The world today —

What I’ve read of the world today has been disheartening, as usual. A man was arrested in Guatemala for writing a tweet asking people to withdraw funds from a bank possibly involved in the Rosenberg assassination — Freedom of speech may not be considered a civil right everywhere, but the fact that twitter can be used to ‘insight financial panic’ and be considered a threat to governments is interesting. Are social networking sites also revolutionary tools? We saw that they could be used that way during Invisible Children’s rescue event. I wonder if this kind of activism will begin to change social apathy — or, perhaps it will alter the role of civil society. Whether for better or worse, I can’t say.

Apparently there is a growing question in the US about whether or not torture is okay. It astounds me that this is a question — what about the word ‘torture’ suggests that it should be a policy in a so called free nation? Some may argue that ‘responsible torture’ saves lives by getting information about attacks. Consider this: A country tortures people possibly involved in terrorist activities, obtains information that prevents one or two suicide bombers. Perhaps a win. But, the family members of those tortured for that information now resent that government for their actions, as do the families of dozens others who had to be tortured in the same case. Now, these family members are strapping on bombs themselves, in the names of the family members whose lives were destroyed.

Violence begets violence; “there is no such thing as responsible torture.”

Related — here are some of the ridiculous things said in the media this past week:

About my own life:

Yesterday, I returned to the U.S. via two bus rides, three airplanes, two international airports, two metro systems, and several security checks. I left my apartment in Athens at 4:45 am Greek time (9:45 pm EST 5/15) and arrived in Detroit Metro at 7:00 pm EST 5/16. Needless to say, it was a long day.

So far the highlights of returning to the US have been drinking real coffee (as in coffee grounds filtered through steaming hot water into a Mr. Coffee pot) as opposed to instant Nescafe; and having multiple pillows.

It looks like I’ll be moving to an apartment later this week which I’m subletting for the summer; which means I’m in desperate need of employment. Two interviews for summer jobs lined up already, and two for  more permanent positions scheduled for Friday in Chicago. Should be an interesting week.