Recent news out of Pakistan isn’t good, especially if you’re a volleyball fan. The death count may even have gone up since I posted this. Muslims killing other Muslims may be dumbfounding, but it’s no different from Christians killing other Christians in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Makes me think of one of my favorite Warren Zevon lyrics:
Don't let us get sick
Don't let us get old
Don't let us get stupid, all right?
Just make us be brave
And make us play nice
And let us be together tonight
Warren’s prayer is charmingly naïve. Unfortunately, people still get stupid and refuse to play nice. The only solution, I think, lies in that equally naïve lyric by John Lennon:
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Well, maybe it isn’t hard if you happen to have a vivid imagination. But countries and religion are what people have killed and died for throughout history and there seems no end in sight. Getting stupid isn’t the issue, we’ve been there forever. Ever notice that, in the majority of sci-fi stories, cultures on other worlds are largely homogenous? What’s with Earth? As Frank Zappa observed, we’re dumb all over (and a little ugly on the side). And will probably go on killing one another for these same stupid reasons until the aliens land and force us to unite. Until then, we’re operating by another Zevon lyric:
Send lawyers, guns, and money
The shit has hit the fan
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