(no subject)
i was reading this short story...there was a group of american scientists living in a top secret lab after an intense biological war. they believed they were one of two groups of humans still alive, the other group being in russia. they would send out a new biological weapon into the jet stream and a few weeks later they would be attacked by the russians with something even more caustic, learning from every trick the americans employed. apparently locked in ultimate stalemate in a dead world.
the ending was pretty obvious: there was just one group...they would send out a virus and it would mutate on its way around the earth and when it would come back they wouldn't recognize it. the russians didn't exist.
i've recently become shocked by how good fiction (such as this story and 1984) doesn't bother to waste time with allegories and subtle allusions to real life. they just straight up tell it exactly as it is without any sort of originality at all, just a slightly different camera angle on the exact same cast of characters that we're all used to from day to day life.
there is no us and them. it is just us. the only barrier between you and me is YOU and ME. we both have to cooperate together to form the barrier, so it is fair to say that the existence and strength of the barrier is proof of our unity. south africa's misfortune is a product of the entire world just as surely as america's wealth is.
and now for something completely different
so anyways those of you who read my LJ are probably pretty curteous drivers as drivers go. WELL GOOD FOR YOU NOW SHUT UP AND LISTEN.
when you make a right turn while looking left, you are declaring war. when you fail to signal while there is any area around you that you cannot see perfectly clear, you are declaring war. when you drive into an impenetrable shadow (for example while turning onto a dark road) at speed, you are declaring war. when you look up halfway through a turn to see pedestrians scurrying out of your way, you are declaring war. when you fail to yield to pedestrians AT ANY POINT, you are declaring war.
this isn't just reactionary bullshit. everything you do in a car is a threat of violence. you think it's just rude to fail to yield to a pedestrian? excuse me asshole, the only reason i'm not walking across the middle of the road right now is because in no uncertain terms you told me you'd KILL me if i did. a car yields to pedestrians only on principle, but a pedestrian yields to an automobile ON THREAT OF DEATH. if i walked around town pointing a gun at drivers every time i wanted to cross the street, you know how you'd feel.
odds are all of us will have known, by the time we die, at least one person killed in an automobile accident. try a little harder to make sure you don't know him by the sound of his head under your wheels.
consider this a lesson in cultural relativism.