Tuesday, October 29, 2002

Beware the Black Riders Tonight I read another story in Haaretz about the Settler movement attempting to destroy the Palestinian olive harvest, as part of a plan to drive them out of the West Bank, the way the Serbs tried to drive Albanians out of Kosovo.  Suddenly, I remembered the scene in Lord of the Rings, where Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin are leaving the shire.  They had just found mushrooms, after being chased out of farmer Maggot's fields, when Frodo senses the approach of the Black Riders, or Nazgul. The four hobbits crouch hidden in a hollow at the side of the road.  As the riders approach, every dark and evil creepy thing comes out of the dirt, centipedes, spiders, scorpions, snakes, all drawn by the presence of greater evil. In the same manner, the great evil of Bush, Cheney and Aschroft (our Nazgul) is drawing out the evil and lawlessness around the world-- perpetuating the feeling among Israeli settlers that no one will punish them for ethnic cleansing, no one will hold them to the standards the world expects for human rights and dignity.  The settlers are like the snakes and scorpions who sense a favorable climate, as darkness gathers.  This is the legacy of the warmongers, who bring  lawlessness out in the open, in great ways and small. 10:46:35 PM   comment []    Does Bush Understand War? Remember when George Bush Senior went through a supermarket checkout line, and marveled at the use of scanners--proving to one and all he had not been in a supermarket in years.  Well I have the same feeling about George Jr., with respect to his understanding of the suffering of war.  He just doesn't get it.  He is too priviliged, to shallow, to plastic to comprehend what he must do to avoid human suffering. So, please read today someone who does get it.  James Carroll, writing in the Globe this morning,  puts his finger on the feeling of helplessness we experience as we have descended into war, welcomed, not opposed, by our leaders. 8:37:33 AM   comment []

© Copyright 2002 Toby Sackton. Last update: 12/26/2002; 9:30:56 PM.