Metamorphosis...

[alexpgp]

My friends list has changed, in terms of what's being posted. Dramatically. I guess the overall tone of most posts has changed, becoming more political, relecting people's core beliefs. No all of such posts are pretty.

The posts in my LJ friends is a smorgasbord of sundry and various opinions regarding the events of last Tuesday. Some, rather knee-jerkingly patriotic; others, well... let's just say that the posts would sound more integral and consisten if the writers hadn't wasted keystrokes decrying the attack and had just concentrated on parroting the oft-recycled, stale condemnations of the U.S. as the Nexus of All Evil and Justified Target of Violence.

For all that, I've pretty much spent the day away from my computer. Lee came by around 2:30 pm, by herself (her roommates declining the opportunity to help her move some stuff). Unfortunately, the "door" on the payload bay of the rental pickup prevents hauling anything taller than the height of the bay, and none of the U-Haul places had any trucks available.

So, I followed Lee up to her apartment in the truck. When we got there, we unloaded what few things we did put in the truck, and then we went to the Phoenicia for a bite to eat. While there, Lee bought some chocolate-covered wafers (shaped like cylinders), while I bought a bottle of Mavrodaphne of Patras sweet red wine.

The only down side to the whole exercise was having to drive all the way back to Pearland.

* * *
Physically, I feel about the same as this morning, but better than this afternoon, so maybe I'm past the worst of whatever the heck I had.

If I feel okay tomorrow, I'll apply myself more assiduously to getting myself out of Texas and back to Colorado. A check of Amtrack showed that my next opportunity to leave town is on Monday, getting me into Albuquerque somewhere after midnight on Tuesday. Ye gods. It is far from an optimum schedule for me, especially considering a three-hour layover in El Paso. All things considered, I prefer to fly out of here, but anticipate a lot of telephone hold time to figure out how to do that.

I'm tired again. Time to go rest my eyes.

Cheers...

Comments

[vuzh.livejournal.com]

" well... let's just say that the posts would sound more integral and consisten if the writers hadn't wasted keystrokes decrying the attack and had just concentrated on parroting the oft-recycled, stale condemnations of the U.S. as the Nexus of All Evil and Justified Target of Violence."

hmm.
i don't think criticism and patriotism are mutually exclusive.
i don't think the US is evil, in fact it's a damned wonderful country.
but i also don't think it's flawless, and that we've never done anything bad to anyone.

emotions are high now, and i'm disturbed by the amount of real strife going on in the USA now.
i can't totally discount people's opinions that we should go in and level someone's entire country due to this. there's a part in me that says the exact same thing.

i haven't seen anyone on LJ, including myself, including yourself, who has posted a completely rational viewpoint. emotion is too strong.

your quote implies that those critical of US foreign policy think that USA is evil and that we don't care about all the people that died, or that the USA was attacked.
i've been totally wrecked by all of this.
i've broken down and cried, pathetically, unable to do anything else.
i've floundered through distracted workdays.

damn.

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

i don't think criticism and patriotism are mutually exclusive.
I never said they are.
i don't think the US is evil, in fact it's a damned wonderful country.
No argument there, either.
but i also don't think it's flawless, and that we've never done anything bad to anyone.
Agreed, and the same can be said of just about any other country as well. As far as the attack is concerned, however, it is irrelevant, in my opinion.

Cheers...

P.S. If you read my original post to say I believe that all those critical of US foreign policy think that USA is evil, etc. you are, simply, mistaken. My pointing out two ends of a spectrum does not mean that all constituent elements belong in one or the other category.

[vuzh.livejournal.com]

ok.

thanks for the clarification.
there are those who do believe as such.

i do, however, feel bringing up foreign policy and how the US's actions, {e.g. supporting certain countries' conflicts - and how these actions are truly aggressive acts towards the supported country's enemies (for example, supplying weapons to Turkey is essentially an aggressive act against the Kurdish... why?)} IS in fact relevant to this event, and to avoiding future attacks.

i readily acknowledge that when disaster strikes in other parts of the world, the US is often first on the scene with aid, whether monetary or direct, with people directly administering medical or other aid.
we're great when we do that.

but do we need to be as aggressive as we sometimes are? is it in our best interest, really?

i'm interested to see, as i don't believe i've seen in your journal thus far, what you believe the reasons for the attack might be, given the information we have so far,
and what the best-case scenario would be regarding US reaction.
i actually am quite interested to see this, as you've said that the 'bomb-them-to-the-stone-age' scenario is ill-advised.