Saturday, November 24, 2007

The Good, the Bad and the Disgustingly Ugly


There is some sick shit on the Internet.
You can look up anything and view it in text, photo or video form. And it needs to be seen. All of it. It needs to be brought to light and discussed, because, at the risk of sounding like Hedy Fry, atrocities are being committed every day, all over the world—and there is no other way to know about many of them other than the Internet.
Knowledge is power; but knowledge has to have balance, so that includes the dark side of life, too. Combating the bad things on this planet require learning about them first. There is hypocrisy to those who eat beef but refuse to watch cows being slaughtered, or racists that support the Nazis but never watched footage from concentration camps—you need the facts before you can make the statements, and consequently, the action.
Internet material needs to be examined closely, though, not just absorbed. Fact is so easily manipulated by technology that uproar can be created over the silliest of things, (ex Bonsai Kittens) which can become counterproductive.
When exploring the darker side of life via the web, it’s easy to get tangled up in it. Farce is so realistic now that an open mind may let in hoax after hoax—but that should not prevent a person from witnessing truths.
It is not morbid to request reality; it will feel wrong, it can feel sick, but seeing where your food comes from should be mandatory for all humans. Vegetarians can watch fruit harvests, and meat-eaters can witness chickens being boiled alive.
Seeing the truth about something, whether it is a human-rights violation or a freaky sexual fetish, can inspire, comfort or scare a person. Everything in life needs to be examined—the good, the bad and the disgustingly ugly.
Dogs and cats are being brutally skinned alive in Asia, their fur passed off as faux and sold as trim on popular coats in Canada. Innocent people are being dismembered in countries for participating in the most benign of activities. Disfiguring diseases can strike even the most ¸
Shock can spur people to action, whether it’s a letter, article or a volunteer aid trip to Africa—there are things that need to be seen in this world, voices that were silenced before they got an audience.Check out the ghosts of the past, easily accessible with the click of a mouse.


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