Up, Up, and Away

April 30, 2005 8:44 PM

10,000 kltes to be flown ”on both sides of the 500-kilometer long barrier that separates Israelis and Palestinians” on my birthday (but not in my honor). Inspiring, or just silly?
posted by LeLiLo (26 comments total)

I just hope there's adaquate wind.
posted by mosch at 8:54 PM on April 30, 2005

I really wish there was an anti-comic sans filter . . . .
posted by [insert clever name here] at 8:55 PM on April 30, 2005

what's a klte?
posted by nkyad at 8:56 PM on April 30, 2005

I just hope there's adaquate wind.

Imagine 10,000 kites lying lifelessly on the ground as nary a breeze could be found . . .
posted by [insert clever name here] at 9:02 PM on April 30, 2005

Silliness often IS inspiring. This sounds like one of those "senseless beauty, random acts of kindness" kinda things. I like it.
posted by BoringPostcards at 9:06 PM on April 30, 2005

I'll see your 10,000 kites, and raise you 99 red balloons.
posted by ilsa at 9:13 PM on April 30, 2005

Could be trouble.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:15 PM on April 30, 2005

All it needs is one kite fight for the thing to go haywire.
damn, too late
posted by dhruva at 9:17 PM on April 30, 2005

10,000 what?

Please don't use that ethnic slur. I think "Hebrews" or "Jews" is the polite term.
posted by orthogonality at 9:30 PM on April 30, 2005

Very silly, but a neat idea.
posted by The Cardinal at 9:32 PM on April 30, 2005

"Inspiring, or just silly?"

Hey, whatever it takes to keep these people from killing each other. Provided it does that. Provided it doesn't just inadvertently give them yet another reason to hate. However, anyone who's able to take something as innocuous and cute as kite flying and use it to stir up trouble? They're just lookin' fer a fight, and nothin's gonna stop'm. So we'll just have to wait and see.
posted by ZachsMind at 10:12 PM on April 30, 2005

Hey, whatever it takes to keep these people from killing each other.

I don't think the kind of people who will be flying the kites are the same people who are into killing each other.

Unless, you know, some kind of Mary-Poppins-esque miracle happens. Picturing jihadists and zionists flying kites, hand in hand, joyful glee on their faces
posted by Jimbob at 10:27 PM on April 30, 2005

orthogonality: giggle.
posted by thirteenkiller at 11:40 PM on April 30, 2005

Go fly a kite.
posted by blacklite at 12:45 AM on May 1, 2005

yeah, it sounds cheesy at first. But 10,000 israelis and palestinian kids are gonna have participated in a beautiful display only possible through cooperation between the two sides. I think such an event in their formative years could really make a difference in their attitudes and political beliefs as adults.

/stoned optimism
posted by Kifer85 at 1:02 AM on May 1, 2005

It's a tradtional form of protest among Palestinians. It's one of the few things you can do to protest from your balcony when the curfew gets slapped down and you can't leave your apartment. Symbolic? Yes. Silly? No, dead serious, actually.
posted by scarabic at 1:49 AM on May 1, 2005

This kite stunt will do nothing but boost string and paper sales for a day or two. To make even a bit of difference, Israel and Palestine would need a couple of generations of integrated housing, shared corridors and courtyards, common shops and neighborhoods, shared schools, and shared workplaces. Instead of Jewish settlements, build integrated border towns that force people to interact.

But kites are pretty. I hope no one is shot.
posted by pracowity at 2:52 AM on May 1, 2005

This just in: War starts over tangled kite string.
posted by fixedgear at 3:58 AM on May 1, 2005

Feh. I've seen sillier.
posted by TwelveTwo at 4:51 AM on May 1, 2005

Why not?
posted by carter at 8:22 AM on May 1, 2005

Inspiring, or just silly?

What was the point of this?
posted by Space Coyote at 10:33 AM on May 1, 2005

What was the point of this?

The point of flying the kites, or the point of my asking the question? I wondered if other people would think this whole thing (which also is happening at various places in America, by the way) was something they found inspiring, or just another ridiculous event in a seemingly hopeless situation. I wasn't sure, myself, but I like what BoringPostcards said, which I had temporarily forgotten: Silliness often IS inspiring.
posted by LeLiLo at 1:23 PM on May 1, 2005

Somewhere, deep in Shabak headquarters, someone is worrying about whether a kite can carry aloft a grenade.
posted by kickingtheground at 1:41 PM on May 1, 2005

The two sides won't be able to tangle their strings, since that would require the wind to blow towards the border from both sides. :-)
posted by Crosius at 2:40 PM on May 1, 2005

10,000 kites seem like a good cause in and of themselves. If this were my project I'm not sure I'd've tied its strings to something that's proven so disappointing in the past.

But that's just me. I hope it works!
posted by ikkyu2 at 6:24 PM on May 1, 2005

scarabic - So kite flying is a Palestinian pasttime/protest? I had no idea. That would give the whole event so much more meaning.
posted by jb at 10:20 PM on May 1, 2005