The Epiphany of a pointless war - Serj Tankian

Servus,

After working steady and hard for a few hours, I decided to take a break before going out to fetch myself some lunch. I went on creepbook to see what people were up to at this time of the day and to ensure that the world is still revolving around Social Media. To my surprise, I stumbled upon a rather interesting video: Serj Tankian's Empty Walls. My reaction: What a macabre piece of reality. I decided to outline this exact reaction below, starting off by saying that, in no way am I against what he portrayed. Yet, I am still quite shocked and I think it is absolutely necessary to continue producing materials with such strong context, as we all have become so bloody desensitized by the issues that surround us day by day.

The video starts off at what looks like a regular day at kindergarten, where children are playing and being all gay (not that kind of gay, you turt!). There is a girl playing with cubes and building some towers, and on the other side, there is a boy playing innocently with a small airplane. Add them up and, voilà, shit hits the fan - that was something I kind of saw coming, but did not dare to foreshadow for the sake of my mental health (I don't like it when I find myself lost in conflict-induced/inspired thoughts). After the fall of the towers, the situation in the innocent classroom got quite agitated. Tanks, bazookas, grenades, and somewhere in between an analogy of the day Sadam's statue fell and the way the crowd danced around it signaling victory, are included in the video. There is even a part where some children recreate a situation where intruders go into someone's home, and soullessly "shoot" an innocent "man" in front of their family. My jaw dropped with astonishment.
  

As cute and cuddly as children in this video may be (I don't know if I want to go as far as including Serj in that statement), the context goes beyond fun and games.  Empty Walls reminds me of the first time I was looking for an internship and came across one at the Gaza Strip, where a grassroots organization was working with children being raised in a war environment. One of the aspects they included in their needs assessment was that children  (as young as 5 y/o) were constantly recreating the armed conflict between Arabs and Jews within their games, due to PTSD.  I would have loved to get involved but unfortunately it was not as easy as it seemed.

Violence has always prevailed among childhood games, particularly among boys, but this video goes beyond that. It reenacts a reality, from a different perspective that would disturb even the most perverse mind. I am not attacking Serj's idea in anyway whatsoever. On the contrary, I think what he did here is absolutely brilliant and I am still pleased to know that musicians like Serj take the time to expose the issues that many do not dare to even acknowledge. This is the case of the United States of a Godless America. I cannot stop wondering how the younger generations perceive conflict and how they will eventually act upon it. It is as if we were already too accustomed to all the useless violence around us. The bottom line comes to whether there is really a reason to stop it. That is, after all, the world we have been raised in and if those in charge could care less about the lives of the innocent and helpless, why would we? That, right there, is indeed our terrifying reality.

The last scene in the video is a reinforcement of the tragic actuality that is fueled by a pointless war, where the death of thousands of innocent beings has yet become a way to justify the prolongation of conflict: a coffin covered by an American flag being put away by soldiers, right in front of the same kindergarten where the action was taking place. Deep...


I apologize if what I wrote above seems like ranting in a way. I truly couldn't let this one go and I felt that, as a citizen of this world, I needed to share, not only my opinion, but the video itself, in the hopes to raise some awareness about events that we may otherwise ignore. From the bottom of my heart, thank you Serj.

-Stay Metal-MM Dre-dnklschwrz MMXI