go, tommy boy
but, less chat, more splat.
it's a little disappointing to see these big brains still dogpaddling around in the shallows....orwell...
the dilemma as i learned it:
i cannot now find the original tape of this pbs 'frontline' program, nor, exactly who produced it. (possibly judy woodruff, it's her kind of story.) it was filmed in jerusalem about 3-4 years ago. the scenes are burned into my memory, however, and are still pungent.
the shot opens on a square in the middle of the morning, june, i think, hot. the narrator is describing the everyday events and notes four young palistinian boys playing around on a low stone ledge. they look like typical, happy, goofing around kids. evidently there'd been no violence lately, people appear calm, but active.
the camera pans around the square and picks up a couple of israeli girls, about the same age as the boys, walking across the square, cute kids, talking, laughing and then something happens.
you don't notice it right away because you can't really credit what you're seeing. your sense of the familiar has tricked you into seeing young, good looking kids flirting with each other, cute behavior, but one boy, who's still smiling right at one of the girls draws his forefinger from under his left ear down and across his throat, a big, slow, violent gesture then whipping his finger toward the ground flicking the blood from the knife. now all the boys are doing it.
the girls just keep smiling, walking toward the boys, each raising an arm, making a pistols out of fists and squeezing the triggers. pow pow pow. it's very clear now, nobody's playing. and they're still smiling but the laughter's stopped and the shock is visceral. they're killing each other in the middle of the square in the middle of the morning and you're watching them do it and suddenly you start to get it. this is implacable hatred, learned from the cradle. and in their lifetime it's never going to change.
so, that's the dilemma and i've distilled it here:
1. "if i believe in my soul that israel has no right to exist, what are my leaders negotiating?"
2. "if i believe in my soul an arab will always want me dead, what's to negotiate?"
gotta get good answers for these. otherwise...just dogpaddling around in the shallows.
i watched this one last night, it was very good. most of the program content is here:
pbs.org
cheers all,
larry |
