I was blog-browsing and came across this poem that really well encapsulates my thoughts on the pirate situation.
http://amirsulaiman.blogspot.com/2009/04/of-criminals-and-crime.html#comments
I have a hard time condemning/passing judgment on people in terrible situations for doing terrible things. I'm in a really amazing, blessed position in the world, and yet my consumption of "stuff" results in global hurt: pollution, sweatshop labor, and things like helping pay for the destruction of Iraq and Afghanistan. And I do these things because they are convenient, etc. I wouldn't be able to look the people I inadvertently oppress in the face--I guess since I don't really have to, I let it not matter. It also would be very simple for me to say that pirates should find legal "alternatives", but as I've not really bothered challenging the legality of so much I do, who am I to really say a thing? I still will say something.
In terms of cowardice, I have those pirates beat. I'm afraid I'm the real criminal, to have so much and concede so little.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
from what i understand the "pirates" consider themselves to be Somalia's equivalent to the Coast Guard. the difference being that they are self-motivated, and unregulated, legally speaking.
ReplyDeletewhat they are cracking down on (which of course we dont hear about at all in our media) is that Western euro and US ships are illegally dumping toxic so-and-sos into their waters, because we think no one will give a crap.
so... although i dont necessarily agree with HOW they deal with these issues, i definitely agree with their right to take care of that.
when this whole pirate fiasco was really heated up a couple months back, and we were talking about the possibility of military action against them, i thought that was pretty much the most inappropriate thing ever. they may be quasi-legal, but they are protecting their shores from much more intentionally illegal acts of laziness and carelessness by ships using their shore as a toxic dump.
anyhow.. i ramble on. its a very complex issue, and those are always the most interesting.
cheers
-eli-