions, etc, etc, etc). I mean, I don't care how fundamentalist or politically wicked you want to be, most humans (whether in the U.S. or Iraq), will never sympathize with your message when your medium is so bloody primitive.
Few reasonable and wise people would suggest that the west has a monopoly on good and righteous societies, with all their problems of lasciviousness, decadence, violence, persecution, and crass materialism. Yes, human beings seem to have very little of value in this day and age, but there is still something within MOST OF US that shudders when we see someone's corpse being used as a stick with which to cajole or threaten a people, regime, or leader. The "west" (or in the terrorist's eyes, the colonizers) may not be the best of worlds today, but the work of these terrorist madmen is incomprehensibly making it appear that way to a great many objective observers, inside as well as outside Iraq.
-M. Makse
Why do we need to think critically? Because our senses are daily saturated with words and images that appeal to referents we are familiar with but tend to confuse and perplex us. We read things that seems true but are, in fact, deceptive. Images are presented to us without any depth of context. So, we need to think critically if we are to make any sense of our world, a world so multi-faceted and layered
that it seems difficult enough to comprehend for those with a good grip on obectivity.
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Hang on to their yellow leaves.
But Winter's blue likes it not
To give Spring a happy lot.
If trees of gold hang on yet,
Storm and wind make leaves forget.
-M.M.
THINK ABOUT THIS!: TERRORISTS, ARE YOU CONVINCING YOUR ENEMIES TO CONCESSIONS OR YOUR NEIGHBOURS INTO EMBARRASSEMENT?
Critical Thinking
Why we should all never stop asking why.
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