I was sitting in my dorm last night (4/18/07) drinking a delicious Sobe: Energy and watching a little show known as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The guest that he had on was a former Iraqi Prime Minister (who's name I do not remember at this time). The final question that was asked by Jon Stewart was as he had put, "personal". The question was, to paraphrase, now grieving from the Virginia Tech shooting, how do the Iraqi people deal with these kinds of tragedies everyday on an escalated scale? Stewart's guest replied that there was no time for grieving, due to the frequency of the attacks. The former prime minister even stated how five of the appointed staff members he had selected were killed as a result of the hostility. This question was one that I, for one, had not even thought about...at all...at any time...not even once. We rightfully grieve for the Virginia Tech students, but Iraq has had to deal with this even before the invasion. Talk about blindness, at least on my part. Is this was Jose is partly getting at: The fact that we as a people, whom are a part of a global race, are so blind to the events and experiences around them, even when being able to see? Is Jose's message part "blind to current events" and "blind to shortcomings (referencing to Ross' post on the 18th)"?
To conclude this post, I had sat in my chair, listening ever so closely to the conversation (I'm sure the audience was also by the lack of sound coming from them). Raising my Sobe in respect to those who have lost their lives recently, I now am continuing my evolving understanding of our current events, or these conflicts of "Great Ideas". What do you all have to say?
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2 comments:
This “blindness” to current events is truly unacceptable. It is not a blindness that can be excused, it is not an accident, and it is pure carelessness of society. It is also not our fault, because we are young, but we learn from those who are older. As citizens of this country we have a responsibility to know what is going on in the world around us. We do not live in a little bubble where we are unaffected. We are affected, if not today we will be, somehow in the future. We need to be aware of the situations around us, and we need to take a stand either for or against them. We do not know the consequences of our governmental actions, and we cannot predict them but it is important to study them. Study what has happened in the past, and judge what could happen in the future. It is our responsibility to learn how we got there, why we are there, where we are, and what we are doing. Learn both sides, take in all the information possible, think critically about the argument presented and pick a side. Continually learn, be open to new ideas, but be aware of what is happening.
I think the biggest problem in our society now is not so much that we are unaware of the conflict around us, but that we do not take action to resolve it. There are many reasons for this, yet I think the biggest reason is just ignorance. You touched on this in your comment, Jessica, that we need to study what goes on, to understand it. But it is not enough to understand why something happens, one has to be able to process that information and use it in a solution. Just today there was an article in the BG News about a study done at a university in Massachusetts that proved many college aged people are, in fact, very aware of the politics and conflicts going on right now in this country and worldwide. I also think that as a result of their awareness now, they will continue to live the rest of their lives aware. I think that we as a society are actually becoming more educated (or at least more aware of) worldwide conflicts, but I think the persistent problem is that we do not yet know how (or want to) get involved enough in those issues to change them. I don't know if I'm convinced that Saramago was trying to hit on the fact that we are aware or just lazy. Lazy in the sense that we know what is going on but we can't/don't want to fix things. I agree that a major idea is that we take for granted many things, but I also think that an equally pertinent idea is our lack of action when it comes to said conflicts--both here and abroad.
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