the newspaper

Today I read the newspaper, and I feel the need to respond to a few things I read.

First of all, the Americans have killed al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. All the articles speak of Bush and his army celebrating, but my heart is saddened by it all. No matter how evil this man might have been, he was still a man, and somebody out there misses him right now. And why is there a huge photograph of his dead face all over the place? Was that necessary? Murder disgusts me, especially when the response to it is 100% jubilant and 0% remorseful. That is vile and disrespectful. I know I am a pacifist and not everyone else is, but even non-pacifists ought to feel at least some measure of regret that murder has occurred.

The following statement (found on the Globe and Mail website) ought to ring the irony bell in everyone's heads: “Now Zarqawi has met his end, and this violent man will never murder again,” U.S. President George W. Bush said in Washington.

Secondly, some idiot congressman from Indiana has randomly spewed a bunch of bullshit about Canada being a terrorist breeding ground (see article). I use such strong language because the man is obviously filled to the brim with fear and absolutely lacking any actual facts or information to support his view. Canada may or may not be a breeding ground for terrorism...I would doubt it, but it's not as if I have piles of evidence to the contrary. But this American just said he's heard that "South Toronto" is an enclave for such activity and is extremely dangerous. Where, if I may ask, is "South Toronto" anyway? I grew up in Toronto, and I've never heard any area referred to as such. Toronto (along with its suburbs) is situated on the north shore of Lake Ontario, and thus is vaguely semi-circular, with the flat side being the south. East, West and North are all more definable than South in Toronto. South just encompasses too much, from eastern suburbs to downtown to western suburbs.

Also, the man alluded to 9-11 type events possibly resulting from Canada's lack of control of the situation, as indicated by its arrest of no less than 17 alleged terrorists. Might I point out that Canada has managed to arrest these men BEFORE they blew anything up? The men involved in 9-11 had lived in the USA and even trained there, and the almighty Americans didn't catch them before they blew stuff up. So which nation might be deemed safer? My vote is with the one that actually caught its terrorists pre-attack, and not with the nation that is turning into a fear-driven police state with too many guns to play with.

Finally, I read a headline that said prostate cancer has been linked with a chemical used in plastic water bottles. (I didn't bother to read the article.) This kind of article makes me want to scream, "PEOPLE! YOU ARE MORTAL! GET OVER IT!" How paranoid do we have to get? By now we should realize that even broccoli can supposedly both cure and cause cancer in various doses. Why don't people focus their research on the big killers like AIDS, and then get on with living a fulfilling life so that their death can be the proper conclusion to a good story instead of the nightmare that they just couldn't quite outrun?

In conclusion: People in this world are terrified of terror and death, and yet seem to prefer death and terror as ways of living whilst evading the terror of death. And I call myself an optimist....