Well, my third term of school ended yesterday. I'm halfway done! Whew! It's a bit of a relief because I kept telling myself that if I could make it halfway, then I could do the whole thing. Yes, I realize I always could do this, but it's nice to have mini goals to encourage yourself. I guess now I have to start worrying about jobs. I currently have 10 days off before term 4 and I might go to DC to start the job hunt. Still ironing out the details, unfortunately Skype is being flaky today and not letting me make the appropriate phone calls.
I'd say I generally enjoyed term 3. I felt like there was enough time to accomplish projects so as not to feel too stressed, and the stuff we learned was pretty cool. I finished the term with a special effects project (giving sound to a 3-D animation) and I really enjoyed it. They were reviewed in class, and I think the guys generally liked it. I got some good feedback, so I might fix it up, and include it in my portfolio. That's a good feeling!
What else...I really feel the need to write a more serious every now and then. Mostly because I feel like I sometimes get these interesting perspectives or cultural opportunities that are probably important to share. it's just...mentally exhausting. What I mean is, given the current US political situation, it's rather interesting being a US citizen in a foreign country...even if it's Canada and not some place outside of North America. For as much as there is friendly joking between the US and Canada...and funny stereotypes...you'd probably be surprised at how many of them don't like us. Or don't appreciate our foreign policy. Ok, I'm not really saying I'm surprised...many of you probably know I despise Bushie bear and everything about him. But ...it's certainly a new experience to hear your nationality spoken in the same tone that ...maybe in the US some people say "those darn Mexicans" or "hispanics". And I have friends here who are from England, and Columbia, and China, and Hong Kong...and i kid you not, if there's ever a slightly serious conversation, they generally have awful things to say about this US and America, and then they add, "but not you, of course". I wonder if they'd even talk to me if I had any loyalty to Bush at all. probably not.
Some of you might think that makes these other countries a bit ungrateful to the US for trying to stand up to terrorism, or for discounting any US contribution to the world from science and technology to humanitarianism. I don't think that's so. I think...I think the US has made some pretty awful mistakes that have rippling effects on many other countries, and they are upset about that. I also think that even if countries sympathize with our problem of terrorism, it can be really hard to empathize if your country is not directly targeted. This is the US's "war" and if we had an opportunity to get people more on our side, we've long since squandered that good faith.
Several of us went to a free preview screening the other night. The movie comes out next month and is called "The Kingdom" with Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner. I'm not really sure what to tell you about the movie itself...it's not especially preachy, but it has a point...it also has a lot of action, so it feels more like it's just exploiting the war genre. I don't think it's necessarily bad though. Anyway, it's a US story...some FBI agents go to Saudia Arabia to help catch people who attacked some Americans who work for the Saudi-American oil companies there. So it isn't really about Iraq, but it is about terrorism and perhaps how those militants are "created" or "harbored".
You have to remember, I'm in a Canadian theater, watching the movie with 2 Canadians and one Londoner. my friends were commenting on movie things when it ended...like too much or too little action...good sound, good plot...whatever. I had slightly teared up by the end. And just before the end, they all laughed at a point where I thought "you know, that's really not funny". Of course, I realized, perhaps even in the entire theater, I might be the ONLY person who knows someone in the middle east, or has been there fighting. All of this is quite real to me. To them...it might as well be 100 experiences removed from them. I'm glad they could view this as "just" a movie, but then part of me wishes they could see it as more...because globally it affects everyone. But how many Americans can say they really paid attention to global events before 9/11? I didn't really. And how many people in the US can still "ignore" the war, especially if they don't know someone there. It's not like we're being bombed daily..or that we're suffering anything more than high gas prices (and that is its own bad thing, but clearly not crippling to daily life yet).
you really can't underestimate the power of people to ignore things that are unpleasant...so I find it hard to blame anyone here for their reactions or viewpoints. I actually wish I could go back to feeling the same...but we all know that ignoring this problem just means it'll catch up to you eventually. Being uninformed before 9/11 didn't prevent it from happening. And I wouldn't even say my friends are uninformed...they know much more about the US than I would ever have known about their countries. it's just...a different perspective I guess. i find it very interesting and felt the need to share.
I can't really tie this one up neatly...and I can't say i want to write about a lot of political things, but culturally, I believe it begs mentioning from time to time.
3 comments:
I find that all very fascinating. You are in a very interesting position, and I hope you are able to help some of your friends from other countries see that we aren't all Bush followers, and that many of us do agree that he's gotten the US into a situation that we'd rather not be in. Good post!
Given the criticism that Bush received prior to being elected and given that very few Americans seem to like the guy, I find it unbelievable that he ever became President nevermind getting re-elected. The issue of oil and its diminishing availability, coupled with Bush's fight against terrorism for the future protection of the US, is a debate that people will always have to agree to disagree on. If you witness a hit and run, do you help the injured party or chase the guilty party down the street? I'd like to think that justice should prevail and that democratic countries are the bringers of peace, not the destroyers of it. Foreign policy used to be if a cockroach appeared you went and stood on it. Now it's lace everywhere with poison and lay as many traps as you can so that the cockroach will never bother to appear. Doesn't seem right to me.
We have, for the most part, an uninformed electorate. That's how we got Bush. Sad, but true. Ordinary Americans aren't being asked to share the war burden in any way, shape or form (though our credit card statement is surely coming due). I will honestly be shocked if BushCheney doesn't attack Iran before leaving office. What does he have to lose?
Post a Comment