 ouyangwulong says: When in power, corruption hemmed in around her, and her visions were stalemated by the reality of bureaucratic government. She was at her best when she was disenfranchised, chiding those in control. In power she was a bureaucrat, but in opposition she was an icon. Now she has died as icons die, as opposition leaders die, in an explosive annihilation of waves of humanity. ...at the back gate of a park after a speech, on the eve of her comeback. Assasination is such a shocking thing. it makes me feel so empty. total despair. and i didn't even like Buhutto. I was sitting at my computer listening to Leonard Cohen and writing up some thoughts on Christmas and Vedanta, and ancient languages, and then this pops up and I'm blank. Why does it always end this way? I mean, I never really figured she would actually die. I figured it was grandstanding... it's always security guards and innocent bystanders that die in suicide bombings... Why am I angry? Because it makes me feel weak. Why do I feel weak? Because suddenly I see so clearly how little power we have to change things. A little power isn't nothing, but it's so difficult and slow.... and then this happens. She was fighting to protect the interest of Islamic civilization by eliminating extremism and terrorism...and she died by the hands of a terrorist.... That is why I feel weak. It makes you feel helpless because you now have to wonder is there any hope for change? What will be the response by the people of Pakistan? I fear the worse. I am surprised by my own reaction too. I am really upset by this. It's just so fucking bleak. In a sense I'm not surprised, because she was herself on a suicide mission: from returning back to Pakistan, being attacked at first in such a big way and now finally killed.... she knew what she was getting into. I am surprised though that she turned out to be the most courageous woman of all, a woman who is almost an exception in the Muslim world, as far back as you can see. Me too, but that's what I feel guilty about. I had been so cynical about her. All this talk about fighting extreemists normaly comes from people who do nothing. It's a handy way of blaming everyone but yourself for the problems. I had thought she was just grand standing, that she wasn't actually going to do anything. That she was just finding a way to put herself in the limelight. Maybe she was, partly, but in hindsight, only now I see something really great in her, and that makes it all the more devastating. The sense of fate, how self-posessed she was, diving back in, and now, looking back, she had to die to make people like me realize what she really stood for. That she actually went th... There's a lot of information coming out quickly so it's difficult to have a balanced understanding of all that's gone on over the last several months...let alone the last decades. I believe Musharraf wasn't the par excellence of *presidents* but he was, for a while, keeping things in check. With Bhutto's return, his opposition gained strength. Now the noise in the streets is that Musharraf is behind her assassination even while, Al-Qaeda I think, has claimed responsibility. They definitely wanted her dead and had issued many threats against her. Well I hope she rests in peace... The reaction will be against Musharaff, at least that appears to be the initial trend. Conspiracy theories are very popular in Asia. On the other hand, I don't think this is his style. He would have rather marginalized her. If he wanted to get rid of her, she would have been "disappeared" by secret police.or killed in a raid that somehow made it look like she was working with terrorists. Suicide bombing is a signature Sunni terrorist tactic. These same people target Musharaff. Al Qaeda seems like they are too diffused to pull it off, even if they take credit. My guess is that this was carried out by a fringe Islamist group campaigning for a Taliban-like government in Pakistan. There are a... It really tears me up, because I can see it so clearly now. What she stood for might not have seemed like much, and I don't know how many people understood it until now. What she was trying to do was have Pakistan just be a normal country. Not a perfect one, not number one, just normal. Dreaming of a country with no military government, with a few parties that argue about their ideas in elections, with no crazy religious laws, where people can go on about their lives. A country where three bombings in a week isn't considered unusual. And it took her years in exile to work up the courage to go back and lead those normal people, the ones not crazy enough to be terrorists, not greedy enough ... Reminds me of the stories about RFK wading into the crowd while he was campaigning. And surely the impact of her martyrdom will be profound. Violence ultimately weakens the cause of its perpetrators. Shows what a nest of vipers Pakistan really is. It's an ungovernable, barren, anal spot on our planet. Forever more, when Pakistan is mentioned, the martyrdom of a lovely spirit by animals will be brought to mind. Who is really to blame? The religion of "peace". The Western world should isolate these hell hole countries and force them to return to the 12th century is all respects. Deny them technology. Deny them modern medicine. Deny them public transportation outside of their countries. Do not accept them as immigrants. Let them rot in their misery with their religion to flail them through this hell of their own making. Do you think, that is what Benazir Bhutto would have wanted? Is was that what she stood for? She struggled and died for democracy for Pakistan. Not for what you describe. isolate these hell hole countries and force them to return to the 12th century is all respects. Deny them technology. Deny them modern medicine. Deny them public transportation outside of their countries.I think you got Bhutto's message mixed up with Kim Jong-Il's.  O wrote: That she was just finding a way to put herself in the limelight. Maybe she was, partlyBut isn't it that same strain of ego in nearly every political leader's make-up that drives them, no matter the nobility it is paired with? thisname wrote: I think you got Bhutto's message mixed up with Kim Jong-Il's.Kronfield's expressed faith in mankind explains why he has such a dim view of a truly free America, too. Long live the emperialists, huh PK? Pkronfield, thank you for reminding us what this is all about! This isn't about liberals versus conservatives, or Muslims versus Christians. This is about intolerant extremists who fear diversity and demand conformity, versus normal people who just want to live happy lives along side their neighbors, whoever they may be. And thank you for reminding us that intolerant extremists come in all kinds, and from all countries, even America. |
View the Top Clips from December 27, 2007
Embed This Clip In Your Site...
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
New from the makers of Clipmarks: Amplify.com - Don't just share the news...Amplify it!
|
|||||||||||
