So it goes...

I was going to write about the awesome weekend I had in London visiting my sister and attending Bob Dylan's concert. Then I was struck by the news of the Virginia Tech Shootings, where a student of English shot 32 students in two separate shootings on the same day in VT Campus. So it goes. As I expected the conservatives began blaming the video games, National Rifles Association of USA has even linked the killings not to the lax rules on fire-arms in USA, but to their stringency. Their (ill) logic goes like this: had there been a student with a firearm he would be able to stop the maniac on the loose. Great. I'm sure they'd love Dr. Strangelove. Mutual Assured Destruction.

Why did this news affected me this much? After all I went to class everyday for two years passing under the infamous University of Texas Tower, from where ex-Marine Corp Charles Whitman shot 17 civilians on a sunny Austin day.So it goes. I found out why...

This weekend I read Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut. It is composed of memories from the past and future of a American POW who survived the dreadful firebombing of Dresden on 14 Febuary 1945. Here is a BBC report about one of the cruelest crimes against humanity committed by the Allies, where between 25.000 and 100.000 people -various sources give different numbers- were either burned alive or suffocated. So it goes. For those who can bare to read it here is the official US Air Force report, it turns out with a kill rate of %2.5 it was a failure... The POW is blessed with the ability to live in the fourth dimension, so his able to travel in time, and live his life in any direction time he wishes . He choose to watch the bombing of Dresden in reverse. And it seemed so beautiful. Americans sent planes from thousands of miles away to collect the metallic shells filled with minerals which caused fire and death on Dresden. Almost magically they sucked them out of the ground and sent back them to America on heavily guarded ships so that they don't cause damage anymore. Then women in factories took the minerals out of their casings carefully, and the minerals were sent to specialists firms who dug underground to put the minerals which caused so much damage and death away from humans so that they don't kill anymore... Unfortunately not all of us are blessed with this gift to live our lives in reverse to see the minerals in metal casings which killed 33 people be put to pieces and buried underground. Or maybe only those who support gun ownership can...

Incidentally I had commented about Bob Dylan concert on my music blog. I satirically said:

" It was awesome. Perhaps not for people who wanted to hear him play Blowing in the Wind "

Because I thought, he had sung that song over and over again and people would know that it is the firearms that kill other human beings. I after the incident yesterday, I think he really should have sung this song...

"Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?"

Comments

zeynep said…
Gus Van Sant'in Elephant adli filmini izleyin. Tam aynisi.
8:15 PM
Diego said…
lan aldim kitabi daha okumadan destur bismillah ne varsa yazmissin bloga.
1:48 AM
Ahmet C. Toker said…
Bu yazdiklarimi zaten kitabin ilk sayfasinda okuyacaksin. Vonnegut ilginc bi herif.
10:22 AM
e. pınar said…
Yaw benim anlamadigim son yasanan olayda bu koreli eleman neden o insanlari oldurmus ne ilgileri varmis,neden bu kadar vandallasmis? Of bu silahlanma olayi da zincirleme bi reaksiyon zaten. Simdi bu haberi okuyan bi takim amerikalilar da kendilerini bu delilerden korumak icin silah satin alicaklar. Sonra bunlardan bazilari da delirecek ve zaten halihazirda bulunan delilerle birlesip daha cok manyak olacak etrafta. So it goes...
6:29 PM
Umut Ozek said…
Adamin su ana kadar ortaya cikmis bir sebebi yok katliam icin. Fakat adamin ruh hastasi oldugu, daha once 2005te iki kez kizlari taciz etmek (cinsel degil) suclamasiyla polis tarafindan gozlem altina alindigi, ikinci olaydan sonra adamin oda arkadasina 'kendimi oldurecegim' dedigi, bunun uzerine oda arkadasinin tekrar polisi aradigi, polisin onerisi uzerine adamin bir sureligine bir klinikte kaldigi, silahlardan birisini gecen ay bir silah dukkanindan, digerini internetten iki ay once aldigi ortaya cikti.
Adam Ingilizce bolumunde okuyormus. Yazdigi kompozisyonlar o kadar rahatsiz edici gelmis ki ogrencilere ve hocalara, dersten ayirip adama terapiye gitmesi onerilmis. Adamin kompozisyonlarindan ikisi su adreste;
http://news.aol.com/virginia-tech-shootings/cho-seung-hui/_a/richard-mcbeef-cover-page/20070417134109990001
10:31 PM
Umut Ozek said…
Cok beklemenize gerek kalmadi burada dun CNN'de canli yayinda iki adam tavsiye etti. Oneri aynen soyle; universite kampuslerinde ogrencilerin silah tasimasina izin verilsin. Eger verilseydi, bu kadar adam olmezdi.
Boyle bir mantigin nasil sonuclari olabilecegini aciklamama gerek yok heralde. 18-22 yaslari arasindaki insanlarin eline silah verip hepsinin bunlarla mantikli ve kanuna uygun isler yapacagini ummak sacmaliktan baska birsey degil.
1966'da Texas'ta olan olaydan bu olayin baslica farki, yapan adamin ogrenci olmasi. Olayin VT'de olmus olmasi tamamen tesadufi, ve asil endise veren olay da bu, olay burada bizim kampuste de olabilirdi.
10:41 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Balik Hafizali Millet ve Onun Oyunbaz Yöneticileri

