One Bloody Afternoon and 102 Minutes

Sometimes you have to wonder about people. They do surprisingly silly, horrific and weird things every single day. And then sometimes you just have to admit to yourself that, given past examples, you really shouldn't be wondering about the little oddities of humanity anymore when we have plenty of examples of humans doing truly evil things with a depressing regularity.

I'm back on the book wagon and in the last few weeks I've devoured my way through two horrific accounts of human brutality and suffering.

One Bloody Afternoon tells the story of the Hungerford massacre. Michael Ryan, after a failed rape turned to murder and his attempt at escape foiled by a broken down car, terrorised the residents of Hungerford as he murdered and injured his mother, neighbours and even an ambulance crew and police officer sent to the scene. People going about their everyday business, tending their gardens, washing their car or walking their dog, lost their lives so suddenly and needlessly that it is difficult not to shed at least a few tears when reading this book.

And yet among these sorry tales there are stories of bravery, the off-duty soldier who followed in Ryan's wake tending the wounded is one of the stand out moments. But, in typically British style, it is the brief one line mentioning one of Ryan's elderly neighbours berating him before being hastily dragged inside a house that really brings home how this massacre wasn't some Hollywood production and how truly, frighteningly real it was.

102 Minutes is the story of what happened inside the Twin Towers from the moment the first plane hit on September 11th 2001 to the moment the North Tower collapsed. Like the Hungerford massacre, this event occurred on just another ordinary day to ordinary people going about their business. Attending meetings, taking telephone calls and just generally settling down for another day at work, thousands of people's lives were destroyed in such a short space of time. And again for no reason whatsoever.

The sliced bodies, the trapped, the burning and the jumpers are proof positive that humans can be the most awful of creatures. And yet again, among the tragedy stand stories of sacrifice and bravery that almost redeems our species. The colleagues who stayed with those with disabilities (even when they were just acquaintances), the Port Authority employees in the North Tower who spent the entire time rescuing those in the area where the plane hit and who didn't make it out, the people who went running in when others were running out.

Humanity is just one confusing mess of virtue and horror. Right now my reading of "Raven", the story of the Peoples Temple, is not helping me find much of the virtue unfortunately.

BNP Trying To Make A Martyr Out Of A Victim

**BBC News Story has been updated with clarification after I wrote this, good on them**

Habib Khan has quite rightly been sentenced to 8 years for the manslaughter of Keith Brown, his neighbour. Reading the BBC News story you get the sense this was just a fight that got out of hand, perhaps instigated by racism (it's not intentionally written that way but my underlying anti BNP stance is not dissuaded from getting this impression by the text). That is the story the BNP want you to believe.

This is not what happened and I believe it's an important point missed out by the BBC this time, playing into the hands of the BNP's take on events.

An earlier story, before the BNP began to spin things, suggests the dispute arose over property and this is backed up by a Daily Mail story which elaborates on the neighbours friendship that turned to hate over an issue with regard to Mr Khan's property refurbishments. Mr Brown certainly wasn't innocent in this, he and his son previously being actively violent in their attempts to stop Mr Khan's developments from continuing. Mr Khan should never have got violent with Mr Brown (a man with previous violence related crimes against his name) but I'm sure Mr Brown didn't act in a very reasonable way and given his history I think it's reasonable to believe Mr Khan was attempting, in the wrong way, to defend his son from violence.

Mr Khan deserves his sentence, Mr Brown did not deserve to die. But this was not a racist killing, this was a clash between two stupid, unreasonable old men, gone horribly wrong.

Murder At Church Provides Fuel For The Fundies

You'd think that any humane individual would simply express their disgust with the recent murders at a Unitarian Universalist church and their sympathy for those affected and move on. Not those lovely fundamentalists out there who we have all come to know and love.

No instead, after a brief obligatory claim of having sympathy for the victims they launch into their insane, fucked up regurgitated propaganda.

Let's start with the "lovely" Kathryn of Fitchburg, MA. She certainly is a douchebag. Note to her: it's those very same kind of beliefs that led to Jim Adkisson thinking it would be okay to kill some church goers.

Then we have the lovely people over at Free Republic who seem unable to cope with the idea, that they themselves propose, that there are people of all creeds who go insane... conservatives, liberals etc. My favourite quote:

"This guy is no more a true constervative than Timothy McVey was. Conservatives don’t commit acts of terrorism. I won’t believe this until the killer’s actual letter is released. It could be the sheriff is a liberal himself and is saying these things to smear conservatives."

HA! Yes that's right... the Sheriff must be a liberal!!! I bet Mr Adkisson is in fact a homosexual, disabled, female, Muslim hellbent on giving the conservative movement a bad name. Or not.

And then there is Rapture Ready which is very sympathetic and upset for all those affected... because they are members of a cult and going to Hell. Praise Jesus! Christian love and compassion surely has no end!

Now, to be honest, I don't know why anyone would wish to be a Unitarian Universalist. But hey, it's their free choice and it looks like they are an extremely agreeable congregation who were enjoying a children's performance when a terrible, evil man entered their lives. Those affected deserve nothing but our sympathy and our compassion. They do not need to be told they are going to Hell for their beliefs.