A couple of posts have prompted me to share this exchange from QFS today.
In this thread: http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=7180.msg50810#msg50810
http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=7085.msg50809#msg50809
In this thread: http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=7180.msg50810#msg50810
And then, in this thread:Regulattor said:Well it's not Peru, but I think it is definitively related. Though I'm not so thrilled like guys in studio! I've even got this knot in my stomach feeling, while watching those clips. God, how am I worried!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7CfxeSUaeI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSCTxEBwauo
http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=7085.msg50809#msg50809
The subject of the QFS discussion that relates to both of the above issues was the movie "White Light/Black Rain, The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki":Shane said:Neil brought up ignorance, and I think it has a lot to do with what we're talking about. Ignorance has as much to to with intellectual capacity as it does with our emotional capacity. In this way, a Nobel prize winner can be more ignorant than those who have had to raise themselves on the streets (which reminds me how so called 'intellectuals' often have a great lack of common sense, also called street smarts). Often enough our emotional sleep keep us from developing real intellectual ability. Our emotional center needs to be awakened so we can read and interact with our environment effectively, and really a lot of the meaning we can get from life seems to be in how we interact with one another. When an emotional center is asleep, it seems any knowledge gained is just used for pointless interaction with our self (or selves). When knowledge is confined like this it would seem it's non-use inhibits the development our true self as well. We don't gain any understanding of meaning through these limited means.
Another QFS member responded:anart said:I just wanted to take a second to highly recommend this movie as a
major wake up call - especially considering what the U.S. and Israel
are pushing so hard for in Iran.
If you make it through this film without crying then I cannot imagine how.
It is a film by Steven Okazaki made 60 years after the Hiroshima and
Nagasaki a-bombs (2005 - though it seems it was released on dvd in
2007). It shows footage from the aftermath and interviews from both
sides of the bomb.
I've read quite a lot of material documenting the aftermath, with
still photographs, but I cannot find the words to express how powerful
this film is - and for me to not be able to find words says something
in itself.
It was produced by HBO as an HBO documentary -
http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/whitelightblackrain/ - and is
available as a movie rental.
Considering what we are all likely facing in the months to come from
the warmongers, this film is very, very important - osit - aside from
the affects of the bomb, there are so many psychological and
sociological sub-currents that it really is quite stunning.
There are examples of people of conscience, automatons, psychopaths,
obscene American mind manipulation before and after, and the sleeping
masses - all set on a backdrop of extreme human suffering.
A few years after the bombs dropped, the American tv show "This is
your life" did an episode with a Japanese man who ran a charity for
victims - watching that - the horrid, plastic interpretation - they
had one of the men flying the 'Enola Gay' (the plane that dropped the
bombs - and I thought 'alone' - 'enola' - what's up with that?)
anyway, one of the pilots came on and he offered a 'contribution' - it
was so obscene - so sickening that I had to stop watching for a few
minutes - and this after being able to watch images of charred bodies
and mutilated children.
Seems I was more capable of watching the truth of the matter, no
matter how jarring and horrid, then I was watching the lies trying to
'spin' the event.
I then responded to both of them as follows:Vinny said:...for what it's worth, I get a similar reaction. I have recently
read the graphic novel 'Palestine' by Joe Sacco (recommended!), and it
was horrible and disturbing in a kind of deeply personal way, but I
could still 'watch the truth of the matter' - it had quite an effect
on me, but I didn't want to turn away from it. Somehow it packed far
more punch than the often more graphic, but far less personal (and
less accurate!) news reports.
Yet if I ever switch on the TV and the Israel/Palestine thing comes up
on the news, then I find it extremely difficult to watch, I get quite
angry, almost end up foaming at the mouth at the complete set of LIES
that are being spouted, and the SPIN that is being applied to further
the psychopathic agenda, where REAL peoples' lives are at stake and it
is NOT being portrayed. And the overwhelming urge is to switch it off
because it just stinks.
As Black Elk was quoted saying: "Today is a good day to die."This is an interesting thing that the two of you have articulated. I think
that most of us have experienced this feeling of almost rage when lies are
being told while, at the same time, when we face the truth about things,
even if it is often overwhelmingly sad, that sadness is preferable to the
anger that lies evoke.
It reminds me of that creepy exorcism I did which I talked about on a
podcast. The thing that sent the critter(s) packing was when I got angry.
I often describe it as feeling a shaft of light shooting down into my body
through the crown of my head, and the emotion accompanying that light was
what I can only call "righteous anger." I got REALLY mad and this anger
gave me the determination to succeed. It also eradicated all fear that I
had been feeling up to that point.
In "Deep Therapy..." , Reston talks about how anger came in and gave her the
wherewithal to deal with the fear.
I'm not sure what it all means, but it is a very interesting phenomenon.
We are supposed to be fully aware of the "Terror of the Situation," and I
guess when we are (or so it is for me), when we see the hopelessness of
things, either we fold up and become nothing, let the terror eat us alive,
or we get angry and use that anger to fuel DOing. One wonders if anger is
the natural response of the negative half of the emotional center that is
supposed to signal danger?
Just a few thoughts to ponder.