The Questions that Remain

The days after the Boston Marathan bombing, I felt lifeless everywhere except my legs. I buried myself in work, but my thoughts were locked on wanting to know Who did it? How? and Why? Every day was lived out in fragments — things to do, check the news, calls to make, check the news, check in with E-Bert, check the news. I made time to exercise — it helps get oxygen to the brain. Shakes down emotional baggage. Never have I felt the weight, energy and aliveness of my ability to run, walk, stoop or sit. This was after having seen photos online of the carnage of bombing victims, limbs lost when only minutes earlier, these men and women were walking, running, or simply standing or sitting with legs crossed. I can only imagine their lives now if they survived at all.

Suspects have been identified. The questions remain.

Is it time to pull the plug on 24/7 cable news [CNN]? Too much time to fill and report wrong information.

Watch Boston Marathon on PBS. See more from Makers: Women Who Make America.

How will the bombing affect the future of the Boston Marathon? The marathon will go on. It’s had its history of controversy (Katherine Switzer, the first woman to run the marathon – 1967), but not of this magnitude. What will this chapter compell next year’s marathon runners to meet the challenge?

Chechnya? Should we review the 2003 Moscow theater hostage crisis?

What happens to the people who were falsely accused (New York Post, Reddit)? Their lives will not be the same or safe for some time, I’m sure. I guess for the Murdoch corporation which also owns Fox, comedy is stranger than truth (see below). Reddit has issued an apology and a help chat for the person their news service mis-identified as a suspect.

Will religious affiliation be part of our personal pro-files? Attacks and bogus home inspections of Muslim residents in Massachusetts were reported while suspects were still at large.

How do the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing affect the immigration debate?

Does technology make us feel safer? Are we as smart as we appear to be in the movies?

Will anyone see this movie ["The Company You Keep"] now?

I’ll say “yes.” A “NOT” for “The Family Guy,” and UK Film4 channel’s “Four Lions” (2010). Back to grandma’s saying – “There’s a lot of truth in a joke.”

If the numbers support that the majority of mass murders are carried out by one gender, will there ever be a serious study of the male genetic, psychological, social construct before the human species becomes extinct? Even some of the caring men I know brush this one off as “it is what it is” therefore, a man has to lead this discussion very seriously.

Lockdowns – a new norm? I don’t get out much anyway.

Where do we start to build community? So many ways to keep us apart.

Give Peace a Future: “Dancing In Jaffa”

Now that there is at least an agreement to a cease fire between Israel and Palestinian leaders in Gaza, will we hear the voices of peace? Or will their voices be drowned out once again?

Below is a clip from the upcoming documentary “Dancing In Jaffa” featuring Pierre Dulaine from “Mad Hot Ballroom.” Hilla Medalia is director and co-producer with Diane Nabatoff who produced the feature film version of “Mad Hot Ballroom,” “Take the Lead.” Pierre was played by Antonio Banderas. Morgan Spurlock of “Supersize Me” fame is an executive producer. An international ballroom dancing star in his own right, Pierre Dulaine brings his Dancing Classrooms home to Jaffa to fulfill his lifelong dream of teaching dance to Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli children, then pairing them in a competition. Were there conflicts? Of course. Was there frustration? Most definitely. Does peace have a future? We certainly hope so.

Dancing in Jaffa Trailer from kNow Productions on Vimeo.

If you’d like to support the completion of “Dancing In Jaffa,” there’s a Kickstarter campaign at this link.

Olympic Moment

Aung San Suu Kyi’s finally receives Nobel prize in person

The peace of our world is indivisible. As long as negative forces are getting the better of positive forces anywhere, we are all at risk. It may be questioned whether all negative forces could ever be removed. The simple answer is: “No!” It is in human nature to contain both the positive and the negative. However, it is also within human capability to work to reinforce the positive and to minimize or neutralize the negative. Absolute peace in our world is an unattainable goal. But it is one towards which we must continue to journey, our eyes fixed on it as a traveller in a desert fixes his eyes on the one guiding star that will lead him to salvation. Even if we do not achieve perfect peace on earth, because perfect peace is not of this earth, common endeavours to gain peace will unite individuals and nations in trust and friendship and help to make our human community safer and kinder.

After enduring many years of house arrest for her pro-democracy resistance against Burma’s (now Myanmar) dictatorship, Aung San Suu Kyi, now a member of Myanmar’s Parliament, was free to receive her Nobel Peace Prize today in Oslo. The prize was awarded to Aung San Suu Kyi in 1991.

Full text of her Nobel lecture delivered today in Oslo is available at this link.

The Mourning After

The tragedy in Oslo is very disturbing. I’m sure many Muslims around the world breathed a sign of relief when Anders Behring Breivik was taken into custody to be charged with the bombing of a government building and the brutal shooting massacre of youth at a state sponsored camp. Terrorism under “God, Christ and country” is terrorism none-the-less. He may not have released weekly videos, but Breivik wrote a “manifesto” titled 2083: A European Declaration of Independence. Dare I print it to continue the siege on humanity? Or do we have the right to know? E. Ethelbert Miller wrote on his E-Notes blog:

The problem of the 21st Century is going to be that of religion. Notice how today’s newspapers suddenly seem to have discovered the term Christian extremist. Anders Breivik the person responsible for all the chaos has written a 1,500 page manifesto. We know what he believes – no way we can ignore his narrative. We can’t say the man is crazy. Breivik has a way of looking at the world and he’s not alone. Welcome back Crusades. Why did Breivik target the young people on Utoya island? Here is what one will find reported in The New York Times today:

“Organized by the youth wing of the ruling Labor Party, the camp has become a kind of multicultural incubator in recent years. Many of the victims in Friday’s shooting were the children of immigrants from Africa and Asia who have begun to stake out a greater role for themselves in Norwegian society.”

The above fact is not being widely reported. The last thing we need is a race war too.

I shared this post with Ethelbert, written by Jason Boog at Galley Cat:

In his horrific manuscript, Breivik wrote about different classifications of “traitors,” or individuals he felt could be killed during his imagined revolution. In his handbook, he suggested that revolutionaries consider attacking both “literature conferences and festivals” and “annual gatherings for journalists….”

Breivik had this chilling note about targeting journalists in his manifesto: “in Norway, there is an annual gathering for critical and investigative press where the most notable journalists/editors from all the nations media/news companies attend … The conference lasts for 2 days and is usually organized at a larger hotel/conference center. Security is light or non-existent making the conference a perfect target. ”

Here is the section where he wrote about literary festivals: “This is where many cultural Marxist/PC authors (the disgusting cultural Marxist and traitorous bourgeois elite – the Marxist-Leninists’ of the 68 generation (or sympathisers of this group) meet and socialise. Prioritised target groups make out the bulk of the participants who attend certain literature conferences and festivals: Writers (90%+ of these individuals support multiculturalism and usually portray their world view through their works), editors and journalists in cultural Marxist/multiculturalist publications, [and] a majority of individuals related to various “cultural Marxist/politically correct” cultural settings and organisations.”

Writers beware!

If anyone wishes to read the entire manifesto, they will have to consult Galley Cat and other resources. It will not be posted here. Nor will this blog post the glamor shot of Breivik circulating on the front pages around the globe. Next thing you know, we’ll learn he’s a C.S. Lewis fan.

Should Christians launch their own PR, damage-control spin?

I’m aware of and often feel the hunger to know “why.” There are times we the people get the chance to know especially if the culprit doesn’t fit the profile of the more “usual suspect.”