While I'd never suggest one didn't sign against these atrocities, I think the main problem, human, is often overlooked. We are always concerned with 'me' and 'mine'. We are brought up violent and look upon this as natural. No matter if the violence is physical, verbal, or psychological, we live it without much introspection. In fact, around the world, I'd say we're taught what to think and not how.
If you look you can see, every single day, the universal disease called politics. People are killed every day for an idea/ideology. Living this way, as we have been, only brings suffering. People continue to put their 'faith' in other people. I feel when these people have anything to do with politics and government one fights an uphill battle. By design politics is corrupt, violent, self-serving. It is a reflection of the individual. We are society, society is us. No?
The 'crisis' isn't the hunters of birds or the mass murder in Darfur. The 'crisis' is me and you. Perhaps Man will come to understand that a little 'self knowledge' is of the first order and everything else comes after. I feel without that we spin our wheels and the horror stories grow and spin.
I've heard the slogans about if we forget the past we're doomed to repeat it. It's a lot of nonsense like so much other human thought.
Comparing one horror to another, who is to say which has more 'relevance'? Is human life really of more value than a birds life? What is informing that decision?
I feel until we have some sort of respect for ourselves and nature that none of these atrocities will stop. And isn't that, afterall, the point of the campaigns against these 'evils'? But without a much deeper understanding of ourselves I fear we have no chance.
One thing, for myself, I no longer have any hopes that politicians, politics, and the corrupt governments that they organize and rule have any interest in seeing 'things' get better.
Ok. Stepping from soapbox in my little part of the world. Thanks Box Brownie and Feppe.
What does this have to do with photography? Perhaps one day we'll see the need for war photographers disappear. Wouldn't that be good? And man, I do applaud all those photographers with the cojones to document the poverty, the disease, the war, the daily tragedy that is our life. We see it but are helpless living as we do now.
Kind regards...
M
Here ya' go, a smilie, just to lighten things up a bit...