Bumhood
You know, fascinatingly enough, I had started writing another entry, and then Netscape froze, and then I didn't feel like writing it all over again. I know how incredibly sad this must make all of you, but there are some terrible truths which must be faced in life.
I feel that I should mention at this point that I worship Marilyn Monroe. I mean, if nothing else, there could never, ever be a sexier woman. Not even Scarlett Johansson in a pineapple suit.
There was something else I was going to say, and it had to do with something important. I don't think it was hobbies. But I was going to say something about hobbies. I wish I had one. Something fun, that wasn't music, that I actually do occasionally, maybe even regularly. Homework, I've decided, really doesn't count. Neither does moping, although I could be a champion if I set my mind to it. Preferably, said hobby would be cool. If anyone has any ideas for cool, fun hobbies that aren't music, homework, or moping and don't take up any time, please let me know. I may pay you in chocolate.
I'm getting very angry at JCK. Today in class he was such a dumbass (I'd prefer it if this didn't reach his ears). Not only did he allow Alex to sleep through the ENTIRE class without so much as a word, which, let's face it, is hard not to notice in a small circle like that, not only did he spend more than half an hour saying pointless, unhelpful, and irrelevant things about the creative non-fiction project, he then went on to practice one of the slimiest and most disgusting techniques used to undermine intelligent discussion: he completely ignored any facts that didn't support the point of view HE wanted to arrive at. He promised us at the beginning of the year, and at the beginning of last year, that he wouldn't do that. And you know why? Because it's evil, my friends. Because it's evil.
So, we're talking about Hiroshima, and how the Japanese government refused medical and financial aid to the survivors of the A-bomb, the hibakusha. And everyone's going on about how awful it is, as usual, and oh my god I can't believe they did that. JCK starts asking us whether we think this was maybe a cultural thing, something to do with the shame of surviving when others die, or whether we think the same thing could happen in the US. So I point out a few bare facts about Agent Orange and the Gulf War Syndrome-very bare facts, due to my complete lack of a clear memory; I'd completely mixed them up in my mind and didn't know half the things I should know about them to begin with-which JCK helped me flesh out. He then proceeds to tell us how they immediately set up a fund for the survivors of 9/11 and gave them lots of money, and concludes, pretty much by himself as far as I could tell, that this has something to do with Japanese culture and nothing like it could ever happen in the US. Less than five minutes before, I had given him examples in the US where they denied the illness (the Japanese acknowledged the illness, they simply refused to pay to treat it) of their own veterans, an illness not caused by an outside attack, but by their own military and the weapons it issued to them. (I actually know next to nothing about this, please feel free to correct me if I have my facts mixed up) He chose to completely ignore these examples without even doing me the courtesy of explaining his dismissal of them, which tempts me to believe that they simply don't fit his theory.
On a related subject, this is the second time Hiroshima has been compared with 9/11 in my English class. This is absolutely unacceptable. The first time was in reference the the attitudes of the doctors immediately following the disaster; in Hiroshima, many doctors refused to attend to the more heavily wounded victims, saying that they could not be helped and were guaranteed to die, and the first duty was to the slightly wounded. Following the 9/11 attacks, medical attention was given to everyone possible, regardless of the seriousness of their injuries. A few things, however, that should be pointed out: the death toll of the September 11th attacks is approximated somewhere in the vicinity of 2,996, with a few thousand more injured. The death toll at Hiroshima after the dropping of the atomic bomb was originally reported at 78,150, with 13,983 missing and 37,425 injured, a large portion of whom suffered from lingering radiation sickness for the remainder of their life, often shortened by cancer and other complications occurring after the passage of some years. However, in reality the death toll is agreed to be more probably above 100,000 in the immediate aftermath of the bomb. The entire city was destroyed, and somewhere around two thirds of the doctors were killed. Of the third that remained, many were injured, some so badly that they were not able to help the other victims. The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center was an awful, unforgivable thing, and the last thing I intend to do is dismiss its enormity. However, it affected only area around the Twin Towers, and the victims were not nearly as numerous as those at Hiroshima. The emergency services of the city were still fully intact and operational. The US was not on the losing end of a long, exhausting war. This was not largely a cultural difference. This was a matter of necessity and ability.
I know I will sound crass and cold to many people. I simply believe that if we are to understand, improve and protect our world, we must be willing to acknowledge reality as it is, and admit the facts of history. We cannot, as JCK has done, allow ourselves to twist or ignore facts to fit the view of the world we wish to hold.
