31 Aug-1 Sep 2010
I woke up around 4:00 PM, and took 1 piracetam and choline at 5:00 PM and 10:00 PM. I was able to sleep well, without any prominent dreams. At 3:00 AM, I felt like taking a nap, so I did. It ended up lasting until about 10:00 AM, which was very refreshing - I imagine it was making up for a sleep deficit. (I'm not even sure I have a circadian rhythm anymore.) I had some pretty peaceful dreams about watching a choir performance at a large open plaza, ornate with stone structures, in a place where the sky was a dim grey.
Anyway, I got some books yesterday about the Rwandan genocide, and dove into them immediately (apologies to the person who wanted me to read Hofstadter; right now I just feel this is more compelling). It's an incredible and terrifying story - and it only happened 16 years ago. 800,000 people, slaughtered for no reason, in 100 days. Without interference. One book tells the story of the people who carried out the genocide. They were normal, everyday citizens who were ordered to go out and kill everyone they could find. And they just went ahead and did it, for weeks, like it was just a normal part of their lives. In one chapter, they talk about the first time they killed someone, and how it became easier for them over time - like second nature. Almost all of the killings were done with machetes; they would literally hack their victims to death, and they just got used to doing this. Young boys would imitate their fathers. Sometimes the men would bring back people they had captured, and the children would "practice" on them - they were usually other children. The whole thing is just harrowing, beyond a nightmare: something like this could actually happen, and did.
Later, I noticed a certain person on reddit had made a post accusing me of various wrongdoings, which unfortunately was widely approved without much critical analysis. I put together a dissection of his claims here. He was wrong, he's still wrong, and he's conned reddit into thinking he was right about everything and I'm the one who's wrong. This couldn't be further from the truth - he never had any evidence for any of his claims, and still doesn't. This is a detriment to all of reddit: more and more people are now convinced of something that never actually happened.
In reading the comments on his post, I once again noticed that I seem to have become a kind of lightning rod for any latent anti-gay, anti-trans, anti-woman sentiment that may be lurking within a community. It's almost like just by existing, I somehow test people's tolerance - sometimes to the breaking point. It's sad to see, but it's good to be aware of people's attitudes, distasteful as they may be.
