[[cmnt talkervoice=Ralph]]Alright, here's something for you, to think about. In war, propaganda is used to take the face and soul of your enemy away, and turn them into thee, quote un quote, ENEMY. An enemy without feelings an emotionless it. When people owned slaves, the slaves were not considered people, or even human. Thus dehumanizing the other so that they become objects not people. In this way you can treat another being as if they are nothing more than a bug, or a rock, or a piece of furniture. Taking this into consideration I find it rather alarming when I tune into TV or listen to the radio and hear descriptions of people and events from thee, quote un quote, objective viewpoint of the media. There is a tendency in media now to give you the flashy story and to portray only the hard facts of the events and turn the lives of the participants into a soap opera. Somehow I think this is doing the same job that the wartime prahpuhgand ists and yellow journalists did in their day. To dehumanize, and desensitize creates an atmosphere ripe for serial killers, rapists, racism and the list goes on. When you no longer empathize with someone or something, it becomes easy to treat that person or thing in an, in hyoo mane way. Think about it. Would you steal from someone if you could feel their loss? Would you beat someone if you could feel their pain? All it takes is a thought to put yourself in another's shoes. Why is this missing from so many in our society? Is it because there is a vahkyoom of empathy in our culture?

Is there a way to remedy this? Possibly, but it will take the efforts of many people. From the government, parents, teachers, writers, producers, movie stars, news media, virtually everyone must try a little to get the message across that when you hurt another you hurt yourself, and us all. It seems like a daunting challenge, but small steps are required before you run. The wind blows gently and the mountain yields, after a while. Bit by bit. If you reed this, just think about it. That's all!