I am in awe

[elisi]

So, there are SO MANY downsides to living In Interesting Times. But sometimes. Sometimes it's worth it.

Watch on YouTube

Slava Ukraini! 👏👏👏 This man is a legend.

And it's crazy to think that this is the same man - this music video is from back when he was an actor.

Антитіла (Antytila) - Lego / Official Video

Watch on YouTube

The band (Antytila) all joined up and are paramedics in the army.

Comments

Re: Because I finally have some time (The Post That Was Promised)

[(Anonymous)]

.
So onwards to those obvious things that I didn’t want to say, because things are not as simple as most people around me seem to think.

Yes, war and imperialism are bad, wrong, no matter who does them. (And no matter where. Because I’m seeing a lot of hand-wringing about “ooh, war in Europe!” aaaaah! And when there’s bombs dropping in the third world, who gives a fuck, that’s what those countries are for. Very mask off, racists, be careful).

This is not only Russia’s and Putin’s fault. Russia is doing what it believes it must do to protect its geopolitical interests under this incredibly disgusting and heinous circumstance that history has brought us to. I personally, happen to not care about that in this case:

The invasion would be wrong even if an ideal country, whose political/economic/etc system I supported, did it. Maybe I would justify them a bit more, like the ends justify the means, you want to protect something good that I care about etc. Of course, I happen to believe that the means don’t always justify the ends. I believe that the means sometimes can corrupt the ends. But imagine how much I don’t care about your geopolitical interests, when I believe that both the means and the ends are fucked. You believe that the West is pressuring and encircling you (With good reason, in my opinion). So… what? Do you think you are better than NATO, at this point in history? Wow, look at that utopia you’re trying to defend.

So under no circumstances would I be *for* the invasion. But oh boy, there’s a lot of Big Words and simplified narratives going around, and I don’t like it (The younger generation included; and you sad, silly bastards have hope in them, bless. Good intentions do not make up for naiveté, nihilism, no knowledge of history, lack of education).

Also, I saw a newspaper in the bus yesterday, and it was quoting Churchill on the cover to describe the situation, and even though I think that some of his speeches are legitimately awesome, my patience has limits, I’m gonna puke everywhere, etc.

(Seriously, no matter your opinion on Zelensky –and I’ll get to that later-- don’t compare the poor man to that bitch Churchill, what has he ever done to you. Even if you’re all for the invasion, that’s no reason to insult Zelensky like that, come on).

So no, my loves, you can’t just blame Russia here. A question for NATO, the EU, and everyone: what exactly did you think was gonna happen? Action ---> reaction. (Look at all that expansion since 1997, we didn’t promise nothing,*blows raspberry * etc, etc)

And the Ukrainians are just stuck in the middle, along with the poor aforementioned kids. Truth forever on the scaffold/Wrong forever on the throne, what else is new, etc.

Now, someone will say: ok, yeah, we all love kids, they’re adorable, thank you Captain Obvious, but, etc. Yes, but I believe that everything is connected. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that you have the gall to give a speech, Biden, and say that NATO ensures peace and stability, and speak of oligarchs, and violence, and end every speech with ‘may God protect our troops’ on top of everything. We’ve heard all this before, and it was revolting the first time.

(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Joe_Biden%27s_Second_State_of_the_Union_Address )

And I don’t hate you. I try not to hate you, I want you to be happy. And I want the Russians to be happy too, and Zelensky (sweet heaven preserve us), and Putin, and the Ukrainians, and the dumb Americans who kept voting for Trump, and the civilians, and the soldiers, and the children, because I have this idiotic, obsessive belief that in the year 2022, the human race has the capabilities to guarantee the happiness of this entire, poor planet.

Now I sound like a hippie, I know, very cringe, but hey, *you* will go and exalt Martin Luther King, and shhhhhh, he never criticized capitalism, what are you talking about.

Because not everyone is a saint, and at the end of the day, he was assassinated. Because one day people have enough, and they go, yes, the ends do probably justify the means, and aaah, that’s socialism, communism, quick, let’s go clone McCarthy.

And the plain, boring, inconveniently obvious truth is that it’s good to care about people and to try to act accordingly. And it’s also very hard, especially when we’re talking about specific people, and if you’re wondering if it’s worth it, think that they were all little kids once.
.
Speaking of which, I think I finally understood what exactly the bible means when it says ‘for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these’ as it pertains to the aforementioned ones, thanks to the rabbi Tzvi Freeman –on whose quote I will end this:

Speaking of which, I think I finally understood what exactly the bible means when it says ‘for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these’ as it pertains to the aforementioned ones, thanks to the rabbi Tzvi Freeman –on whose quote I will end this:

“What is it that the child has to teach?

The child naively believes that everything should be fair
and everyone should be honest,
that only good should prevail,
that everybody should have what they want
and there should be no pain or sadness.

The child believes the world should be perfect and is outraged to discover it is not.
And the child is right.”

.
.
Yes, all this did become a Homeric epic, length-wise. Well, that is a you problem, *I* have OCD, *you* chose to read it, etc.

Here’s a fresco in Tresije monastery:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_%C5%A0umadija_IX_Tresije_Monastery_252.jpg