That was a really long, really dark rant. That wasn't really my intention when I started out. Oh well. You must have cast-iron eyes and a strong sense of loyalty if you waded through all of that.
I feel that I should mention at this point that I worship Marilyn Monroe. I mean, if nothing else, there could never, ever be a sexier woman. Not even Scarlett Johansson in a pineapple suit.
There was something else I was going to say, and it had to do with something important. I don't think it was hobbies. But I was going to say something about hobbies. I wish I had one. Something fun, that wasn't music, that I actually do occasionally, maybe even regularly. Homework, I've decided, really doesn't count. Neither does moping, although I could be a champion if I set my mind to it. Preferably, said hobby would be cool. If anyone has any ideas for cool, fun hobbies that aren't music, homework, or moping and don't take up any time, please let me know. I may pay you in chocolate.
I'm getting very angry at JCK. Today in class he was such a dumbass (I'd prefer it if this didn't reach his ears). Not only did he allow Alex to sleep through the ENTIRE class without so much as a word, which, let's face it, is hard not to notice in a small circle like that, not only did he spend more than half an hour saying pointless, unhelpful, and irrelevant things about the creative non-fiction project, he then went on to practice one of the slimiest and most disgusting techniques used to undermine intelligent discussion: he completely ignored any facts that didn't support the point of view HE wanted to arrive at. He promised us at the beginning of the year, and at the beginning of last year, that he wouldn't do that. And you know why? Because it's evil, my friends. Because it's evil.
So, we're talking about Hiroshima, and how the Japanese government refused medical and financial aid to the survivors of the A-bomb, the hibakusha. And everyone's going on about how awful it is, as usual, and oh my god I can't believe they did that. JCK starts asking us whether we think this was maybe a cultural thing, something to do with the shame of surviving when others die, or whether we think the same thing could happen in the US. So I point out a few bare facts about Agent Orange and the Gulf War Syndrome-very bare facts, due to my complete lack of a clear memory; I'd completely mixed them up in my mind and didn't know half the things I should know about them to begin with-which JCK helped me flesh out. He then proceeds to tell us how they immediately set up a fund for the survivors of 9/11 and gave them lots of money, and concludes, pretty much by himself as far as I could tell, that this has something to do with Japanese culture and nothing like it could ever happen in the US. Less than five minutes before, I had given him examples in the US where they denied the illness (the Japanese acknowledged the illness, they simply refused to pay to treat it) of their own veterans, an illness not caused by an outside attack, but by their own military and the weapons it issued to them. (I actually know next to nothing about this, please feel free to correct me if I have my facts mixed up) He chose to completely ignore these examples without even doing me the courtesy of explaining his dismissal of them, which tempts me to believe that they simply don't fit his theory.
On a related subject, this is the second time Hiroshima has been compared with 9/11 in my English class. This is absolutely unacceptable. The first time was in reference the the attitudes of the doctors immediately following the disaster; in Hiroshima, many doctors refused to attend to the more heavily wounded victims, saying that they could not be helped and were guaranteed to die, and the first duty was to the slightly wounded. Following the 9/11 attacks, medical attention was given to everyone possible, regardless of the seriousness of their injuries. A few things, however, that should be pointed out: the death toll of the September 11th attacks is approximated somewhere in the vicinity of 2,996, with a few thousand more injured. The death toll at Hiroshima after the dropping of the atomic bomb was originally reported at 78,150, with 13,983 missing and 37,425 injured, a large portion of whom suffered from lingering radiation sickness for the remainder of their life, often shortened by cancer and other complications occurring after the passage of some years. However, in reality the death toll is agreed to be more probably above 100,000 in the immediate aftermath of the bomb. The entire city was destroyed, and somewhere around two thirds of the doctors were killed. Of the third that remained, many were injured, some so badly that they were not able to help the other victims. The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center was an awful, unforgivable thing, and the last thing I intend to do is dismiss its enormity. However, it affected only area around the Twin Towers, and the victims were not nearly as numerous as those at Hiroshima. The emergency services of the city were still fully intact and operational. The US was not on the losing end of a long, exhausting war. This was not largely a cultural difference. This was a matter of necessity and ability.
I know I will sound crass and cold to many people. I simply believe that if we are to understand, improve and protect our world, we must be willing to acknowledge reality as it is, and admit the facts of history. We cannot, as JCK has done, allow ourselves to twist or ignore facts to fit the view of the world we wish to hold.
That was a really long, really dark rant. That wasn't really my intention when I started out. Oh well. You must have cast-iron eyes and a strong sense of loyalty if you waded through all of that.