thoughts from a restless mind. |
20. SoCal born and raised. I play volleyball; generally twice a week. Berkeley undergrad: computer science & math My tag frequencies say kind of a lot about me. I like thinking, stories, listening, you~ |
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Notes"One step beyond that boundary line which resembles the line dividing the living from the dead lies uncertainty, suffering, and death. And what is there? Who is there?— there beyond that field, that tree, that roof lit up by the sun? No one knows, but one wants to know. You fear and yet long to cross that line, and know that sooner or later it must be crossed and you will have to find out what is there, just as you will inevitably have to learn what lies the other side of death."Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
(Source: quote-book)
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Notes"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse… A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice; a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice, is often the means of their regeneration.
A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other."John Stuart Mill
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Notes"It is my earnest hope — indeed the hope of all mankind — that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past, a world founded upon faith and understanding, a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance, and justice."General Douglas MacArthur
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Notes"Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."George C. Scott as General George S. Patton
(Source: imdb.com)
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"The first law of war is to preserve ourselves and destroy the enemy."
Mao Tse-Tung
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Notes"Human war has been the most successful of our cultural traditions."Robert Ardrey
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this is the gifset i was looking for o:
[cross-referencing for my future sake: here, here, and here]
(Source: mcavoyster, via totoropudding)
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ardentsonata replied to your post: polarwishes replied to your post: Favorite…Soldiers get a bad rap which makes me feel disappointed in the nation. Speaking of soldiers what do you think of the phrase: “Support the troops, not the war”?
and i feel disappointed along with you. i feel like bainter’s perspective on politics is (at least vaguely) similar. really, i think it comes down to the fact that there are bad people in the world in most every sort of profession, of most every type of belief, of most every race, ethnicity, culture, financial situation, etc. (this is all assuming that you could have some sort of mutually agreed upon subjective measure of “evil”. good and bad are just social constructs, a way of interpreting the world in terms of merit and/or usefulness toward a future ideal.)
support the troops: i feel like this might sometimes be a generalization. different troops are in different places doing different things. i feel like we ought to support the individuals (and even groups really). i don’t know how to explain this idea very well.. but i do feel that they deserve our admiration and support.
don’t support the war: i don’t know where i stand on this. theoretically, i can imagine a situation where i would personally find war justified and i would support it. intellectually, i find this terrible and would ideally not have any war. but realistically, people (and so nations of people) do stupid things like wage war, and it becomes an immediate non-trivial decision where to “not decide” whether to fight is to “decide not” to fight. so this would seem to vary from war to war.
it seems to me that the intent of the statement is something like “be humanitarian. support the people, not politicians. down with big government.” or something along those lines. but what does “support” mean? what if the soldiers support the war? can you defame the war, but glorify a soldier fighting it? if you don’t support the war, are you opposing the soldier fighting it? i don’t know the answers to these (or even if there are answers..)
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polarwishes replied to your post: Favorite holiday?I asked the question… But on my phone and it didn’t log me in xD. Phone fail. But followup question - how do you personally celebrate veterans day?
i don’t feel that it’s a time for celebration. to me, it’s a day of solemn remembrance. i was indoctrinated with quite a bit of nationalism and pride as a child. now i’m more aware, but i still have a great respect for those who volunteer their abilities, and indeed their lives, to protect us.
i just went looking for a particular graphic i remember seeing, but can’t seem to find it.. so i’ll paraphrase:
i’m not willing to risk my life to defend our country. if you are, you can have sex with whomever you want. hell, if you want to have sex with a pie, i’ll bake it myself. [edit: source here, but i won’t correct my memory]
this brings up a mostly unrelated topic, but the sentiment about soldiers is relevant: these are extraordinary human beings. a small percentage of the population who dedicate their lives for the betterment of our nation.
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NotesAnonymous asked: Favorite holiday?
it’s saint patrick’s day!
picking a favorite holiday; hm.. i haven’t actually given this terribly much thought before. i like making caramel around winter solstice time. but that’s just the time frame, not necessarily a specific holiday.
perhaps armistice day. the war isn’t exactly something to celebrate; i suppose you could argue that ending it was good and a cause for celebration. there are interesting stories about how it was ended though.
but more than that, veteran’s day is for us to appreciate all those who serve and have served our country, many with their last full measure of devotion. it is a day to remember:
“those who.. gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled.. have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say.. but it can never forget what they did..” — Lincoln
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Notes"Human fascination with “fun” has led to many tragedies in your short but violent history. One wonders how your race has survived having so much “fun”."Tuvok (via stwordsofwisdom)
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Notes"Only the dead have seen the end of war."Plato (via philphys)
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Notes"Our generation has had no great war, no great depression. Our war is spiritual. Our depression is our lives."Chuck Palahniuk (via katchuwiiin)
(via katchuwiiin)
