Monday, 4 June 2007 | 9:18 pm
What makes me sick
Yeah ok, this is my second post of the day. So what, not my fault I can't seem to stop thinking. I'm writing this so I can avoid reading my chem textbook, I know I'll regret it later but...who cares.
I just watched a clip from Saving Private Ryan where a sniper gunned down an American soldier. I literally felt sick to my stomach and the feeling is not going away even though its been over 5 minutes. It's not the blood. Blood doesn't bother me, I can dissect rats without flinching. Besides, I'm a girl...we literally bleed once a month. What sickens me is how unnecessary it all is. Next you're going to tell me it's just a movie, but things like that go on ALL the time. War is completely unnecessary. The whole concept disgusts me, I guess I'll never understand the politics behind it. All I can see is people dying for somebody else's war. I finished reading The Quiet American by Graham Greene for the second time, I suppose that kind of swayed me.
Fowler was a reporter and he'd seen so many terrible things, but promised he'd never take sides. Not until he watched the aftermath of a bomb organized by his 'friend' Pyle, a "young idealistic American sent to promote democracy through a mysterious 'Third Force'." The bomb was supposed to go off during a parade; where it was likely to kill important French colonels; but the parade had been canceled. Instead, the bomb went off during a busy shopping hour and killed mothers and children. Pyle couldn't even recognize the blood on his shoe for what it was, he'd never seen it before.
"Unlike them, I had a reason for thankfulness, for wasn't Phuong alive? Hadn't Phuong been 'warned'? But what I remembered was the torso in the square, the baby on its mother's lap. They had not been warned: they had not been sufficiently important. And if the parade had taken place would they not have been there just the same, out of curiosity, to see the soldiers, and hear the speakers, and throw the flowers? A two-hundred-pound bomb does not discriminate. How many dead colonels justify a child's or trishaw driver's death when you are building a national democratic front?" - Fowler, The Quiet American by Graham Greene
Couldn't have put it better myself.
Well I'm going to wreck the novel for you, but Fowler ends up helping the communists kill Pyle because of his naivety.
"What's the good? He'll always be innocent, you can't blame the innocent, they are always guiltless. All you can do is control them or eliminate them. Innocence is a kind of insanity." - Fowler, The Quiet American by Graham Greene
Pyle had an innocent belief in General The and the Third Force. Much like how communism looks good when philosophized by Marx, but in practice is a piece of shite (that is as close as I'm getting to a swear word on here). That's not the only reason Fowler got involved, but the other is not relevant so I'll ignore it. It's a lot more complicated than my brief (*coughcough*) description. If you're curious go read the book yourself!
It's interesting to note that Graham Greene was a Catholic. I read a friend-of-Audrey's blog commenting on a quote from this book about death and saying he couldn't understand it.
"Lose life and one would lose nothing again forever...Death was far more certain than God...The nightmare of a future of boredom and indifference would lift...To kill a man was to surely grant him an immeasurable benefit..." - Fowler, The Quiet American by Graham Greene.
I can't remember his name, I feel bad for just mentioning him here without telling him. I was just trying to search for his blog but I can't find it. Um...it had a rainbow background. I'm not targeting him! He was the one that actually inspired me to read the book!
Religion is very topical in The Quiet American, because Fowler was so strongly against it. You kind of have to admire Greene for being able to put so eloquently into words another person's point of view. I don't have a religion, I can (sort of) understand what Graham Greene was trying to say. It probably means different things for each individual. It's hard to believe Greene still had a religion if he felt that way though.
"Oh yes, people always, everywhere, loved their enemies. It was their friends they preserved for pain and vacuity." -Fowler, The Quiet American by Graham Greene
In the context of the book it makes sense. The 'friends' he was referring to were all the women he had left behind, like his wife. Fowler believed that death was the ultimate freedom, and freedom was what he wanted the most. To kill your enemies would be a blessing by releasing them from all worldly pain. For his friends: he did not want them to die, it was to his friends he had caused the most hurt; and yet he did not wish death upon them, hence saving them "for pain and vacuity". It does make sense; in a sick, twisted way.
Death as a form of freedom is not what I believe in. War is wrong. All violence is completely unnecessary. People are getting blown to bits and I can't do anything about it.
I feel sick.
Mel
----------edit----------
Ok, I found the guys blog. His name is Isaac. Check out the post I was referring to here. We all have different views. Thanks Isaac.
Pee.ess - I promise you guys that one day I will learn the art of condensation. Until then, you will probably have to suffer through many more long and boring rants of a procrastinating Chem student. Um, also, Victor has a blog, show support and click here.
