Curiouser and curiouser

People who know me know that I am not a humantarian, and that I fit the heartless libertarian cliche to a tee. My (now) ex-girlfriend told me that I have a slightly black heart because I laugh at everything, another friend has told me that I am slightly cruel, because I always stress that the people should always get what they deserve. It's all true. I have very little compassion for idiots, and I will laugh at anything that I consider stupid, even if it is the most heartbreakingly sad thing. Take the current conflict as an example: I think Olmert is an insecure moron who is trying to compensate for not being Sharon by bombing everything, and I think that Nasrallah is an idiotic asshole who deserves an Israeli rocket firmly stuck up his ass, and I don't particularly like either men at the moment. But that's besides the point. The point is? I am stoic, cold and logical. I don't do emotional responses much when it comes to problems: I see a problem, I seek the most pragmatic way to solve it. Keep it simple, you know?

Let's again take for example the current crisis, and the debate that sprung in the egyptian blogsphere on how to best aid our "lebanese brothers". Some people opted for the slogan filled solution, while I made fun of it. I am sick and tired of blind slogans and hollow gestures. You wanna help, then send donations. Monetary or otherwise. The supreme majority of Lebanese did not support Hezbollah and don;t deserve this. They need our help, and that's why I am working on it.

But, at the same time, the same thing can be said about the israeli side. The majority of the israeli public doesn't want this war. In many ways, they just want hezbollah to leave them the fuck alone. Despite all of the conspiracy theories being spread all over the net, it really is that simple. The IDF is fucking it up, but that's a different story. At the end of the day, the israeli citizens who get hit with the rockets are exactly like the lebanese citizens who are having their neighbourhood bombed: Innocent, blameless, do want this conflict, and have their fates in the hands of madmen who both think they are the personal messiahas of their respective nations.

So, the question becomes, why don't we have a send donations to the isareli victims campaign alongside the send donations to the lebanese victims campaign? If we agree that both sides are human beings, and that the majority find themselves cornerd helplessly in this conflict, why not ignore the blame game and try to help both sides? Is that not possible?

I, of course, understand that the lebanese bloggers may not go for calling for donations for israeli victims, because of the amount of casualties their people sufferd on the hands of the IDF, the same way I understand how the vice versa is probably true with the israeli bloggers. So why not have a third party do it? Why not me- an egyptian- or any of you americans or europeans or anyone else who is reading this? Why not do a joint aid campaign, that recognizes the uniquely similar situation that both citizens of both countries share at the moment? It may not stop the conflict, but it could help speed up the healing, and god knows that this is probably the most important part in determining if this is just another middle-east conflict, or a one that will end it once and for all, at least as far as Lebanon and Israel are concerned. You know?

Tell me what you think though. I really want to know!

-- SandMonkey, "Dynamics of aid"