I mentioned it before, but I was in talks with a copy editor to shadow him for a day (thanks to my journalism prof, mr. G). Well, it's finally gonna go through now! I'm excited. I get to even talk to the lady that's in charge of internships at the Union Tribune, which would be even cooler to do over the summer :) (and if any of you don't know, the Union Tribune is the biggest newspaper in San Diego, that's why I am excited).
Besides all my excitement, there is something else that happened yesterday that was indeed very very serious.
I watched a video yesterday called "Invisible Children." It's a documentary made by students who traveled to Africa (namely Uganda) and filmed some truly disturbing footage.
Basically, there's been this 17-year war that's been going on in the country--a war between rebel forces and the government. But these rebel forces are not forces that "protect the people." No, they are far sinister and darker than that. They claim to have been possessed by a spirit, and think it is a holy right of sorts to overthrow the government.
Here's the DISTURBING part: It's hard for them to convince other adults to join their forces (since it's so ludacris), so they are abducting children, ages 5-12 and forcing them into their troops. They give them guns, brainwash them, train them to kill, threaten them with their lives if they don't listen, and send them off to shoot as many people as possible. THESE ARE CHILDREN!!!!!!!!! And because of all the abductions, many children are leaving their homes in rural areas (and their parents) and living homeless in the cities. It's the only way for them to avoid abductions. These are MILLIONS of children. I'm not exaggerating. This utterly horrified me. And WHY has this not been covered before??? Why have we not heard about this tragedy in America?
Do we only go to fight countries that are performing social evils if we have some economic tie with them (i.e. oil)??? People tell me that we stepped into Iraq because we are the watchodogs of the world...it is our "duty." So why are we not in Africa??
I couldn't help but watch that movie and feel like a stupid, selfish, materialistic American. And we are many times.
If you're interested, read up on it.
we need to talk more about this...
ReplyDeletei watched that movie last year.
ReplyDeletethe filmmakers are frm sandiego.
did u not tell u about it michelle?
Congrats on the shadow work.
ReplyDeleteIt is true: we are the high priced watchdogs that only watch our invested interest. We have no place in the Middle East, and we never have. I have always strongly believed this. How asinine is it (even in California) for us to have so many Republican-minded people, simply because it seems the popular thing to do? Laziness and fear define us, and it upsets me that there are so many morons (and when I say moron, I don't think they are stupid; their lazy, self-centered idolatry of Bush and his minions qualify someone as a moron, in my book) that we have a hard time just getting our points across.
I think it's very interesting that you wrote "ludacris" (that made me laugh for a second).
oh yeah, sonya...I heard one say he went to Poway, haha
ReplyDelete