Rant = HUMANITY, YOU FAIL!

So today, after braving the icy streets, the slick sidewalks, and the terror that is the Piano class for Music Majors, I shuffled my way across the Baker campus, climbed two flights of stairs, and sat down for what I hoped to be a class that was interesting enough that I could keep my eye open.

I didn't expect to be so engaged in the discussion that even now, six odd hours later, I'm still gnawing on the topic.

[rant]

I have no idea where my teacher lives, but it's far enough away that she listens to the news on the way here. And when she turned on the radio in searchh of decent tunage, she got a station broadcasting about a woman about to jump off a bridge in Kansas City.

And the people that couldn't use the bridge were more annoyed by the fact that they were going to be late for work than horrified by the fact that a person no longer had a reason to live.

The radio station was interviewing people, and appearantly someone said something along the lines of, "This bitch is making me late for work, I wish she'd just piss or get off the pot."

It's that terrible?

I understand that things get bad, and people get angry because beign late too often can mean that you'll lose your job... But this woman was about to leap off of a bridge! Do they not understand that she was going to die? That no one cared enough to stop her, not even the police?

After that, our class discussed other situations.

The one that really got to me and set our class discussion in motion was the story of this woman who had been headed home from someone and had been attacked by a robber. It was in the 1970s or 1980s, and I can't remember her name, though as soon as I find out, I'll update this.

In any case, she was headed home at 10-ish at night and she was attacked by a robber who began beating her. There was a huge commotion, and lights began flickering on the the apartments overlooking the scene and the robber, probably thinking someone would have called the police, fled. The woman was in no condition to move, so she lay there, helpless and moaning in agony, waiting for the sirens signaling an ambulence or the police. But no help came, not even from the lit apaertments. A short time later, the robber returned, finished robbing her, killed her, then left.

And still the apartments stayed lit. They'd seen the whole thing, were witness to a murder, and yet nothing had been done.

Their excuse? "I thought someone else would have called the police."

So this is what humanity is becoming? We rely on other people to make things known and get things done?

We talked about the Holocaust for a while, too, about the hows and whys behind the reasoning. Why people went along with Hitler, why they betrayed each other.

Eventually we simply decided that it simply boiled down to the fact that people were terrified about their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Anyone that defied Hitler was rustled up along with the Jews, gypsies, and the homosexuals, and they were put in the camps to die. People did what they did, as they do in every war (included the war depicted in Scott Simon's Pretty Birds), they looked out for themselvesd and their families. They either pretended to agree with Hitler's regime, or they really did.

We talked about other things for a while, all of them related to this topic by the base of them being communities and how they dealt with things when someone mentioned zombies. And something in me clicked.

I'm not sure what came over me, but I ended up raising my hand and saying, "This may sound silly, but the way this sounds, it's like we're all battling some sort of zombie apocalypse, but we're the 'lone survivor', and humanity is the horde of zombies."

And, surprise, surprise, my teacher actually agreed. She said that though she didn't like zombie movies, that was the best anaolgy she'd heard on the case so far. We've all been raised to be independant, to look out for only ourselves, and the result? We're going to survive the zombie invasion! ... But we're also going to live our lives alone and, in a sense, in isolation.

Isn't that ironic?

[/rant]

So, yeah.

Here's humanity for you. And it's just getting worse.

***

In other news, it's slicker than snot outside.

Icy and all that jazz. Can't wait to see what tonight and tomorrow brings. We're currently under a blizzard watch until 6 tomorrow morning, then a warning until tomorrow night/Wednesday mroning. Supposedly 3 inches of ice, 12 to 18 inches of snow, and lots of fun time for my collegemates and I shall ensue shortly.

Why?

Because Baker. Never. Closes.

Anyway, time for choir. Then dinner. Whee!

Ever yours,
And definitely hoping that school is CANCELLED tomorrow,
*fingers crosseD*
The Night Thief

"Uganda: Promptly Investigate Killing of Prominent LGBT Activist"

Published on January 27th, 2011 on Human Rights Watch [www.hwr.org/].

"Police in Uganda should urgently and impartially investigate the killing of the prominent human rights activist David Kato, Human Rights Watch said today. Kato had dedicated his life to fighting for the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexual, and transgender persons (LGBT) in Uganda, facing threats and risks to his personal safety.

The government should ensure that members of Uganda's LGBT community have adequate protection from violence and take prompt action against all threats or hate speech likely to incite violence, discrimination, or hostility toward them, Human Rights Watch said.

"David Kato's death is a tragic loss to the human rights community," said Maria Burnett, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. "David had faced the increased threats to Ugandan LGBT people bravely and will be sorely missed."

Witnesses told police that a man entered Kato's home in Mukono at around 1 p.m. on January 26, 2011, hit him twice in the head and departed in a vehicle. Kato died on his way to Kawolo hospital. Police told Kato's lawyer that they had the registration number of the vehicle and were looking for it."

There you have it folks, once more, the LGBT community faces a blow in their quest for equality.

Stay tuned for a lovely rant on humanity today. <3

Much love,
The Night Thief