we're human

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/07/manning-lamo-logs

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(03:10:32 PM) bradass87: at first glance… it was just a bunch of guys getting shot up by a helicopter… no big deal… about two dozen more where that came from right… but something struck me as odd with the van thing… and also the fact it was being stored in a JAG officer’s directory… so i looked into it… eventually tracked down the date, and then the exact GPS co-ord… and i was like… ok, so thats what happened… cool… then i went to the regular internet… and it was still on my mind… so i typed into goog… the date, and the location… and then i see this http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/13/world/middleeast/13iraq.html

(03:11:07 PM) bradass87: i kept that in my mind for weeks… probably a month and a half… before i forwarded it to them

(03:11:54 PM) bradass87: then there was the Finkel book

(03:12:16 PM) bradass87: im almost certain he had a copy

(03:12:16 PM) info@adrianlamo.com <AUTO-REPLY>: I’m not here right now

(03:13:31 PM) bradass87: it was unreal… i mean, i’ve identified bodies before… its rare to do so, but usually its just some nobody

(03:13:48 PM) bradass87: it humanized the whole thing… re-sensitized me

(03:15:38 PM) bradass87: i dont know… im just, weird i guess

(03:15:49 PM) bradass87: i cant separate myself from others

(03:16:12 PM) bradass87: i feel connected to everybody… like they were distant family

(03:16:24 PM) bradass87: i… care?

(03:17:27 PM) bradass87: http://www.kxol.com.au/images/pale_blue_dot.jpg <– sums it up for me

(03:18:17 PM) bradass87: i probably shouldn’t have read sagan, feynman, and so many intellectual authors last summer…

(03:21:11 PM) bradass87: >sigh<

(03:22:14 PM) info@adrianlamo.com: i get that

(03:22:45 PM) bradass87: get what… that connection?

(03:23:38 PM) info@adrianlamo.com: yeah.

(03:24:08 PM) info@adrianlamo.com: which is why i’m sad for the people i sometimes have to hurt.

(03:24:10 PM) bradass87: we’re human… and we’re killing ourselves… and no-one seems to see that… and it bothers me

(03:24:26 PM) bradass87: apathy

(03:25:28 PM) bradass87: apathy is far worse than the active participation

(03:26:23 PM) bradass87: >hug<

(03:29:31 PM) bradass87: http://vimeo.com/5081720 Elie Wiesel summed it up pretty well for me… though his story is much much more important that mine

(03:29:48 PM) bradass87: *than

(03:31:33 PM) bradass87: I prefer a painful truth over any blissful fantasy.

(03:31:48 PM) bradass87: s/a/the

(03:32:05 PM) info@adrianlamo.com: *hugback*

(03:34:16 PM) bradass87: :*

(03:35:44 PM) bradass87: i think ive been traumatized too much by reality, to care about consequences of shattering the fantasy

(03:36:18 PM) bradass87: im not brave, im weak

(03:39:00 PM) info@adrianlamo.com: sometimes they’re the same thing

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Can I light a candle in solidarity without committing treason?

Breanna Manning or Bradley Manning--whomever you want to be--you are brave and you are strong. Thank you for caring. <3