The short answer is this: Bad things happen in the world. We must learn from our mistakes as a people, not pretend they didn't happen. So it is best to see these things, and take a moral lesson from them, so that one day maybe things will be a little better in the world than they were the day before that.
So just hang in there with me, I promise to be as honest and enlightening on the subjects as I know how, and I will explain the over-arching point and parallel the stories have to each other at the end.
The first of these topics is ISIS.
We've all heard the name by now. The new terrorist group that's risen from the shadows and caused the world massive heartache with each life they've taken.
The group ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) or ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), who are the same group, for the record, seeks out to create one, powerful, unified Islamic State.They've expressed their wishes, however, through violent acts of terror and crimes against humanity.
The U.S. government has said that there is a relatively small number (as many as 12) Americans now fighting for ISIS.
These men are villainous, hateful monsters. Their many taped executions and threats have shown us that. They are, quite possibly, the worst that humanity has to offer.
There is now a bombing campaign, with multiple countries taking part, organized by the United States against ISIS. It was started off by the UAE's (United Arab Emirates') female pilot (Thanks again, Fox.) last week and will continue forward to hopefully weaken the group.
Next, there is Ferguson, Missouri (It hurts me too, don't worry)
If you aren't aware of the events that have unfolded in Missouri, let me explain, and I will be as unbiased as I can be on the matter. There was a man named Mike Brown, who was 18 years old and was suppose to leave for college about a week after this happened. One night while he was walking down the street with his friend they were stopped by the police.
This is where the controversy and debate of facts comes in. At some point during this encounter Mike Brown was shot and killed. One side of this argument believes it was merely an act of unnecessary violence. Equally, the other side argues that the police officer was charged at by Mr. Brown.
Regardless, people took to the streets and protested. The police responded with a vastly militarized approach to the issue.
Now all of this started a few weeks back, and headlines slowly died down about the protests-turned-riots.
Then, on Saturday night a police officer was shot in the arm which brought attention back to the events going on in the city.
As of now, it is unclear whether or not this shooting was related to the one that took place six weeks ago, or not. However, it does seem like a logical conclusion to draw a parallel between the two.
Finally, we have Hong Kong.
This is the lesser known of the stories widely and is one I'd like to spread some awareness of.
In Hong Kong, there is currently a large pro-democracy protest going on which until today had been opposed by the police, but had not been particularly violent. But watching this protest turn into a shooting gallery for police tear-gas cannons was truly unsettling.
The short of the long story is that Hong Kong (Note: I originally wrote Japan, which is not the case and have updated it post-publishing.) is Chinese-controlled. China is still a socialist nation, so as I'm sure you can imagine, pro-democracy rallies were not taken happily by the country.
The protests were declared "illegal", but it should be well known by now, especially after Ukraine, that outlawing protests does not end protests. It makes protests more violent.
The people of Hong Kong used umbrellas to fend off tear gas, but they did break up the crowd. This only made the large protests regroup across the bridge from where they were. I believe these photos show the events best, though.
Now that we've gone over the events, I need to speak up about the nature of these things. They all have one thing in common- and that is violence.
We've come to accept violence as a society, as an always-acceptable and primary option in these kind of situations. What I'm here to tell you, though, is that violence is sometimes necessary. In the case of ISIS our current options are either sit back and try and negotiate with high-risk extremists while they kill off more innocent people, or kill them first.
This is a tragic thing to have to choose between, but is currently our only option, and as a whole we should always fight for the innocent and weak.
However, look at Hong Kong currently, and look at Ferguson. These are places where there is no need for violence. These are cases of citizens against their "protectors" and this violence offers absolutely no true solution.
We have been told growing up that humans are violent. Humans are hateful. But that's not necessarily true. Humans are also loving, and humans are caring. We are capable of compassion.
I'll be back on to post again tomorrow, with some lighter topics, to talk with you some more!
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -Alice in Wonderland
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