I just watched a clip from Saving Private Ryan where a sniper gunned down an American soldier. I literally felt sick to my stomach and the feeling is not going away even though its been over 5 minutes. It's not the blood. Blood doesn't bother me, I can dissect rats without flinching. Besides, I'm a girl...we literally bleed once a month. What sickens me is how unnecessary it all is. Next you're going to tell me it's just a movie, but things like that go on ALL the time. War is completely unnecessary. The whole concept disgusts me, I guess I'll never understand the politics behind it. All I can see is people dying for somebody else's war. I finished reading The Quiet American by Graham Greene for the second time, I suppose that kind of swayed me.
Fowler was a reporter and he'd seen so many terrible things, but promised he'd never take sides. Not until he watched the aftermath of a bomb organized by his 'friend' Pyle, a "young idealistic American sent to promote democracy through a mysterious 'Third Force'." The bomb was supposed to go off during a parade; where it was likely to kill important French colonels; but the parade had been canceled. Instead, the bomb went off during a busy shopping hour and killed mothers and children. Pyle couldn't even recognize the blood on his shoe for what it was, he'd never seen it before.
"Unlike them, I had a reason for thankfulness, for wasn't Phuong alive? Hadn't Phuong been 'warned'? But what I remembered was the torso in the square, the baby on its mother's lap. They had not been warned: they had not been sufficiently important. And if the parade had taken place would they not have been there just the same, out of curiosity, to see the soldiers, and hear the speakers, and throw the flowers? A two-hundred-pound bomb does not discriminate. How many dead colonels justify a child's or trishaw driver's death when you are building a national democratic front?" - Fowler, The Quiet American by Graham Greene
Couldn't have put it better myself.
Well I'm going to wreck the novel for you, but Fowler ends up helping the communists kill Pyle because of his naivety.
"What's the good? He'll always be innocent, you can't blame the innocent, they are always guiltless. All you can do is control them or eliminate them. Innocence is a kind of insanity." - Fowler, The Quiet American by Graham Greene
Pyle had an innocent belief in General The and the Third Force. Much like how communism looks good when philosophized by Marx, but in practice is a piece of shite (that is as close as I'm getting to a swear word on here). That's not the only reason Fowler got involved, but the other is not relevant so I'll ignore it. It's a lot more complicated than my brief (*coughcough*) description. If you're curious go read the book yourself!
It's interesting to note that Graham Greene was a Catholic. I read a friend-of-Audrey's blog commenting on a quote from this book about death and saying he couldn't understand it.
"Lose life and one would lose nothing again forever...Death was far more certain than God...The nightmare of a future of boredom and indifference would lift...To kill a man was to surely grant him an immeasurable benefit..." - Fowler, The Quiet American by Graham Greene.
I can't remember his name, I feel bad for just mentioning him here without telling him. I was just trying to search for his blog but I can't find it. Um...it had a rainbow background. I'm not targeting him! He was the one that actually inspired me to read the book!
Religion is very topical in The Quiet American, because Fowler was so strongly against it. You kind of have to admire Greene for being able to put so eloquently into words another person's point of view. I don't have a religion, I can (sort of) understand what Graham Greene was trying to say. It probably means different things for each individual. It's hard to believe Greene still had a religion if he felt that way though.
"Oh yes, people always, everywhere, loved their enemies. It was their friends they preserved for pain and vacuity." -Fowler, The Quiet American by Graham Greene
In the context of the book it makes sense. The 'friends' he was referring to were all the women he had left behind, like his wife. Fowler believed that death was the ultimate freedom, and freedom was what he wanted the most. To kill your enemies would be a blessing by releasing them from all worldly pain. For his friends: he did not want them to die, it was to his friends he had caused the most hurt; and yet he did not wish death upon them, hence saving them "for pain and vacuity". It does make sense; in a sick, twisted way.
Death as a form of freedom is not what I believe in. War is wrong. All violence is completely unnecessary. People are getting blown to bits and I can't do anything about it.
I feel sick.
Mel
----------edit----------
Ok, I found the guys blog. His name is Isaac. Check out the post I was referring to here. We all have different views. Thanks Isaac.
Pee.ess - I promise you guys that one day I will learn the art of condensation. Until then, you will probably have to suffer through many more long and boring rants of a procrastinating Chem student. Um, also, Victor has a blog, show support and click here.
Pee.ess - I promise you guys that one day I will learn the art of condensation. Until then, you will probably have to suffer through many more long and boring rants of a procrastinating Chem student. Um, also, Victor has a blog, show support and click here.