Disturbia: war.

First I should mention that I hate that song. But I've used it as my title today to preface some things that I've had a chance to see this past week.

I wish our world wasn't nearly this disturbing, it's really very terrible.
Here's a clip about a man charged with sexual battery against a SIX MONTH OLD LITTLE GIRL.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29165667/

I don't understand why people do this, and how you could resort to hurting another person, an infant, because he or she was bothering you. Why would you leave your daughter with a person like that? I don't know if he was the father, brother, cousin, neighbor, or whatever. You don't do things like that.

Second, two Florida teens were arrested for FAKING A RAPE on another teen boy from their highschool.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29167296/
also at:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/02/12/0212simrape.html?imw=Y

May I just say, WHAT?! I...I just....I don't understand! What kind of family lives did these two boys have that even hinted to them that doing this was OK? Seriously disturbing. He "realized his actions were inappropriate"?? So that means that the peer pressure to prey on others is so great, that kids will go so far as to fake rape?

Let's move on to other parts of the world. I found this article published online today by the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7887520.stm

"FIVE CHILDREN SHOT IN AFGHANISTAN"
I seriously doubt the troops were aiming at the children; what I would like to focus on is the fact that children were anywhere near that sort of situation. I've never been to Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, or any other countries in that immediate area. Yes, I'm the privileged white chick who, one might argue, understands only that Prismacolor pencils are the best and that some university professors respond better to BS than others. But I think I know when and where children shouldn't be around adults, and I'd say war is one of those times.

For that matter, adults shouldn't be around adults at that time. I'm tired of reading death counts and hearing about martyrs and children being killed because they were in the middle of a situation everyone says they hates yet no one can ameliorate. A couple of semesters ago, one of my journalism profs would give my class pop quizzes on the headlines of the day. The last question, 8 times out of 10, was, "Current Iraq War Death Count?"

I'd honestly never paid attention to it before. But when you're reading through the obit page every day, reading about people who you didn't know who are now being buried under dirt and flowers, and you're watching this number climb every month....

Maybe this is entirely unrelated, but I watched the Incredible Hulk last night with one of my favorite friends. I would suggest seeing it, Edward Norton, I would argue, was the best Hulk so far. In the beginning of the film, General Ross calls in a group of soldiers to hunt down Banner, who they've found in Brasil. Here's the pertinent part: Does the general tell the soldiers exactly what they were up against? That Banner would turn into a fifteen-odd-foot tall anger machine and tear them to pieces? Nope. He tells them that the scientist stole military secrets and was a fugitive from the law.

OK, so the film was made by Hollywoodiens. It's part fiction, part social commentary. It just makes me wonder, how much of the truth was told to the soldiers going into what we call the Middle East? In relation to what they were told, I don't care as much about what I, as a citizen, know. If it were between me knowing and them knowing, I'd want them to know.

When I get into things like this, all I can keep thinking about is how sad our world is. Look at some of these photos: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/08/europe_warehouse_a_home_for_italy0s_migrants/html/1.stm

Sometimes I wish I were more politically and economically minded, so that I could at least explain these things to myself.