things that make you go hmmm...and things that don't.

I saw the movie Hotel Rwanda the other night. It was really good. Pretty thought provoking, and emotionally wrenching. I highly recommend that you see it if you haven't - and if you haven't here's a small synopsis:

Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu hotel manager married to a Tutsis woman housed and saved over a thousand Tutsis refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda. In 1994, some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the country of Rwanda--and in an era of high-speed communication and round the clock news, the events went almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. In only three months, one million people were brutally murdered.

Sad. Very very sad.

Some people were leaving the movie mad at the UN, and at the United States and all of the "white countries" for not doing anything to help. And yes, I agree - more help should have been sent sooner, and these people should not have been overlooked due to the fact that it was a poor, 'insignificant' country. People were saying things such as - "man, seeing things like this makes me hate America because we think we're all high and mighty, and don't do anything to help those who have no significance or value to us...blah blah blah blah."

And this is, in my opinion a semi-true statement. But SEMI, is the key prefix there. To be honest, most of these people who I heard saying this are the same people who are saying that we shouldn't be in a war with Iraq right now because we're putting our troops in danger, and we have no business being over there, and they're saying "who are we to think that we can just go over there and destroy their country and 'take it over' blah blah blah." Well, to these people I say this: Think about what you are saying.

You are angered that we did nothing to help the people of Rwanda who were so helpless themselves, yet when we use force to help the Iraqi's who are being oppressed and killed by a threatening and dangerous leader, you get all pissy. Not only were we trying to save the country of Iraq, and free their people, we were trying to unarm a force that was a potential threat to the rest of the world. I just don't get it. Why is war so opposed sometimes, and then people see an atrocity like this made a little more glamorous and heroic by Hollywood (not that his real-life actions weren't heroic b/c they DEFINITELY were), and we somehow get these anti-American sentiments that we are a country that does nothing to help people. I understand that a lot of people believe that there were more alterior motives to going to war than to just plain and simple help people - and who knows - maybe there were (ok there probably were), but the fact of the matter is that we have helped liberate a people who's lives were being made miserable by a sick man named Saddam...and that is good. We as a country aren't purely monsterous. Our troops are doing good things. Our troops are saving lives. Perhaps millions. Perhaps we are stopping a movie from being made 10 years from now that tells of a monsterous Iraqi leader who slowly but surely destroyed pieces of the world.

I dunno...just some thoughts that made me go hmmmmm....

But yea, it's a really good movie. Eye opening that's for sure. It makes me wonder why we seem to never hear about these things that go on in other parts of the world. There are pages and pages and pages in the newspaper about Tiger Woods when he wins the Master's and there are weeks upon weeks of coverage of the Pope when he dies (not trying to be disrespectful here, b/c I know it's a pretty huge deal), but, seriously - a MILLION people were slaughtered and I heard nothing about it (granted I was only 11 and probably wouldn't have noticed it anyways - but you'd think I'd have learned about it in history or something). It makes me realize yet again how much control the media has. How limited my knowledge is without "credible" news sources. How much of the media is strictly political? WAY too much of it is.

Ahhh, politics. How senseless they are. I see the point in them, yet don't all at the same time. I see the benefits of it, and I see the perverseness of it all at the same time. I see the corruptness, and the flaws, and I see the heroism and the positive things it serves.

I could never be a politician. Political debates are one thing that I may discuss in a later blog. This one seems to be getting kind of long. I didn't mean for it to get all political - or to be completely about a touchy subject like war - but hey, my fingers just typed out what my brain was spittin' out.

Any comments?

On a lighter note - don't you love how you can see certain people or hangout with them or talk to them for a few minutes and just instantly get in an amazingly wonderful mood? I wonder why that is? I love it.

Oh, and if anyone works for a video game company, you should consider putting Carla and I in mortal combat video games, because tonight we put on play fights in our room and jumped from bed to bed in slow motion and stuff for a good 20 minutes, and were seriously AMAZING. Or we were really bad, but it was super funny (I seriously almost peed in my pants 3 times) and a good time was had by all.

It's been a great day...and a great night hanging out with great people (such as ALL of my roomates, yes all of them at one time, and L. Tate, and Brianne Siciliano)...and yea. Life is good. People make me smile.

Love to all.