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When I learned of the stampede at Ultra, the first thought that popped into my mind was: they all deserved to die for their indolence and reliance on get rich-quick schemes. I forgot about the whole thing until I heard of the story about the 4-year old girl was crushed under the heels of greedy adults hoping to get the winning ticket out of poverty.

Apparently, a random guy placed the girl on the roof so that she wouldn’t be crushed by the crowd. She would have been safe if she didn’t see her mother get slowly dragged down underneath five bodies (her mother survived to tell the tale). The girl jumped off the roof and tried to make her way through the crowd to reach her mother. According to her mom, she could hear her daughter screaming at people to get out of her way, that her mother was getting crushed, and that she needed to save her. At one point, mother and daughter managed to hold hands, but the rush of the zealous crowd dragged the little girl off to her death.

Later on, a survivor of the stampede picked up the little girl’s abandoned, lifeless body from the ground. He said he could see heel marks on her arms from where people stepped on her. When the ambulances arrived, he tried to get the medics to give her CPR, but the medics were too disgusted by the dirt on her body and refused. The survivor ended up giving her CPR during the entire ambulance ride to the hospital.

According to the autopsy, every bone in the little girl’s body was crushed–her arms, legs, spinal column, neck.

I’m one who doesn’t have much love for children but man. Hearing that was really depressing.

On the flipside, an article on the suicide of a 30-year old woman had me cracking up the day after the stampede. It says there that the woman was being persuaded to assume the top post of their organization. As they were talking, she suddenly broke the glass woman and jumped from the 15th floor.

Maybe it’s just my sick sense of humor, but I couldn’t get over the image of a plump, middle-aged woman dressed in a cheap business suit crashing through a glass window. It’s just too fucking hilarious for words.

Technorati Tags: stampede at Ultra

After a long debate over an LJ community, it really pisses me off how a certain cultural group seems to think that theirs is superior to everyone else. So that I won’t offend anyone, let’s call them Culture X.

What makes me really angry is how people from Culture X seems to think that everyone else in the world are savages (which we shall call Culture B) unless they adapt Culture X’s worldview. And this isn’t from just one person. It’s a trend I’ve noticed and often ignored, until I finally couldn’t stand it tonight. I’m not one to debate and argue, because I believe that debates are useless. In the end, we’re still going to stick to whatever we believe in. But I figured, I’m sick of telling all the people I know that I really despise people from Culture X. It’s about time I let someone from Culture X know about it.

The point I’ve been trying to make is that no matter how “barbaric” a certain cultural group seems to act, nobody, save someone from that cultural group, is in the position to judge them as such. People from Culture X specifically are rasied to cherish values such as life, peace, and (I’m beginning to hate the word) freedom. And just because they believe differently from what other cultures do doesn’t mean that they have the right to change them and enforce their worldview on others. It’s really very simple.

But then the person from Culture X starts saying something about how if we think someone is doing something wrong, we should question it and change it. Again, person from Culture X is looking at it from his cultural POV. That he feels the need to question Culture B’s beliefs presupposes that he thinks Culture B is inherently savage, crazy, etc. But it’s not always so. What’s right for Culture X isn’t always right for the rest of the world. Why the hell can’t they understand that?

I should stop caring about things like these, really. It only makes me angry and anger makes me unproductive.

Update:

I got the following response from another person from Culture X. (What I said is in italics):

Other peoples’ cultures are none of your business.
Not so. To the extent I am capable, I have a duty to prevent the infringement of the rights of others.

What’s right for Culture X isn’t always right for the rest of the world.
Bullshit. What’s right for humans is right for humans. Whether what’s right for any of us is the same as what is currently practiced in Culture X is a seperate question.

*headdesk*

And just because I can, I am going to plug KATIPUNAN again. Help keep our dream alive. Donate to KATIPUNAN now! If you believe in our cause and have extra cash to spare, any amount would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!