November 14, 2006 7:38 pm

Inarticulate

:note: Edguy

I think this is asinine: Woman kicked off plane for breastfeeding. It’s just so… GAH. SHE WAS FEEDING HER BABY. They serve snacks on the plane, so it’s obviously not a “no eating on plane” issue. I’m sure some people have horrible manners and chew with their mouth open and gobble their food, and somehow a (covered! discreet!) woman gets booted from a plane for feeding her baby. Stupid.

These accounts of Congo war victims (very graphic subject matter) make me upset. The things that happen to these women are so horrid. Can you even imagine? I hate to. I hate to even think that somewhere, this is actually happening, and it is happening to a lot of women. And babies. And senior citizens. The fact that it’s happening to anyone is despicable.

I can’t really articulate how I feel about the second topic. It’s like, I’m so far removed from it that it’s difficult for me to believe that yes, this sort of thing does happen in other places of the world, and it happens a lot. Hospitals are overflowing with victims of violent rape, so violent they require a hospital stay. That’s so awful I almost can’t fathom it.

I also have a hard time fathoming the fact that we’ve been at war for several years now. It’s sometimes very possible for me to forget we’re even at war. When I think of a country being at war, I think of bombs, cratered cities with orphaned children, food shortages, power shortages, air raids, bomb drills, propaganda posters, war bonds… Stereotypical war stuff. It almost bothers me that here in America we can mill about and go on with our daily lives, oblivious to the fact that other countries are experiencing these sorts of things, sometimes directly through our influence. How is it possible that we can be so oblivious? It’s WAR, for chrissakes. WAR. I feel like I should be sacrificing in some way – salvaging for the war effort or something. Is this stupid? I guess war to me seems like it should be similar to what I’ve read about World War II.

My deep thoughts for the day. :|

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5 Comments

  • Jamie says:

    You’re right, it doesn’t feel like war because we have distorted perceptions of it from our history books. That, and war has changed since WWII. My husband is in Iraq right now though, so it DOES feel like war to me (more than most people).

  • vixx says:

    That story about the woman being kicked off the plane is utterly depressing.

    Although . . . 22mts?? Man.

    I’d reply to your comments on the war, but all I can do is agree with you. :)

    V xx

  • Melissa says:

    Um…who honestly breastfeeds their child at that age? I think this woman has more problems to worry about other than getting kicked off a plane (although, yeah, that is a stupid reason to boot somebody)

  • Meggan says:

    Quite a few people, do, actually – it’s good for the baby, and if you can keep it up, why not? It really only starts to weird me out when the kid is three or so.

    Granted, this is how I feel right now. It may change once I have kids. :)

  • Josh says:

    What’s going on in Africa is just… sickening. It’s hard to even believe something like that is possible in the world we live in. And it’s happening on a daily basis. The fact that the hospital has received a 12-month-old rape victim is appalling.

    The fact that these militiamen are also inducing more cruel harm to these women/girls after gang raping them is horrible.

    I didn’t know that conditions in Africa were this bad. And even after reading that article, it’s hard to think it’s even real.