Scream Bloody Murder

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Scream Bloody Murder

I just saw a CNN documentary called "Scream Bloody Murder" by Christiane Amanpour and it messed with my head. She covered several cases of genocide and the world's response. Here is CNN's Interactive Map of the places of genocides covered in her report:

The world's killing fields

Despite some criticism on the Internet about the paltry attention given to the Armenian genocide, her reporting was first rate. It was literally one of the best news specials I have ever seen anywhere. Amanpour was on the side of the targeted people, whether Jew, Kurd, Muslim, Cambodian, Tutsis or black African in Darfur. A special touching part was her focus on people who tried to warn the world about genocide and the apathy and disbelief with which they were greeted until the atrocity was so great it could not be ignored.

What a refreshing experience to see a reporter present a work on sheer evil, call it evil and make no apology for this side or that and those who knew and could have done something, but did nothing. This was a totally un-partisan approach. She pointed the finger at whoever was to blame and let the cards fall where they may.

I will not use Objectivism ever to justify this. I believe to the bottom of my soul that genocide is an evil so great that it comes before any other philosophical consideration. There is nothing on earth that can excuse that.

The documentary is on YouTube for now (incomplete so far). If anyone wishes to see it, here are 9 parts. (NOTE ADDED LATER: It is now complete.) I know I might be fudging by doing this, but I passionately believe that this message is too important not to spread it when and where one can.

If you can catch this on CNN, please watch it there.

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Scream Bloody Murder CNN Christiane Amanpour part 8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0LjJ8956Ck

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Scream Bloody Murder CNN Christiane Amanpour part 9

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU3BvOA0J58

NOTE: Please scroll down over a few intermittent text posts to continue.

[BaalChatzaf]

The question of apathy: The X people way over there are being slaughtered. Question: what is that to us? Are we in danger? If not, then why get bothered or involved? If we are in danger then we should take steps.

Apathy is as natural to humans as is breathing. It goes right along with laziness and procrastination. Humans, by inclination, are generally not a nice bunch of folks. There are a few exceptions and they are so few as not to matter.

The main question is: What is Y to me? Lacking an answer, little or no action follows. That is the way it is with our kind. Humans can rationalize just about anything away.

Here is my question to you: why get excited or bothered about something about which you can do little or nothing? Indifference to the suffering of The Other is the default condition of the human race. It is only on rare occasions that folks bestir themselves about things which have no immediate or probable impact on their well-being.

My apologies for bringing this Bad News, but that is the way it is. If you wish to Kill The Messenger my throat is located just above my collar bone.

A is A.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Bob,

It's not bad news to anybody but you. Fortunately the world is going in a direction of correcting this.

You are merely isolated in your belief and care so little that you always seek an audience to state how little you care. I notice that the time of your post means that you did not have time to see two videos (but I suspect you didn't even bother to watch the first). That's a hell of a lot of not caring and goal-directed effort to make sure people know you don't care.

I care. A lot.

Michael

[BaalChatzaf]

I care. A lot.

Michael

How nice. What good comes of it? Is your concern going to put an end to evil?

Ba'al Chatzaf

[BaalChatzaf]

Bob,

It's not bad news to anybody but you. Fortunately the world is going in a direction of correcting this.

You are merely isolated in your belief and care so little that you always seek an audience to state how little you care. I notice that the time of your post means that you did not have time to see two videos (but I suspect you didn't even bother to watch the first). That's a hell of a lot of not caring and goal-directed effort to make sure people know you don't care.

I care. A lot.

Michael

You respond to my historical observations and claims of fact with an ad homimum response. You can do better than that. I have brought forward several and sundry unattractive features that most human beings have. We have always had wars. There is no end to war. All the peace we have had throughout history are the interludes and intervals between wars. Now why do you suppose that is?

If you think I have made claims in error, then point out the errors and present your evidence. That is the way to counter argue.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Bob,

Would you mind holding off posting on this thread until all the videos are up? People who want to watch them will have to skip over these posts. Apparently the person is doing more. I will signal when the last one is up.

Michael

[BaalChatzaf]

Bob,

Would you mind holding off posting on this thread until all the videos are up? People who want to watch them will have to skip over these posts. Apparently the person is doing more. I will signal when the last one is up.

Michael

willdo.

[Matus1976]

The question of apathy: The X people way over there are being slaughtered. Question: what is that to us? Are we in danger? If not, then why get bothered or involved? If we are in danger then we should take steps.

