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© 2004-2008 Keith Ecklund

July 06, 2004

I have made some mistakes.

The first was going to see Fahrenheit 9/11. It was a great movie, but a disturbing one. But that was my little mistake.

The big mistake was thinking that I could sign up for one of those blog reading accounts, and that I would have the stomach for the headlines and the news from around the world. Well, I don’t.

I have an extremely hard time reading about the thousands of children dying of starvation in India. It seems impossible.

I have a hard time imagining that there are people who would place an advertisement for cannibalism, so that they could kill and eat another human being. And I have a harder time yet believing that someone would see this as a great opportunity to make a film about cannibalism.

I have a hard time finding out that at about the same time that a German man is looking for someone to eat, a whole group of people, the Pygmies of the Congo, are being systematically hunted, raped, and killed, and in many cases eaten.

I avoided the news for a long time, mostly because I have no stomach for it. I find it nearly impossible to believe the way people treat each other. I read of a man who is being jailed because he defrauded a family, convincing them that he could return their missing daughter to them, when all along she was dead, and he never, ever had any knowledge of her whereabouts. He simply lied to them for the money.

I tuned into the world for only one day, maybe two, and it has depressed the hell out of me. I feel quiet, almost silent, and it is hard to know what to say. I thought I could turn it all back on. I thought that I was ready for it all once again, but I was wrong.

I made a mistake, and now it feels like I am paying for it.

I certainly understand the little mistake. F 9/11 was an interesting view, but all I could think was that it was “preaching to the choir”. I cannot imagine anyone seeing this movie unless they were already inclined to believe it’s premise.

I too thought it was more than a bit disturbing. I am glad I caught it, but sorry I felt the need to.

-doc

Doc on 07/07/04 at 05:39 AM

I remember the evening when I read about the 6 men who believed that sex with an infant might cure them of aids; and the parents who killed their young daughter by stuffing her head down a toilet. If its more broadly based or systemic, I cannot control the tears. If it is a more isolated individualized account like those I referenced above, I fill with enough rage to kill. And it never leaves my brain. Never.

Catherine on 07/07/04 at 05:46 AM

And there’s just very few places to turn for the positive stuff, which has the power to inspire more goodness. If you follow the news as it’s fed to us, it breaks your faith in humanity. It’s a dangerous imbalance, me thinks.

Jennifer on 07/07/04 at 06:07 AM

Ah, this is why I have my rss feed only pick up the blogs I’m interested in reading. The world, as usual, is in a desperate condition, and there isn’t enough I can do to make it better.

Snowball on 07/07/04 at 06:56 AM

Dude. I had no idea. It’s definitely unhealthy to consume pure evil like that in large doses, especially when there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. And, there isn’t. Nothing except try to avoid it.

I’m a news avoider who’s only recently plugged back in to political news… and that only because I feel a need to be informed because I feel a need to be persuasive because I feel a need to dislodge the current administration… which I believe may be simply a more “refined” version of pure evil.

God grant me the Serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the Courage to change the things I can,
and the Wisdom to know the difference.

Take care of you.

Debi on 07/07/04 at 08:24 AM

having a small child, having children in general, shuts out the world of adults nicely. my youngest is watching teletubbies right now: she loves it. as a background sound, it’s soothing, like a constant reassuring message, the world’s okay.

bad events disturb me because it’s all within me, has been from the start… the horrific news, i could make up worse stuff, we all could. after all, we write our nightmares.

i want to know evil because i want to know myself; but once you know it, might as well tune it the hell out, there’s nothing tb gained from wallowing.

michael on 07/07/04 at 08:49 AM

Argh, I’m sorry. I would hug you but it seems all this air, earth, and wires are in the way.

Jo on 07/07/04 at 01:15 PM

Everyone: I guess my brain just couldn’t take getting whacked over the head with today’s newspaper. But thank you for your comments and concerns. If you’ve read on, you know that I regained a bit of balance by walking around an old building and talking to some ducks.

So simple.

Keith on 07/08/04 at 06:15 AM