I waited a long time before I watched "The Killing Fields" (1984). I mean, duh: I was a young'n when it came out, so Mama wasn't exactly rushing me out to see it like it was E.T.
But after hearing of it in reverent terms for many years, I knew I ought to see it yet still avoided watching it until a rainy day. You don't exactly rush out to rent a film that is not new -- in fact is 10-15 years old -- and contains stories of epic human tragedy that you're generally familiar with but, history aside, you'd rather not be reminded of.
Actually, I wonder how many people who were children when "Shindler's List" was released have later rushed to see it to keep up with the cultural references of their elders?
(I am reminded of the unfortunate day after Thanksgiving when the lady-friend and I decided to use our cherished mutual day off to rent ... *drum roll* ... "Hotel Rwanda!" Now there's a pick-me-up for your holiday! We sadly don't see films much at all these days, so we still laugh when we recall choosing that one, at that time, with predictable tear-flowing result.)
Anyway, the subject of that film, Dith Pran, survived four years in the Cambodian killing fields before escaping to Vietnam and then the U.S., to be reunited with his American journalist friend and develop a career as a NYT photographer. After escaping those horrors and living a life to raise awareness about them, Dith died of pancreatic cancer this week.
NYTimes.com has a nice "Last Word" short on him, with a tasteful interview from his hospice bed. Pretty amazing to see someone at that stage of life, with all he's been through, and the perspective he has.
All of the 20th-century atrocities are mind-boggling -- and granted, they probably differ from other centuries' greatest hits only in their mass efficiency and multimedia documentation. But the sheer backwardness of the Khmer Rouge effort -- eradicating all the educated class and forcing via execution an attempted shift back to a purely agrarian society -- is another level of bizarre and backward human absurdity to try to comprehend.
That's why I appreciate efforts to not let us forget them: because the fact is they do happen again. These things are downers, yes, and awareness freaks can get tiresome. But Rwanda, Darfur, Bosnia, wherever: the more I live life in comfortable Western society, the more I appreciate the sober reminder of how the weakest capacities of human nature can be realized when people simply collectively look the other way.
We see every day how individuals can be murders, deviants, etc. That is its own syndrome or syndromes. But when a whole mass of otherwise reasonable people are nudged or incited into this sort of organized homicidal insanity -- that's when I really wonder what the hell it is we're made of.
As you may have noticed, the site has changed. Sampa, the free-site host, did a version 2 of some sort.
Despite an FAQ that made it sound like allowing one's site to go through v.2 surgery would be okay, there were several flexibilities that surprisingly disappeared with the click of a button. (e.g. I cannot believe sidebars like this one are even narrower than before.)
And I'm told -- miraculously! -- that the conversion cannot be undone. Truth be told, I'm actually quite pissed. But free is free. Sampa has otherwise been good to me.
So I need to sort through site "features" to see how I can make do. Except that I don't have the time at the moment, in the middle of graduate classes and Lighthousehockey.com. (btw, I've removed that Lighthouse RSS feed so that you're not clogged with random Islanders hockey gibberish).
But I promise to touch up the accessories when I get a chance, and return to irregularly scheduled blogging.
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Comments (2) for "Dith Pran"
February, 2008