I just stopped by the gallery where I'll be having a show in December. There is anti-war artwork there. I hadn't heard about this until I saw the work, and I was deeply saddened by such a thing.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_of_Death

 

The US just blocked off both ends of the highway and opened fire on everything alive on the road from Basra to Kuwait, probably killing just about everyone.

 

:-((

People are generally a bit shit. Giving people weaponry is just madness.

You were deeply saddened by anti-war art? I thought you were against the war?

Upon reading the wiki article in question and re-reading your post I see that you're saddened by what the art portrays and not that the art was created in the first place, and also that the Highway of Death probably wasn't as bad as you make it sound.

I just read that Wikipedia article more closely, too, and it does sound like it's actually hard to know what really happened there.

 

Damn artists. ;)

Death happens. That's the reality of it. Wars have been faught since day one. From protozoa to people, carnage has been waged for billions of years. It will continue this way too, until this ball of rock called earth is swallowed by the sun.

...so I should be complacent and shove my feelings inside and not mention it to anyone?

TAKE MATTERS INTO YOUR OWN HANDS !!

KILL YOURSELF BEFORE THOSE COMMIE BASTARDS GET THERE FIRST !!

Please.

My uncle was killed in that.

Are you serious? I'm so sorry to hear that. I can't imagine many more frightening/violent/unnecessary ways to go. :(

Yeah, it was announced that the US called a ceasefire, so loads travelled up in full military uniform and - for want of a better term - got slaughtered.

 

Still, it's better than my other uncle who died from torture in Iran.

So it's true?

 

How horrid. How absolutely horrid....it was after the ceasefire people were going and it was THEN that they were shot?

Well I don't know if it's the exact same event but I know that's what happened in his case.

No.

It's not about being complacent, it's just recognizing the fact that death happens. Brutality has been in this world since the begining, and it's not going to change with all the hand holding and candle vigils.

 

No, I don't pity a single soul caught in the devastation.

What if it's you next time?

Yes! Precisely. Shit happens. We could all die at any moment from all kinds of things.

Excellent. I'll arrange for a friendly arab to come and line you and yours up against the wall and shoot you.

 

I'll tell him you'll be the one standing tall and taking it like a man.

Compassion, thankfully, has also always been here, as well as remorse.

 

Generally, people feel remorse and compassion, even people who have done brutal things to others. You can still accept that violence happens and also at the same time feel compassion toward the victims. It's unnecessary and dangerous to compartmentalize your compassion.

 

BTW I've never been to a vigil.

We don't shoot, we slice.