Thoughts on Barefoot Gen

Chris | InformationLiberation
Jan. 24, 2009

If you've yet to see it, Barefoot Gen is a must see movie depicting a young boys struggle with life in Japan before, after, and during the nuclear bombing of his country. It is an extremely powerful film which you will never dare see in American theaters or on American television.

Thoughts on the Film

I feel like more can be learned through such terrible human tragedy than through the highest and most noble of philosophies. The raw humanness of it all cuts through all the conditioning in the world, the incredible wrongness is just so crystal clear.

Appreciation of life seems to be almost nonexistent in the western world, tragedy on this type of scale has never occurred to us westerners, yet we have doled it out to so many other countries and native peoples I can't even begin to list them all.

We are the biggest hypocrites in the world, we have perpetrated and continue to perpetrate some of the most sadistic, cruel, inhumane mass murders in history and yet people hold their heads high when people speak of "the just war" and every other mass genocide committed in their name. If you honor the so-called "war heroes" then take responsibility for the innocent people who's lives they ruined through their so-called "heroism," because they did ruin people's lives, and you know it. You can't have it one way and not the other.

What is it going to take for people to wake up? How are things ever supposed to change if people actually take pride in the greatest collective stains on the history of mankind?

It really sickens me, it's hard to even consider those people human. They've lost any sense of humanity in them. It's sick because part of me feels like they are the people who need help most and yet they are the people who want it the least and feel themselves the most "just," and at the same time they are the people who beat their children into becoming little "heroes" (hitmen for some petty dictator) and ensure that such tragedies will happen again and again and again.

The average person needs to stop tolerating these Little Hitlers, when you see someone being some petty fascist call them out on it, they must be exposed for who they are and the misery they create. I don't care if it is some abusive parent, some prick salesman, some pride-filled military man, some business man, or some politician. I don't care who it is or how small and petty they are, call them out on their bullshit and don't let it stand.

Personally, I relish calling people out on their bullshit, Christ almighty it feels good, and if they have any humanity in them they will thank you later. I know some of the people I've chewed out most have later thanked me for it (and told me how shocked they were by it, hehe). You can tell people have never been talked to before like that, truth stings but good lord is it powerful. I'm not an arrogant person and I certainly don't go around looking for a fight (to do so would be one of the worst "sins" in the world in my book), but when someone really disgusts me with their pettiness and I am provided with the opportunity, I have no choice but to shine a collective mirror into their soul and show them who they are. Don't be ashamed or timid in it's usage, it's one of the few things which can help these people and actually get us out of this mess. It is the most powerful weapon in the truth seekers arsenal, but keep in mind with great power comes great responsibility. Truth is not something to be bandied about and used indiscriminately, it can build and it can destroy, your conscience must be your guide.
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