A matter of perspective

Yes, I know. We are a civilized nation, we are well fed and educated and we are a nation of law.

The other day we saw an exhibition of Pulitzer Prize winning photographs starting from 1940.

Most were horrific. The brutality and cruelty of men - whether official army or rebels - in Thailand and China, Vietnam and Venezuela, Burma and Japan, El Salvador and Iran. All what we would call developing countries (Japan's was from WWII).

A very sad testament of human nature.

And in the back of my mind were so many posts here about our "fascist" dictatorship government.

Yes, we are a democracy with freedom of speech and of assembly and of plurality. And we should always be alert to any that are trying to suppress some of this, even just a little bit. We all remember that Germany was considered a civilized, nation of law country, too.

But, seeing those horrific pictures forced me to put everything in perspective.

Bloody, weird, and shocking all win the big prizes.