Aliens Caused The Bushfires?

While the list of missing* grows and the number of known dead rises in Victoria in the aftermath of the horrific bushfires, I wonder how much of the rage against supposed arsonists is due to the need to pin the blame for our collective grief on somebody, anybody...

I've heard of people blaming the former Howard Governement for not signing the Kyoto protocol, people blaming the "Greenies" for allegedly blocking the back-burning of forests as fire-breaks. Come on, get with it, people.

I just hope Australia doesn't go all limbic on us and, in their fury and frustration, publically lynch (or media-lynch or cyber-lynch) any innocent people in order to appease their righteous anger.

It has happened, and it could happen again: remember Azaria.

It was 48°+, the North wind was howling... of course fires will start - it's been that way in the Great Southern Land for multiple millenia.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Of course, maybe some idiot or idiots did start some of the fires... One of my flaws is that I always imagine people to be as moral and as ethical as myself (stop laughing, you up the back), but as George Steiner sort of said in my post the other day, you can scratch the surface of even your closest friend and find something alien under the skin. I believe that I would never do that, or that anyone I know would do such a thing. (But I believe I could never be a Nazi either. Psychological evidence suggests that maybe I could.)

Arsonists. They must be aliens. It just does not compute.

E@L


* It's hard not to cry while going through these photos for some reason... You have my permission to 'go all limbic' if you wish.