Responsible Tristia

Butuki and Jennifer have both been weighing their responsible tristia recently, asking the difficult questions. How do you reconcile your personal life with the world that comes at you through the media? What are our duties and responsibilities in terms of following what's going on in places like Iraq and actively trying to reverse the crazed course the world has taken since September 11, 2001. Is it wilful to switch off at times?

It's a key question for me too. I regularly feel guilty for not following what's going on as much as I should, for running to the mountains at weekends and for not even looking at the news some days during the week. Sometimes it can just be too much. What with the Israelis killing Palestinians for fun in the occupied territories and the sick goings-on being uncovered in Iraq and Guantanamo, and all the pap and lies and hypocrisy and spin callously used to support these terrible actions, you've got to be in a pretty solid and secure place personally--or a psychopath--to be able to turn on the news these days and not have your day ruined.

I've been taking the view that the Bush administration being removed in November is vital for getting the world back on track. It's true, but it may be simplistic. How less biased Kerry would be towards Israel remains to be seen, and until some level of fairness is found in that difficult conflict, removing Bush alone won't be enough.

But it's a crucial start. And it'll be the little things that gets rid of him. If Jennifer gets her Dad to vote against Bush and Butuki changes a few voters' minds on his weblog, they've made a tangible change. Minute, but tangible. It's going to be bloody close again this time.

So here's my minute contribution for the cause of returning the world back to sanity. And it's a first for me. It's my first time to actively campaign in an American presidential election. But here we go. Democrats Abroad are sponsoring an event called Rock For Regime Change in Gaienmae this Saturday. It's a 6-hour music festival with proceeds going to removing the Christian fundamentalists.

The details can be found here. I've already got a date with the mountains so I can't go myself, but if you're in Tokyo this Saturday, there surely can't ever be a worthier cause.

Posted by Setsunai at May 26, 2004 12:44 PM | TrackBack