Wednesday, November 13, 2002

When tired sleep, don't blog.
Never blog when tired. Never blog when angry. Definitely never blog when tired and angry and after watching a bereaved father bury his four and five year old children who have been slaughtered in their beds.

I've told myself this again and again, but I never listen.

Rebecca Blood says it is unethical to alter a post. Hence, update apologies. Meryl Yourish says that these would not be necessary if you manage to not post when angry (I can’t find the exact post). So true. But for that to be possible I'd have to quit my job.

Igor admonished me for going too far with my harsh description of the far-right. He's right, of course.

Diana Moon wonders if extremist settlers are really as unpopular as I say. Probably not.

Who am I to be talking in anyone's name, but my own, anyway?

I have read on American right-wing blogs, and elsewhere, that lefty anti-war-with-Iraq sentiment is all part of some sort of Marxist conspiracy. Lefties think the right is made up of warmongering fascists.

The thing is we don't know what's right. Nobody knows. Is there any one answer to anything? Is there really any one path, which, if taken will bring an end to all, or even most, or even some, ills? Can we ever say that about anything? The results of any action can always be interpreted as being a success or a failure alike, depending on your point of view. You can always blame anything you like as the cause of all ills. No one can really prove if this is accurate or not. It's all speculation, even with the benefit of hindsight.

Religions come along and tell us: This is the right answer. How do we know? Because God told us so. But God has apparently appeared to all sorts of people and told them all sorts of conflicting things. So whose God is the true God? Ours, of course.

Let's take the middle way, said the Buddha, but where does that pass? My middle way is your extreme right. Your middle way is my extreme left. Take away today’s left and the middle becomes the left. Take away the right and the middle becomes the right.

And we all chatter on, because that's what we do. Round and round and round in circles. What's the point?

Well, it passes the time, for one thing.

As long as we don't start believing it means anything.

Right or wrong, good or bad, everyone ends up in the same place. Only the good die young, goes the saying, but I know of so many not so good people who have died young. At least 35 people were killed by tornadoes in the U.S.A. this week. I don't suppose the tornadoes checked out who was good and who was bad. Life is dangerous. There is a 100% mortality rate. No one is saved.

So I'll keep on chattering on this blog. Just don't take me too seriously. Tomorrow I may very well be saying the exact opposite of what I was saying yesterday.