Important things.

[rainlightautumn]

 So, when I'm not battling Workman's Comp and the doctors involved therein, working, or doing that school thing, I'm avidly following the sweeping wave of uprisings in the eastern part of the world.

These are incredibly important events which affect us in our daily lives--if you're being selfish, consider the oil prices.  If you can look beyond

Comments

[rainlightautumn]

Agh, all three times I have attempted to respond, LJ has deleted my words! I will defeat the system this time!

Isn't it incredible? My admiration for their fortitude and courage grows by leaps and bounds daily, as if it wasn't high already.

My frustration is really starting to get me down, though I'm trying not to let it. I'm especially boggled by my generation--there seems to be this movement (dubbed "hipster") in which the main attitude, I have managed to glean, is "we don't care, or we do, but only so much as we'll discuss things superficially over chai". This may be unfair of me, but one of my good friends is an older woman who lived in Ann Arbor in the 60's and her stories of how people got out and made their voices heard make me lust for action. This malaise is dangerous and the ramifications could be serious on so many levels.

China, Burma, and North Korea are never far from my mind or heart! Admittedly, Chechnya was a situation I only knew a superficial amount of information about, but after reading your comment (which I was ecstatic to receive!), I began on the path of rectifying this mistake. :) I find their situations somewhat terrifying, I think perhaps because of the fact that we don't really know what is going on there in entirety. I have utmost respect and appreciation for forms of government that aren't The American Way (I'm not one that thinks that a democracy is The Only Way), but severe control of a populace doesn't sit well with me at all.

On a somewhat tangential note, I wonder what effect social media is going play upon the recording of history. Ideally, I like to think that it will enable those that write the history texts to provide a more cumulative, encompassing account. Even in my youngest years of history classes I felt that my knowledge was lacking, not due to any particular fault of my instructors, but because of the pieces I felt were missing. History as we learn it is a point of view, after all, and oftentimes too biased to be considered a valid recounting of the situation. I'm always in my university's library, creeping primary sources, because I feel they provide so many differing sides to the same story! Geeky and boring, probably, but what can a geek do?

Agh, sorry, this turned into an incomprehensible ramble! This is what happens when LJ deletes what I write...I forget what I wrote and then add to it and look see, there I go again, I'll just end this shall I? :)

[shanfiction73]

I lol'd at your comment about discussing things "superficially over chai" but it was a sad-sighing-lol. I attended a liberal-arts school in the mid-west for my college and as part of the curriculum and culture we were continually exposed to human rights issues, discussions about political structures, urged to join Teach America etc etc. Many kids couldn't have cared less about these issues, except when talking at the local coffee house. And I admit that I was one of them. I was aware of some issues, supported local “help the poor” programs and various world charities and I knew more about current political events than many of the people around me, but I was still focused on my own world and my own life, which was insular and filled with a bunch of mid-west white kids who were trying to become chemists and engineers.

But I was lucky… after I graduated I was able to travel and live abroad, meeting many people from war torn and oppressed areas of the world. My attitudes and opinions have been shaped by this exposure, and I’m glad for it. I stay in contact with these people, friends who cannot return to China safely as well as missionaries who live and work in China even under threat of deportation. Most people don't hear the uplifting parts of the stories, because they don't "sell well" in the mainstream news. So I am lucky in that I have the chance to hear both sides of the coin.

I don’t focus on system of government so much as the state of the people living under that government. After all, there are plenty of “democracies” in the world that are not truly democratic. And there are other forms of government where people are actually happy and well fed and able to speak freely… But you’re right - it’s the lack of knowing what is happening in these areas (Burma, North Korea, large chunks of China) that is disturbing. What was it that Doyle said through Sherlock Holmes… something like “You look at these country houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I see them, and I think of their isolation and of the impunity with which a crime may be committed” (I probably mangled that quote). A country which has nothing to hide will allow people to see them, openly and without media controls.

(more below. Stupid LJ rules about post length!)

[shanfiction73]

Another reason I try to pay attention to the areas that don’t get a lot of press is because they tend to be the places that blow up unexpectedly - afterwards people are standing there saying “who knew that Argentina was in crisis?” and people who paid attention are saying “yeah, the military dictatorship has been kidnapping people to stifle activism and control the country through a climate of terror” (Argentina and Chile circa 1982). Chechnya is kind of like that - they had their time in the news, but now they’ve been eclipsed by other bad news, so the focus is off. But it seems to be smoldering to me and it would only take a few incidents to set it off again. Uganda, Belarus and (surprisingly) Hungary are other places I am watching now… because they are instituting restrictive laws on what can and cannot be published or aired (TV or radio). Even with the advent of the internet I still worry when countries do this kind of thing. China is able to control all internet and media connection with the rest of the world, so surely Hungary can do the same.

I do think social media can create a more complete understanding of historical events. When you look at events from the past few years and compare them with events from 20 and 30 years ago you see so much more detail in what is known. I laugh when I think of that middle school assignment to interview an older relative about a major event that happened in their lifetime… soon kids will just ask their grandparents to pull up their email or look at their twitter page to figure out what happened. Honestly, I worry that the world of social media will leave us with bazillions of tweets and facebook updates that say “We R all so sad!” and “OMG! Can U believe it?” LOL. I also worry that some people are so in the moment and so focused on their tweets and status updates that they don’t pay much attention to the world around them, and rarely say anything meaningful (take ‘most any Facebook wall as an example). But the rise in online content and instant connectivity will certainly help us to know what happened when and analyze events later with more information.
Never feel bad about trolling the history aisles (says the daughter of the museum curator). It’s what makes a good historian and a good researcher. And the primary sources, the human side of history, are what make history both interesting and relevant. Being a geek is interesting. And it makes for good conversation! Thanks for replying!

ps. I’m assuming you’re GenY or later… don’t let the lack of serious action among people your age get you down… according to a lot of research I have seen, GenY to some extent and GenZ for sure are far more socially and politically active than Boomers or GenXrs ever were, more willing to volunteer, more willing to donate etc etc. So though you are not seeing open activism in your area, it is possible that there is activism going on, just more quietly or not among the people you are with.