A Cartridge Shoots Cynicism

"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those who have not got it."
George Bernard Shaw

Disillusionment comes in waves, because for me it always fades in the calm months following some incident. I forget how little it takes for some people to start fights. I forget that some of them are really quite stupid.

But every once in a while, I am reminded that my whimsical notions of global solidarity and the paramount necessity of compassion in our daily lives is simply a notion, a velvet curtain with a pleasant mirror of the world created by peaceful months. But the idyll of those months is eventually curtailed by some disasted, and the mirror breaks and the curtain falls to reveal our human tendency toward brutality.

Two students were shot at Delaware State University early this morning, around 1:00, because someone was too obtuse to resolve an argument without guns. Resorting to guns and other devices that have potential to mortally wound a person is the surest indication of stupidity that I know, barring incidents of self-defense. On a fundamental level, it signifies that the shooter willfully refuses dissent and that he or she cannot live knowing that someone will not adopt their convictions. It reveals the unrivaled insecurity of someone too foolish to reason through their anger, too foolish to admit that difference is okay. In place of a discussion, there is the swelling volition from the barrel of a gun. There is a bullet that represents one's frustration when he or she knows that they are in error, but won't accept the other person's ideology because of habit, or whatever. But not because of reason. It's never rationally justified.

Wars are rooted in that same stupidity, whose potential is magnified by the power of the stupid person's capacity to control others.
"I want your land."
"I want your riches."
"I want your opposing beliefs to vanish."

I can't think of any other causes for war. Retaliation is only a response to one of those catalysts. So, setting aside the arguments of hideous grammar, vacuous assertions, and unwavering faith, I contend that George Walker Bush is a stupid person, or at the very least he is stupid enough to be influenced by stupid people.

Every warship launched, every missile fired, every bullet shot, signifies the American government's inability to coexist with something different. I think that "War on Terror" is an intentional misnomer. "War on Opposition" would be much more accurate, because all of the turbulent animosity that we're familiar with springs from our government and Middle Eastern governments having a rather stupid conversation.
"I'm right."
"No, I'm right."
"Agree to disagree?" (optional dialogue)
"Nope."
"Then I'll kill you. And take your oil, too."

The mirror breaks and the curtain falls.
Stupid.