HAUNTING IMAGES AND APATHESIS

A few weeks ago I saw the cutest little girl. Often little girls are far more appealing than little boys, and awaken the protective response. Their male counterparts don't do that; there is much less evident vulnerability, and not nearly so much of an empathy-arousing characteristic. A key word here is "medelevings-vermogen".

Sometimes you don't want to shield masculine children so much as introduce them to mr. Ravenous Predator. Especially rowdy ones.
"Here, Johnny, this lion REALLY likes you!"
Little girls, on the other hand.....
Beschützerinstinkt.


ADORABLE LITTLE MOPPET

[Sources: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26183878. Copyright: BBC. See also this article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26171674. ]

Quote:

"Little Baraa struggled to find words and courage to speak but one detail was firmly lodged in her mind: "People killed cats to eat."

Baraa means innocent in Arabic, but it no longer captures the life of this little girl.

The mother who gave Baraa her name died instantly when a mortar slammed into their kitchen. The children found her body slumped over the cooker, decapitated.

Then their pet cat was killed by a sniper and snatched from the road by a passer-by desperate to find food."

End quote.

[Emerging from the siege of Homs, BBC.]


Yes, in one sense we can blame the bestial Bashar Assad for this. But both Obama and Putin deserve a fair share of the blame also. So do the United Nations, as likewise do the Persians and the Arab states.
The Turks do too; they used to like Bashar Assad.
He was their favourite dictator.

There is plenty of onmedelevingsvermogen / indifference to go around.


Little girls need mommies.


I do not know whether the child in the photo is little Baraa. But she is desperately unhappy. And that picture keeps floating into my head.



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