Allowing or ingoring the growth of any form of murderous aggression is ALWAYS a danger to us. Whether it is in the short term by fomenting political instability or in the long term by promulgating the murderous dictatorships which breed the terrorists in the world, start all the wars, and originate all the epidemics, it is always in our long term rational self interest to oppose the growth of tyranny or the slaughter of innocents. Just as you find it reasonable to assist your next door neighbor when he is assaulted, or are ok with your money going to the apprehensions of his assailant, because ultimately it creates a safer world for you, you should do the same for your neighboring countries and human beings.

Here is my question to you: why get excited or bothered about something about which you can do little or nothing? Indifference to the suffering of The Other is the default condition of the human race. It is only on rare occasions that folks bestir themselves about things which have no immediate or probable impact on their well-being.

Because it allows all the people who cause all the problems in the world, and may ultimately wipe out all life on earth, to grow in power. Not a good idea.

[Matus1976]

We have always had wars. There is no end to war. All the peace we have had throughout history are the interludes and intervals between wars. Now why do you suppose that is?

If you think I have made claims in error, then point out the errors and present your evidence. That is the way to counter argue.

Ba'al Chatzaf

It is empirically clear that the more representative a government is and the more it protects individual civil liberties the less likely it is to start a war, go to war, or kill it's own citizens. We have an end to war, it is the promulgation of constitutional market based democracies.

From R.J. Rummel's "Power Kills" site -

What specifically has been uncovered or verified about democracy and violence?

First, well established democracies do not make war on and rarely commit lesser violence against each other. The relationship between democracy and international war has been the most thoroughly researched question and all who have investigated this have agreed--democracies do not fight among themselves. Possible exceptions to this, as of the war of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States, or the Spanish-American War, were found not to have been really between democracies or to have been cases in which one or another democracy was either newly established or marginally democratic.

Second, the more two nations are democratic the less likely war or lesser violence between them. There is a scale of democraticness here, at one end of which are two undoubted democracies with no likelihood of war and virtually zero probability of lesser violence between them, and at the other end are those nations most undemocratic (the totalitarian ones) that have the greatest chance of war and other violence among themselves. This finding shows that democracy is not a simple dichotomy--democracy versus nondemocracy--but a continuum. The implications of this are profound, and will be sketched later.

Third, the more a nation is democratic, the less severe its overall foreign violence. This finding in particular is disputed among researchers, but I will show in detail in Chapter 4** that on this there should be no disagreement--that the evidence, even in the studies of those who question it, is clear. Most of those investigating this, I will show, have defined war and violence in terms of frequencies and have been therefore misled. They have in effect equated the very small wars with total wars like World Wars I and II; and they have also equated a few dozen deaths in war for one country with that of several million killed for another.

Fourth, in general the more democratic a nation, the less likely it will have domestic collective violence. Studies that include the relevant variables and indicators support this empirically. And those studies I have carried out specifically to test this are uniformly positive.

Finally, in general the more democratic a nation, the less its democide. Although in the literature democracy has been suggested as a way of reducing genocide and mass murder, data for testing this empirically have been unavailable until recently. Indeed, so far I appear the only one to have explicitly tested this, and have found that democide is highly and inversely related to democracy. This holds up even when controls are introduced for economic development, education, national power, culture, and ethnic/racial and religious diversity. Case studies of the most extensive democides, such as that in the Soviet Union, communist China, Nazi Germany, and Cambodia support this conclusion.

[BaalChatzaf]

It is empirically clear that the more representative a government is and the more it protects individual civil liberties the less likely it is to start a war, go to war, or kill it's own citizens. We have an end to war, it is the promulgation of constitutional market based democracies.

Korea, Vietnam (ten years of war!), Iraq I, Bosnia, IraqII. All undeclared wars wherein U.S. troops were killed, each one a citizen.

Some end to war.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[galtgulch]

It is empirically clear that the more representative a government is and the more it protects individual civil liberties the less likely it is to start a war, go to war, or kill it's own citizens. We have an end to war, it is the promulgation of constitutional market based democracies.

Korea, Vietnam (ten years of war!), Iraq I, Bosnia, IraqII. All undeclared wars wherein U.S. troops were killed, each one a citizen.

Some end to war.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Ba'al, It is a question of getting enough people together who share the same basic convictions and principles. If we can do that in our own country to begin with America will once again serve as a beacon of hope to oppressed people aroung the world. Likewise if our government stops taxing us to death for whatever altruistic purpose perhaps each of us will have a few bucks to donate to our own charities or endeavors to help those innocent people being harmed.

you will be free to do with your own earned sound money what you will.

I wonder which of you, Ba'al or Michael, will join www.campaignforliberty.com first! Membership at this moment is 95218. A few minutes later 95,221. Numbers are growing with no end in sight.

galt

Edited December 8, 2008 by galtgulch

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Scream Bloody Murder CNN Christiane Amanpour part 10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6R1k5xr3dc

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

[Michael Stuart Kelly]