Spor'u yakindan takip etmeyenleriniz olabilir. Onun icin olanlari kisaca size özetleyeyim. Galatasaray Basketbol Takimi sezon öncesi Avrupa'ya özel bir turnuvaya gidiyor. Cemal Nalga adli bir oyuncusu 5 mac cezali. Bu turnuvada sahada yer aliyor, ama takim arkadasinin formasiyla oynuyor. Türkiye Basketbol Federasyonuna ise macta oynamamis gibi gosteriliyor. Boylece Cemal Nalga sezona hem hazir giriyor, hem de cezasini cekmekten kurtuluyor. Asagilik bir kurnazlik örnegi. Türkiye'nin en büyük camialarindan birine, kendini Galatasaray Lisesi gelenegine adamis bir camiaya yakismayan, bu yuzden beni cok uzen bir kurnazlik hem de. Galatasaray Klübü kendi icinde hemen cezalari veriyor. Sira Basketbol Federasyonuna geliyor. Disiplin talimatnamesinde ACIK ACIK yaziyor: Basketbol Federasyonunu kandiran takim lig dusurulur. Su an linki bulamiyorum, ama acik acik yaziyor bu. Eyyamci Federasyon ne yapiyor? Lig dusurmuyor, ama lig dusurmeye es deger bir ceza veriyor. Cemal Nalga'nin ...
Read more

Brain in love...

Functional MRI is one of the coolest scientific devices ever developed. With it the scientists are able to monitor which parts of the brain are activated, when individuals are involved in different activities. From dancing to taking decisions the functional MRI has revolutionized our understanding of many fundamental human activities. As Helen Fisher put it, the most passionate human activity, the romantic love is one of the latest to be investigated in functional MRI. According to their results, love activates the reward/punishment mechanisms, along with risk taking and strategic game playing parts of the brain. Unlike people who can leave in a split second, the activity in those areas continue even 15 months after separation. Also, people who claim to be in love after 25 years still have those regions active! Lastly, the same reward region is activated in a cocaine high! Here is a 15 minute video of Helen Fisher's talk, which is definitely worth watching! Helen Fisher: The Brain ...
Read more

Joy of rediscovering a Bob Dylan discovery

I guess I won't be wrong if I say that Bob Dylan's artistic output is perhaps one of the largest in the contemporary music history. Thus one shouldn't be surprised to find interesting Dylan selections such as "Favorite Dylan Songs Starting with C" in the Internet. His website ( link to the website ), which has an incredible list of his songs, might give you an idea of about the sheer volume of his output. So from time to time I discover new favorites out of this collection. The song Series of Dreams is a voyage through well you know what, in which Dylan has no intention of telling anything specific, but just wants to paint the walls of a long and winding cave with the images. This beautiful song did not make it to any albums. I first heard it on his Greatest Hits collection a month or so ago, and was struck by it. Recently I came across an alternate version in his latest Bootleg Series Releases Tell Tale Signs. I have to say the alternate version is even be...
Read more