Three good links

[megwrites]

One of the things I'm really liking about this new move to DW is that my reading page is a bit better organized (simply because it is new). But it's brought to my attention some really, really good links.

The Niger Delta's Half A Century Of Oil Catastrophes from al_zorra (thanks to ithiliana and delux_vivens for the link). Oil companies have been recklessly letting oil spill into the Niger Delta for years now, and nobody has noticed. From the Guardian article cited:

It is impossible to know how much oil is spilled in the Niger delta each year because the companies and the government keep that secret. However, two major independent investigations over the past four years suggest that as much is spilled at sea, in the swamps and on land every year as has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico so far.

Privilege hates us, but doesn't know what hate is from yeloson. I think this is one of the best things I have read concerning comments made about people feeling unsafe at Wiscon and about what that means. Posts like these really make me glad, because he doesn't just examine the incident, but the larger context and why it isn't just this one comment, this one time, by this one guy and how this is about the ways that privilege substitutes "being treated like everyone else" for "being victimized/threatened" - and what that means.


And the most powerful thing I read today: What we remember from ephemere, talking about how international media has clung to only one aspect of Imelda Marcos, to the point that they have forgotten the things she was part of, that media has talked so much about her shoe collection that they have forgotten the tragic, bloody history behind this woman. This, particularly, hit me dead center.

Listen: every time you reduce Imelda to frivolity and excess, you spit on countless unnamed graves. It's so easy to forget. And, perhaps, it's easy to say such things without knowing the weight of the history behind them, from a distance that has the luxury to regard the Philippines as a whole nation that's home to beach resorts, OFWs, and the greatest pound-for-pound boxer in the world. Or if one speaks here, it's easy to dismiss past sins and bloodshed in light of our propensity to forget, to shut our eyes to past wrongs, to re-elect the family of a dictator who killed our people, plundered our wealth, and plunged our country into debt that even our grandchildren will spend their lives repaying.

This isn't just about glamor or harmless notoriety, and that is why Imelda Marcos is not just a controversial collector of shoes. Certainly those are things that may command more attention than outrage or the ruin of law, but every time careless mention of the excess of the Marcoses is made it wrongs their victims even further.

This post? Is testimony. You need to go read and, as ephemere so simply but searingly pleads: listen. We all need to listen to this. When things like this go unheard, when stories of shoes eclipse the truth of human bodies, human tragedy, then I think we all lose something, all of us, everywhere.

Comments

[surpassingly]

I wanted to express something like: thank you for listening and for speaking about the value of listening, because it's meaningful and helps chip away at the silence and the belief that these things are insignificant and don't matter -- only in a less incoherent tangle, but a little worded out right now. Still, thank you, regardless.

[megwrites]

It feels a bit strange that you're thanking me when I should thank you for posting that, for being willing to put that out there, being willing to take the time and the emotional effort to do it.

If you're grateful to me for listening? I'm twice as grateful that you have spoken. What you said was necessary and right and true.

And on a totally selfish note, there were things I wasn't familiar with in that post, and so now I'm going back and doing a little research on the history of the Philippines for my own edification. Thank you for putting in the time to put those links in. They've been eye opening to say the least.

[surpassingly]

Well, to me -- I don't want to say "because I've gone so long with just silence that being heard is a comfort", since it's a poor approximation of gratitude and does us both a disservice. :) But I find that people who take the time who tell me they're listening are very encouraging, and for that, and the willingness of people to accept the possibility that their perceptions on certain things (for instance, 'imeldific') may be lacking, and the effort to correct that, and the opportunity to discuss issues that may be painful ground -- I am grateful. I read a bit about... handing out cookies? and to me it isn't like that; but I believe in saying thank you for things I appreciate. (I hope I'm making sense, I haven't slept.)

Those links -- They're rather... yeah. And how quickly people forget, it's so terrible. I'm glad you found them useful!

[megwrites]

You're making perfect sense to me and I think I understand precisely what you're getting at. There's nothing wrong with thanking people for letting you know that they're out there, that they're receiving the signals you're putting out - especially since on the internet, a lot of us seem to pass like ships in the night, never knowing who we have or haven't reached, if anyone is even hearing us or if we're just screaming into a void.

I know the feeling, and I know that when someone tells truth like you did (and in your post "No Country For Strangers"), the LEAST I can do is let you know you're being heard loud and clear.

Because I for one, really, really hope you keep posting and keep on, well, being as awesome as you are.