Im still getting over jetlag and settling in here in the US. In the meantime here is a video entry recorded in Cambodia last month. It features my visit to the killing fields and the s21 torture prison.
Even with shrines and memorials presenting stark evidence like this, most of us (in the West at least) still think we could never experience this. It could never happen here, our minds tell us. Maybe because it’s so awful, our minds begin rationalizing and making list of all the potential stop gaps and road blocks we think we have in place in our society to stop and prevent things from getting to this place. Maybe it’s a survival mechanism.
But really, it’s just an illusion. Very little needs to happen, shockingly little, to a civilization, the right combination of beliefs, and madness, and power shifts. They all can radically click into place.
Something so ephemeral, so weightless as a belief – an abstract concept – can bring this on. Think of that.
I agree, Chris, one way or another, history keeps repeating itself, wrapped and rationalized differently. Shrines disappear from public consciousness, political power is an illusion, people’s wills overestimated. Where’s the real public outcry today. I don’t see it. Unless you count the very bourgeois initiatives. Perhaps it can only happen through revolutions.
But even that may be all in vain, our destructiveness rears its ugly head, time and time again. Bad gene pool from the start?
I don’t know whether you know some German. My post was about your tour in Cambodia: I was in Cambodia February to April this year and I was thrilled to see your material from the rainy season. It is good to know that other visitors see and feel similar things. Cambodia can be so colourful and friendly but at the same time it can be quite depressing.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts ? keep up your great work!
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bicyclemark
July 29, 2008
I can read German Amy.. although sometimes I dont understand a word and I skip it and then.. hmm it might have been important. Anyway I got the idea about what you wrote and I really am happy you enjoyed the work I did there. Shall we go back next year? Im thinking I will. Too many new friends and even an old friend that Id love to visit. Currently preparing to send Mr. Lee some business cards (my moto driver… a little gift for him).
Even with shrines and memorials presenting stark evidence like this, most of us (in the West at least) still think we could never experience this. It could never happen here, our minds tell us. Maybe because it’s so awful, our minds begin rationalizing and making list of all the potential stop gaps and road blocks we think we have in place in our society to stop and prevent things from getting to this place. Maybe it’s a survival mechanism.
But really, it’s just an illusion. Very little needs to happen, shockingly little, to a civilization, the right combination of beliefs, and madness, and power shifts. They all can radically click into place.
Something so ephemeral, so weightless as a belief – an abstract concept – can bring this on. Think of that.
I agree, Chris, one way or another, history keeps repeating itself, wrapped and rationalized differently. Shrines disappear from public consciousness, political power is an illusion, people’s wills overestimated. Where’s the real public outcry today. I don’t see it. Unless you count the very bourgeois initiatives. Perhaps it can only happen through revolutions.
But even that may be all in vain, our destructiveness rears its ugly head, time and time again. Bad gene pool from the start?
Thanks for the images, Mark.
Hi bicylce-around-the-world-Marc 🙂
I don’t know whether you know some German. My post was about your tour in Cambodia: I was in Cambodia February to April this year and I was thrilled to see your material from the rainy season. It is good to know that other visitors see and feel similar things. Cambodia can be so colourful and friendly but at the same time it can be quite depressing.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts ? keep up your great work!
I can read German Amy.. although sometimes I dont understand a word and I skip it and then.. hmm it might have been important. Anyway I got the idea about what you wrote and I really am happy you enjoyed the work I did there. Shall we go back next year? Im thinking I will. Too many new friends and even an old friend that Id love to visit. Currently preparing to send Mr. Lee some business cards (my moto driver… a little gift for him).