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Jan. 1st, 2005 07:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarren![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
psycho_tabby had her 21st birthday party on New Year's Eve. There was chocolate cake. Also prawns on sticks, a multitude of spiders lurking in a suspicious manner over our heads (I was worried it was going to turn into a scene from Harry Potter) and there was Dee! Home from Canada! And 21. And my friends were there. And Dee's nice family. And sparklers! I had much fun :)And then there was the inevitable discussion about the updated death toll and how countries should be donating more...
And look! They are. And maybe it is a bit of a pissing contest, as the article says, but I have to think that it's because the scale of the tragedy just keeps escalating. The newspaper this morning proclaimed "127 000 dead, that number to double."
zebra363 said "Anyone with your DVD collection isn't in a postion to criticise." And she has a damn good point. And makes it in detail here. Go read it. Embrace the guilt. (The rest of this post is a sort of in response.)I love my DVD's. They bring me joy. Like Zebra, I donated what I thought was a decent amount of money, and on the way home from the bank I wondered if all those boxed DVD set's I snapped up from Amazon UK because they were half price had arrived yet. And realised that I had spent more on myself this Christmas than I had donated. A sobering realisation. Tomorrow I will go back to the bank and give a hell of a lot more. But give up everything beyond necessities? I don't want to do that. I am trying to find a justification for this but there isn't one. At the risk of sounding dramatic I know that if I could end world hunger at the cost of my life I would not hesitate. Maybe it's the sheer scope that is too overwhelming. Starvation, disease, human rights abuse, the destruction of the environment, species becoming extinct every day, inhumane treatment of animals...
How do you decide what's most important?
The decision I made many years ago was to pick a cause to 'join', if you like, and I chose Amnesty International. Should I feel guilty that the thought of victims of torture, and the horrific abuses which too many women and girls in are forced to endure, stir me more than thoughts of children starving?
And now I've been jolted out of my complacency. *glares at Zebra*
Maybe I'll think of something profound when I'm not so tired.
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but I like you even more now. but I like you even more now.
Date: 2005-01-02 03:50 pm (UTC)Re: but I like you even more now. but I like you even more now.
Date: 2005-01-02 04:42 pm (UTC)I was scared!
Re: but I like you even more now. but I like you even more now.
Date: 2005-01-03 08:46 am (UTC)Eek - yes, I deserve to be called on that! Actually, that's why I'm usually afraid to raise serious issues with people I care about. That's another interesting moral question, though. How much can you disagree with someone and still consider them a friend, without your continued friendship effectively condoning whatever it is you disagree strongly about? Should you stick around and hope you can influence them slightly, or at some point do you have to say "sorry, I am so opposed to your views on XYZ that I really want nothing more to do with you?".
That There Might Be Giants Song "Your Racist Friend" comes to mind.
Re: but I like you even more now. but I like you even more now.
Date: 2005-01-05 02:22 pm (UTC)Eventually they seemed to get the point. I have a fond memory of the five of us watching 'Edward II' together. They claimed they enjoyed it. *eg*
So, go the attempted influence I say.
Remember when I said that if someone pisses me off usually I don't say anything? That absolutely does NOT apply to racism or homophobia.
Shortly after I moved in with Dragonfly she hosted a games night for some friends of hers from work. While people were still arriving and D was puttering about in the kitchen (as she does), I had the Sydney Mardi Gras on mute in the background. Well. This was the cue for some offensive remark from some guy. It didn't go down well. I'm sure Dragonfly remembers back on that night fondly *eg*