One more thing...this clip from Saturday TV Funhouse on Saturday Night Live is really clever. In our Anna Nicole and Britney-soaked evening newscasts, it's easy to forget what's really going on, even for those of us who are aware of it. Click on video to watch the "Divertor" clip.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/05/23.html#a3075
2.22.2007
History Repeats Itself
When I was a freshman in college, my sociology professor showed our class a documentary that explored the lives of Vietnam War vets soon after they returned home from war. I recall a panel discussion where trembling soldiers took turns describing some of the atrocities they and other soldiers committed against Vietnamese civilians, some so gruesome that they caused a wave of shudders across the lecture hall I sat in.
Despite the graphic nature of the descriptions, what I won't forget about that documentary is the listless, absent expressions on the faces of some of the soldiers, almost as if they had experienced and taken part in so much horror that there was nothing left inside of them.
I remember ... it was Spring 2003 when Professor O'Connell showed us this documentary, which, I might add, was completely unrelated to the course he was teaching.
The credits faded to black, and he stood in front of us and said, "I'm not trying to change your opinions or affect you deeply. I just want to provide you with a piece of information. Don't think about it right now, just file it away for later." He then proceeded with his regular lecture as if nothing had happened, while the 300 of us sat in stunned silence for the remainder of the hour. Less than a week later, the Iraq war, which is still raging on, had its official start.
This morning, I started my workday by reading the CNN headlines, business as usual, when I stumbled upon a story about Paul Cortez, a U.S. soldier who recently testified to raping an Iraqi girl and killing her family. All of a sudden, the information that Professor O'Connell asked me to file came racing to the front of my mind.
Reading further, I found out that Cortez is avoiding the death penalty by testifying against three other soldiers also involved in the case. As it turns out, the soldiers took turns holding 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi down while their fellow soldiers could rape her, one by one, before shooting her several times in the head and killing her family.
Allegedly, Cortez cried and showed signs of extreme grief as he described his own actions and the scene, but all I could ask myself was why and how. Why would a group of young people who are serving their country and supposedly fighting for democracy in another destroy an innocent family so heartlessly? How many cases are there like this one that we haven't heard about? Why is this useless war still going on? And why, why, why do we allow history to keep repeating itself this way, without learning from our mistakes?
My file on this subject is rapidly expanding, as you can tell. I don't really know what else to say.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/22/soldier.rape.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us
Despite the graphic nature of the descriptions, what I won't forget about that documentary is the listless, absent expressions on the faces of some of the soldiers, almost as if they had experienced and taken part in so much horror that there was nothing left inside of them.
I remember ... it was Spring 2003 when Professor O'Connell showed us this documentary, which, I might add, was completely unrelated to the course he was teaching.
The credits faded to black, and he stood in front of us and said, "I'm not trying to change your opinions or affect you deeply. I just want to provide you with a piece of information. Don't think about it right now, just file it away for later." He then proceeded with his regular lecture as if nothing had happened, while the 300 of us sat in stunned silence for the remainder of the hour. Less than a week later, the Iraq war, which is still raging on, had its official start.
This morning, I started my workday by reading the CNN headlines, business as usual, when I stumbled upon a story about Paul Cortez, a U.S. soldier who recently testified to raping an Iraqi girl and killing her family. All of a sudden, the information that Professor O'Connell asked me to file came racing to the front of my mind.
Reading further, I found out that Cortez is avoiding the death penalty by testifying against three other soldiers also involved in the case. As it turns out, the soldiers took turns holding 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi down while their fellow soldiers could rape her, one by one, before shooting her several times in the head and killing her family.
Allegedly, Cortez cried and showed signs of extreme grief as he described his own actions and the scene, but all I could ask myself was why and how. Why would a group of young people who are serving their country and supposedly fighting for democracy in another destroy an innocent family so heartlessly? How many cases are there like this one that we haven't heard about? Why is this useless war still going on? And why, why, why do we allow history to keep repeating itself this way, without learning from our mistakes?
My file on this subject is rapidly expanding, as you can tell. I don't really know what else to say.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/22/soldier.rape.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us
2.06.2007
Modern Day Gandhi? I think not.
Racial issues are, unfortunately, still, very visible in today's society, in all shapes and forms. Our current administration has fueled a new uprising of the "white power" mentality that exists in the conscious, or even subconscious, of many.
But I am hard pressed to believe that within the education system, especially in such a forward-thinking, academic area as Boston, MA, a respected professor and recipient of presitigious grants would be denied tenure because he is black.
After two hearty bowls of Chex and a two-year battle to reverse the rejection of his tenure bid, James Sherley, a stem cell researcher at MIT, began a hunger strike yesterday outside the provost's office. While the administration cited outside reasons for the rejection, flat-out denied that the decision was racially motivated, and explained that less than half of junior faculty at MIT have their tenure bids accepted, Sherley is convinced that his continuing status as a junior faculty member has something to do with his skin color.
Now, as much as I respect the guy for the revolutionary work he's done and for his conviction, I am disinclined to believe that race plays a role in this case. However, someone who garners so much respect for his professional work would not normally draw such intimate attention to himself without some sort of motivation. In any case, this whole situation made me very curious, and I'll be sure to follow up when I learn more.
Here's the CNN link.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/02/06/professor.hunger.strike.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us
But I am hard pressed to believe that within the education system, especially in such a forward-thinking, academic area as Boston, MA, a respected professor and recipient of presitigious grants would be denied tenure because he is black.
After two hearty bowls of Chex and a two-year battle to reverse the rejection of his tenure bid, James Sherley, a stem cell researcher at MIT, began a hunger strike yesterday outside the provost's office. While the administration cited outside reasons for the rejection, flat-out denied that the decision was racially motivated, and explained that less than half of junior faculty at MIT have their tenure bids accepted, Sherley is convinced that his continuing status as a junior faculty member has something to do with his skin color.
Now, as much as I respect the guy for the revolutionary work he's done and for his conviction, I am disinclined to believe that race plays a role in this case. However, someone who garners so much respect for his professional work would not normally draw such intimate attention to himself without some sort of motivation. In any case, this whole situation made me very curious, and I'll be sure to follow up when I learn more.
Here's the CNN link.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/02/06/professor.hunger.strike.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us
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