[Leica] The Horror, The Horror

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

At 12:27 PM -0400 5/29/04, Teresa299@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 5/28/04 11:49:59 PM, daniel.ridings@muspro.uio.no writes:
>
><<
>My experience too, Adam. Something has gone far amiss. I grew up with the
>American military. Sure, mistakes have always been made, but to this
>extent? No, something went terribly wrong. "Reserves" comes to mind. What
>scares me is that the reserves come from a slice of life in the US. Have
>things become so hard and insensitive?
>
>Best,
>Daniel >>
>
>
>Yes.  We have.  Under the name of fear.  Under the claim of patriotism.  With
>the desire to protect the "homeland."   Just listen to the chatter on the
>airwaves.  I don't think it's just the "reserves" who are pushing 
>the envelope.?
>It probably went up higher.?
>
>I love my Leica lenses and surely think digital can pick up things as well,
>but it's too bad we don't have a camera or a lens that can capture the subtle
>emotions that haven't been physically acted upon such as fear, anger, hatred,
>cynicism, contempt and so on.  If one could, I think it would be eye 
>opening to
>see the inner world of the people around us.  Forget the cute PAWS of yawning
>babies, sleeping kittens, or a bucolic landscape, give me a lense that lets
>me capture the rot within.
>
>I wasn't for this war to begin with.  I was one of those out there tromping
>around on the streets, protesting something that deep down I knew was going to
>happen anyway.  Come on, the bush empire is at the healm and they get what
>they want and paint those who disagree as unpatriotic, or worse.  But what was
>troubling to me, and still is, wasn't just the amount of people who 
>were for the
>war, but the number of US citizens who did care either way.  War or no war,
>it  seemed of little consequence.  Just another programing note on the tube.??
>They didn't care the amount of money to be spent to wage a war, they didn't
>care about the logic or lack there of as a reason for war, they didn't care
>about how we went in (without world approval), or how we were to get out (a
>so-called exit strategy), they didn't really care about sending 
>soldiers over there
>and they certainly didn't care about Iraqi citizens who might die as a result
>of it.
>
>It seemed (and still does) that in many ways, the war, as received from the
>glowing tube in the middle of the living room was nothing more than 
>a variation
>on Playstation 2.  Operation Eduring Freedom, only $29.99, oops, make that
>$39.99, no, I meant $69.99 at your local store.  Buy it, play it and expect to
>get another bill for it next month....??
>
>Yes, I find the behaviour and photos from Iraq troubling.  But on this
>Memorial Day weekend, what disturbs me as much, are all the 
>"reserve" citizens of
>the US who treat the consideration of both past present and future 
>lives with as
>much thought as what kinda of mocha cafe decaf fropaccino they're going to
>order at Starbucks tomorrow.
>
>Kim

Thank you Kim. While I don't get this sense from most of the visitors 
from the US that we see here in Canada, I certainly get that feeling 
from US newspapers and magazines, and, dare I say, a small section of 
the Canadian population.

Not caring is pretty much the worst thing.

-- 
    *            Henning J. Wulff
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