The night before last I watched a show about ISIS recruitment, specifically a look into the way the radicalisers brainwash and groom girls, encouraging them to decide to leave their entire lives to join ISIS as Jihadi brides.
This World: Britain's Jihadi Brides
I also watched the first quarter of a show (I couldn't bear to watch any more) about people who own Pitbulls and train them up to fight, usually to defend their owners. The show highlighted the sweet nature within the dogs while showcasing the absolute incapacity of these people to look after their dogs responsibly. I only watched about 15 minutes of it so there is a chance it may have become a beautiful story for all I know.
Dangerous Dog Owners and Proud
The next morning (yesterday morning) I experienced some unpleasant road rage on my way to work, an ignorant self-righteous man thinking he was the only person trying to get somewhere, I won't waste my energy typing the details.
This unpleasant chain of events and my deepy impressionable ways left feeling a little hopeless about the state of humanity. I told my dear mate Dave all about it, and he sent me this perfect quote, now I'd like to share it with you if you haven't seen it before:
“TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
Howard Zinn
