Been a student. Been a clerk. Been a salesperson. Been a manager. Been a teacher. Been an expatriate. Am a husband, father, and chronicle.

  • 7 Posts
  • 97 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: July 4th, 2023
  • eightpix@lemmy.worldtoAsklemmy@lemmy.ml•Have you seen someone die in front of you?
    21·
    9 days ago

    It seems like I’ve been obsessed over death and dying for decades.

    When I was thirteen, as a form of dealing with the concept of death, I imagined hearing the news of the deaths of each of my family members and a couple of the girls I liked from school. Finding out that a person is dead is a singular experience. A few years later, I viscerally understood what was said in Unforgiven, “[death] take[s] away all he’s got, all he’s ever gonna have.”

    When I was sixteen, I did a cooperative education placement in a hospital. As fate would have it, I was placed in the histopathology department. I was surrounded by tissues removed from the dead, the dying, and those who had gotten a new lease on life. In the morgue, I helped discard any samples that were two or more years old. Removed silicone breast implants were frequent, as were containers labelled “uterine curettings.” In that same morgue, I sat in on two autopsies, including one where sections of the brain were needed.

    Between 13 and 18, I began to be much more aware of conflict zones; injustice, and miscarriages of justice involving death; of the legacies left behind in their wake. I became aware of South African apartheid, war — later, genocide — in a disintegrating Yugoslavia, genocide in Rwanda. The collapse of social order in L.A. in '92. Hurricanes in the Caribbean, especially Andrew, which battered Jamaica. The Bay Area earthquake. The Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. The bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City and the bombing at the Atlanta Olympics. This period also saw the formation of my opposition to capital punishment.

    It wasn’t until 9/11 that I saw people die live on TV. I didn’t wake until 10 am that day, but by 1030, I saw both towers fall. By the end of that day, it was a buddy of mine who said, “Why don’t they stop showing this??” It hadn’t occurred to me that we were watching snuff film until then.

    Then there was 17-18 March 2003. I sat and watched as Shock and Awe were released on Baghdad. One of the oldest cities in the world bombed for political expediency. More snuff film.

    ____ and ____ would later start to collect and disseminate the deadliest and the most violate material. I wouldn’t go looking for it, but it would find me. Cartel violence, industrial accidents, gun camera footage, people filming police shootings… there was so much death. Busta Rhymes said it best, “numerals of funerals every day.” Another thought that has not left me.

    I didn’t know why I needed to know. Then, in time, I came to understand that I was bearing witness.

    It was about 2004 when I started to develop an appreciation for the special violence of the Israeli‐Palestinian conflict and the sheer destruction it inflicts. I read a lot about the Holocaust, Jewish diaspora, anti-Semitism, and the campaign to make genocide punishable. Then, I read about the roots of the Israeli state, its funding, protections, and the special relationship it enjoys with the warlike American state and its allies. Then, I read into America and how that state has secured its place in world history. I moved to South Korea and started to understand Korea, Japan, China, and the other nations of Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Oceania, much more clearly.

    What I found out is that, to some, achievable ends are sought by bloody means. This is a pattern across most of the world. In general, average everyday people are just trying to get by and do right by their families. In the places that we can not peacefully coexist, where expropriation and indignity are inflicted by those who wield the power they seek and are corrupted by it. Frank Herbert said, “Power is magnetic to the corruptible.”

    Journalists, in my opinion, are those who pursue power in the practice of relinquishing it to the public. With this in mind, I understand the threat that Julian Assange was to the power establishment in the US. I saw the “Collateral Murder” release that landed him in the Ecuadorian embassy for the better part of a decade. The truly destructive part of this episode is the proliferation of instances in which military outfits across the world are engaged in similar activities. The Dutch Safety Board investigation and publications regarding the shooting down of flight MH17 are exceptional examples.

    All of this is to say that we need to spend more time coming to terms with death and dying. We need to be more aware, not less, of the living conditions that cause people to die. War, famine, pestilence, climate upheaval, conflict zones, refugees from conflict and climate and corruption, drought, flooding, colonialism, austerity, and protectionism threaten almost all of the world’s population.

    The few who are not threatened take refuge in their comfort and contrive to maintain the status quo. They change laws, lobby, employ, and help to elect and appoint those that serve the entreched interests. A future that looks like the present is a dead future, and we are witnessing the spread of atrophy and rigor mortis each day. That’s about as real as it gets.

  • eightpix@lemmy.worldtoComic Books@lemmy.world•Name some reasons to like either Marvel Comics or DC Comics.English
    61·
    11 days ago

    Marvel: s (NY, ) mixed in with fake locales (Genosha, A events (9/11 has made several appearances, WWII is canon), legit in-universe stakes and motivation, lots of difficult or morally grey choices. Good reading, they make you think.

    DC: fake cities (i.e., Metropolis, Gotham); never have seen a historical event (feel free to enlighten me if you would); stakes seem to be damage to infrastructure and property — maybe a hero or two will get hurt (except for that one time they put a lady in a refrigerator as motivation — that was not cool); good guys are clearly good, bad guys are clearly bad.

    My money has always been with Marvel.

  • eightpix@lemmy.worldOPtoBooks@lemmy.world•What's a title that is worth it (to you) to have both the physical copy and the audiobook?
    4·
    14 days ago

    The Expanse is political/corporate intrigue set in the 24th century after humans have extended mining to the rings of Saturn. There are three major political camps:

    • the United Nations of Earth and Luna — a bloated, old, slow, and traditional nation that has the only source of live soil samples, punishing universal basic income, and 30 billion mouths to feed. They are the “takers”.

    • the Martian Congressional Republic — a trim, agile, militaristic, and focused nation that makes technological advances and works hard to stay alive on a hostile world. They are the “dusters”.

    • the diffuse factions known under the umbrella term “Belters.” They are the workers, the downtrodden, the neglected, and the subjects of the great nations’ impunity. In a few short generations, their bodies changed, adapting to the ravages of microgravity and zero G. Their needs are simple: air, water, food. Their work is hard. Their lives are nasty, brutish, and short. But, they love fiercely, have a language and culture all their own, and refuse to bow before Earth and Mars.

    “In fair Sol system, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”