savory angels

stalin said something once and this week i'm reminded of it. it's something like:

one murder is a tragedy. one million murders are a statistic.

i see 33 dead on a college campus in a seemingly suburban section of the eastern united states and, although i feel for the families of those involved and the community abroad, i'm also angry that we as american public are so self righteous and arrogant to think that this sort of violence should not happen inside of our borders.

in other sections of the globe the mass murder of innocents is a monthly, if not more frequent, occurence, yet we expect the international community to bow and send their prayers for our tragedy. from what i remember the parliament bombing in iraq was not more than a blip on the media screens here, sandwiched somewhere between brittney and dog food.

i've heard the words global village and international community thrown around, sentiments implying that we are all in this together. but the fundamental hubris and ignorance that has settled into our country's culture has led to a callous attitude that pervades our society. it seems our leaders, our media, ourselves, have come to think of violence outside of the lines drawn on our maps as commonplace, as something to be ignored. 'it happens all the time there, so it's different'. any act of violence, no matter how far away or how frequent it happens, is a tragedy, especially when the victims are people that are blind to its source as so often happens in other countries. where are the black, yellow, pink, purple, red, green whatever ribbons for bombings in gaza, or the vigils for those left dead in the wake of south american land cartels?

when i was in high school an acquaintance of mine shot himself in the head one day before school. he wasn't popular, quite the opposite. but out of the woodwork fat ugly girls walked down the hallways crying not even knowing his last name and feigning sorrow to cover up an instinctual fear of death and its proximity. about a month later, another acquaintance of mine was shot in the face in a random drive by. he survived but has permanent brain injuries, but for weeks was in critical condition at the hospital. those same fat girls knew him, but no tears were shed. why? he went to another high school.

i see that reflected now, every day through pictures on the internet and the television. fat ugly girls crying for people they don't know, while people they should shed tears for die on a daily basis.

i hate fat girls.