10 Days.
Konbanwa Minna-san!!
Well, I was bored and hoping that I could read some LJ updates but...what was I thinking, nobody updates anymore. So, I'll just make an update for myself to read (I'm procrastinating from bio hw, 'nuff said). But really though, everyone is either busy or out of town right now. Its craaaaazy.
Anyway, I'm not really sure what to update about, since I haven't really been doing that much lately. Last night I was trying to get through some Faulkner (I'm still 70 pages behind...eep) but I guess I ended falling asleep. Amalia called me at around 10 something, and I woke up very confused...so much, in fact, that I have absolutely no recollection what we were talking about, except that she was in Disneyland. Anyway, after we got off the phone I put my pj's on and went straight back to sleep, not waking up until 9 AM. Oi. Sucks that daylight savings time begins tonight...I need my sleep!! Honestly though, lately, I've just been so tired...like...constantly. I guess I should probably just get more sleep, but its getting irritating. Being lethargic 24/7 is such an impedement.
I just watched a great movie called Control Room. It was a documentary about the people who work at Al Jazeera and their coverage of the early parts of the Iraq War. It was a really interesting perspective, and I highly reccomend that everyone watch it. Especially after talking about the role of the media and the draft and all that other good stuff at Awareness Day on Friday, I found it particularly interesting. Out of all of it, one of the most interesting scenes to me was one in which the news station was interviewing US soldiers that were captives (or POWs or whatever you're supposed to call them). Obviously they had all been told to reply that they were "just following orders," but one man kept saying "I don't wanna kill anyone, I don't wanna be here to kill anyone, I just follow orders." It just made me think of what I would do in that situation--in war. I don't think I would ever be able to handle it...obviously I wouldn't physically, but emotionally as well, I just don't think I could ever morally be okay with it. On the other hand, however, if I were to be drafted or something of the like, I'm not sure how I would react. Obviously, I wouldn't want to go into a war but only for a very small fraction that I don't agree with the political stance endorsing this war or the idea of war in general--my main reason would be mainly selfish: I don't fucking want to be in a war. But would I go to jail for it? I'm not sure. If I didn't have to be in combat but was still required by draft to do some sort of office military work etc., would I sacrafice my principles to do it? I'm not sure. I would like to say I wouldn't, but when it actually boils down to it, would I have the courage to stand up to the government?
A second scene that made me think a lot was the looting of the museums in Iraq. Obviously these museums had valuable and important peices of history in them, perhaps even moreso since Iraq was basically where civilization began, and had one of its most useful "golden ages," if you will. It just profoundly bothers me that in times of war all history, all culture, is just simply forgotten and destroyed. Is it really neccessary for this to happen? I guess really, it is a minor issue compared to the loss of human life, but still.
And finally (I'll stop talking soon, promise) a third scene that really interested me was a scene in which an Iraqi reporter was interviewing one of the US military pr guys who kept saying how the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was totally irrelevent to what was going on in Iraq at the moment etc. I must admit that I too am completely ignorant and have a very poor understanding of politics in the Middle East but that's exactly what bothered me. How come none of us our educated? I mean, of course I should take more personal initiative to educate myself by reading up on the issues, etc., but you think that our system of education (especially for those who are going to be serving in the military in places that they know absolutely nothing about) could be a little better, a little more effective of informing us about what is actually happening in the world, the contexts that have given rise to the current political climate. Its no wonder everyone hates us so much...if we actually knew a single thing about all these countries that we invade and try to "instate democracy" in, maybe we'd be a lot more effective...or at least not make so many enemies.
I could keep going but I'm a bit sleepy (honestly, I don't know why, I can't ever seem to get enough sleep, lol) and not quite making that much of a rational argument. Soooo...
OYASUMINASAI
*AKeMiSAma
Well, I was bored and hoping that I could read some LJ updates but...what was I thinking, nobody updates anymore. So, I'll just make an update for myself to read (I'm procrastinating from bio hw, 'nuff said). But really though, everyone is either busy or out of town right now. Its craaaaazy.
Anyway, I'm not really sure what to update about, since I haven't really been doing that much lately. Last night I was trying to get through some Faulkner (I'm still 70 pages behind...eep) but I guess I ended falling asleep. Amalia called me at around 10 something, and I woke up very confused...so much, in fact, that I have absolutely no recollection what we were talking about, except that she was in Disneyland. Anyway, after we got off the phone I put my pj's on and went straight back to sleep, not waking up until 9 AM. Oi. Sucks that daylight savings time begins tonight...I need my sleep!! Honestly though, lately, I've just been so tired...like...constantly. I guess I should probably just get more sleep, but its getting irritating. Being lethargic 24/7 is such an impedement.
I just watched a great movie called Control Room. It was a documentary about the people who work at Al Jazeera and their coverage of the early parts of the Iraq War. It was a really interesting perspective, and I highly reccomend that everyone watch it. Especially after talking about the role of the media and the draft and all that other good stuff at Awareness Day on Friday, I found it particularly interesting. Out of all of it, one of the most interesting scenes to me was one in which the news station was interviewing US soldiers that were captives (or POWs or whatever you're supposed to call them). Obviously they had all been told to reply that they were "just following orders," but one man kept saying "I don't wanna kill anyone, I don't wanna be here to kill anyone, I just follow orders." It just made me think of what I would do in that situation--in war. I don't think I would ever be able to handle it...obviously I wouldn't physically, but emotionally as well, I just don't think I could ever morally be okay with it. On the other hand, however, if I were to be drafted or something of the like, I'm not sure how I would react. Obviously, I wouldn't want to go into a war but only for a very small fraction that I don't agree with the political stance endorsing this war or the idea of war in general--my main reason would be mainly selfish: I don't fucking want to be in a war. But would I go to jail for it? I'm not sure. If I didn't have to be in combat but was still required by draft to do some sort of office military work etc., would I sacrafice my principles to do it? I'm not sure. I would like to say I wouldn't, but when it actually boils down to it, would I have the courage to stand up to the government?
A second scene that made me think a lot was the looting of the museums in Iraq. Obviously these museums had valuable and important peices of history in them, perhaps even moreso since Iraq was basically where civilization began, and had one of its most useful "golden ages," if you will. It just profoundly bothers me that in times of war all history, all culture, is just simply forgotten and destroyed. Is it really neccessary for this to happen? I guess really, it is a minor issue compared to the loss of human life, but still.
And finally (I'll stop talking soon, promise) a third scene that really interested me was a scene in which an Iraqi reporter was interviewing one of the US military pr guys who kept saying how the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was totally irrelevent to what was going on in Iraq at the moment etc. I must admit that I too am completely ignorant and have a very poor understanding of politics in the Middle East but that's exactly what bothered me. How come none of us our educated? I mean, of course I should take more personal initiative to educate myself by reading up on the issues, etc., but you think that our system of education (especially for those who are going to be serving in the military in places that they know absolutely nothing about) could be a little better, a little more effective of informing us about what is actually happening in the world, the contexts that have given rise to the current political climate. Its no wonder everyone hates us so much...if we actually knew a single thing about all these countries that we invade and try to "instate democracy" in, maybe we'd be a lot more effective...or at least not make so many enemies.
I could keep going but I'm a bit sleepy (honestly, I don't know why, I can't ever seem to get enough sleep, lol) and not quite making that much of a rational argument. Soooo...
OYASUMINASAI
*AKeMiSAma