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| Blogs > rm_mazandbren > The Complaisant Husband |
Mumbai
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Mumbai There is a scene in the West Wing that, no matter how many times i watch it, leaves me feeling that the show has failed to really understand what it is trying to represent. i think the series itself seems to lose focus after this moment. it's the one where Charlie (Dule Hill) asks President Bartlett (Martin Sheen) what he would have done had he been in Truman's place and had to decide whether to use the A-bomb. Bartlett drops his papers, takes a deep breath and then...nothing- it cuts to another scene. now whether the<b> writers </font></b>are going to have Bartlett say yes or no, i still think that they should have had the courage, if they were going to address the issue seriously, to have had him say something. the other big issue the show seemed to avoid was the consequences of the 9/11 attack. a lot of shows did this- Friends stands out in particular; it led off it's early season shows with a shot of the Twin Towers. suddenly the Towers disappear but the reason is never addressed. i could not imagine that anybody living in New York at the time could have failed to have had a reaction. in a similar vein a lot of London based shows seem to avoid the subject of the 7/7 attacks. Australian shows fail to mention the Bali bombings. i used to think that this was okay- these shows are meant to be entertainment and we don't need to see reality at all times. but i think that so many shows have avoided these subjects that we seem to forget the acts themselves- and how we felt when they happened. i was watching television on September 10th when the programme got interrupted to announce that an aeroplane had crashed into the World Trade Centre. and at this stage it was still an accident; terrible but explicable. not so the sight of the second plane spearing into the other tower. i just cannot imagine what that would have been like- the fear and fatalism that must have overcome the people on that plane as the city buildings went past- they must have known that this was a suicide run. people jumping from the buildings- the police and firefighters running towards the disaster- and then the collapse of the towers themselves. the Bali bombing occured while we were in Istanbul; we didn't get to see the images- but we did get to see the people in our hotel trying to call home because their were in Bali. as it turned out they were fine- but the long hours as we sat together waiting for word of their fate were amongst the longest i have ever endured. i remember most that these two wonderful people were so overwrought with worry that they didn't have any emotions- just shock- the tears came when they could actually talk to their and . the 7/7 events were first reported in Australia as i drove to pick up my wife from a shopping centre. we didn't end up going shopping together- we went home and watched the events unfolding on the news. but they are not part of our everyday remembrance- the shock has worn off and we only encounter the consequences of these actions when we allow ourselves to encounter them. the biggest example of this was the attack on Mumbai's tourist and business precincts. this was not simply an attack on India- it was of the same scope and inspiration as those of 9/11 and the Bali bombing and 7/7. the difference with this attack is that we can listen into the attackers. the ABC 4Corners programme ran a documentary tonight that featured the intercepts of the terrorists and their controllers. the targets are chosen; but there are complications. what do the terrorists do about the of the Rabbi? we watch as a 2 year old tries to wake up his murdered parents- and in the next room his fate is being decided- the controller says kill them- the terrorist can't do it. another Jewish target and the neighbours come out to see what is going on- the terrorists ask what they should do about all these civillians; the controller replies "shoot them all; if they move- kill them." a terrorist is hiding in an apartment with two hostages- the controllers want him out on the streets killing people; as the terrorist hesitates the controllers become angry- "kill them; sit them up and shoot them in the back of the head. leave the phone on so we can listen." two shots are fired; these are not the words or actions of people who recognise compromise. this is going to be a fight to the end- and the sooner we recognise that in our society the sooner we are going to win it. the end of the documentary has a seven or eight year old survivor. "My father was a taxi driver. he took us to the zoo, and the mosque and so many places that i cannot remember. they killed my mum and dad. what did we ever do to deserve that?" In truth is there no beauty? I am not in love; but i am open to persuasion. |
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You are absolutely correct we have to oppose terrorism whether it's here in India or America.
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