Hotel Rwanda: The kind of Movie that Could Change the World

The film, based on a true story, tells the story of the devastating event in recent world history, one that not enough people knew about--the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The movie details the long-simmering war between the ruling Hutu tribe and Tutsi rebels turned into civil war. The war where 1 million Rwandans, the majority of them women and children, were massacred within one single summer. Almost as incomprehensible as the killings, the film points out, was the lack of world intervention. This message made me think about the power of mass communication, but moreover, the power of a lack of mass communication, and what can happen when an event or circumstance is properly communicated to the world with the priority that it should have.

The focus of the movie is an ordinary man, a hardworking hotel employee named Paul Rusesabagina (Cheadle), an man with no political affiliations, who summoned the courage to shelter more than 1,000 people as the slaughter summereged their world. A Hutu married to a Tutsi, Rusesabagina took in people of both tribes. (Rusesabagina, who is now living in Belgium with his family, was a consultant for the film.)

Just for some background real quick--up until the mid 1900's Rwanda was a colony of Belgium (a colony that was awarded to them after the WWI from Germany as reparations). Belguim actually created the superficial division between the Hutu (people who have more Affrican faetures), and the Tutsis' (who have more "white" features, such as having lighter skin, thinner noses, etc.). The government before the civil war was Hutu, and after, Tutsi.

The film heartbreaking captures the lack of international involvement. It makes you truly think about the power the media has and how they decide to use it. In fact, very few people know that we actually had troops (UN & American) there the entire time, but since they had no orders, they just stood and watched as an entire group of people were massacred. How could this have been allowed to happen? What went wrong? Why didn't we intervene? Well, there are a lot of possible answers to these questions, and I would love to hear some of your thoughts on it?

Three Top TV Shows of all time...

In class we discussed such shows as MASH, All in the Family, The West Wing, and Roots as being among the most important shows of all time. Well, if they are, then I am in desperate need of catching up on some good old fashion TV time, because I have NEVER seen any of these programs.(And by the looks of some of some of my classmate's blogs, neither have a lot of them). Therefore, it is a little hard to say what were the best of all time, because I wasn't around to witness or even see the shows or direct/indirect effects that older shows have had on society. So perhaps a better question to ask is what are the three top TV shows of all time as it relates to the my generation (age groups 18 to late 20's). If addressed from this standpoint, then I would have to say that the three greatest TV shows of all time (at least of my time) would have to be...

1.) FRIENDS
Ok, sure, you might not think that Friends is or was an important show. But let me ask you this...isn't one of the most watched and popular shows of all time
important? I mean who didn't come home after school and watch reruns of friends, or know what someone was talking about when they said the words "Phebe" or "Monica"?
The show entertained an entire nation, world, and influenced an entire generation. A show that has that much viewership and popularity carries a lot of power. Besides, one could always make the argument that from even a pure entertainment standpoint Friends was a very important show in that satisfied one of our cultures basic needs--to be entertained.

2.)Simpson's
It's only natural that the longest running and most popular cartoon series should be on the list of most important TV shows. There obviously must be something to the show--its been around for over 13 years! In addition to its popularity, the show also showcases some serious problems in our society through the use of sarcasm. It
provides a comfortable forum to speak about prominent cultural and global problems. It often holds a mirror up to our society, and showcases through humor, the ugly truths.

3.) Buffy the Vampire Slayer/ Xena the Warrior Princess
Ok, so my last one is really a tie. I have chosen these two shows because they were some of the most influential shows of our time in terms of displaying feminine heroines.
They displayed that not only are women/girls beautiful and smart, but that they are also strong and capable. They broke grounds in terms of how our culture defines "femininity".
In addition, they helped to provide young girls with positive role models helped and entire generation place a female face on the traditional "hero".

Howard Stern...Love Him or Hate Him!

Howard Stern...you either love him or you REALLY REALLY hate him! Can you guess which side of the fence I fall on? However, my personal feelings aside, I can not deny that he has helped to shape radio as a mass communication and in part, has aided in the evolution of radio jocks. Before Howard, there had never been someone so blatantly pushing the envelope as far as the "rules" of what is appropriate or inappropriate for radio communications. It is because of his blind "courage" if you will, that his name is a household name known by nearly everyone!

So why is his popularity so speedily dwindling? Why didn't his followers ACTUALLY follow him to satellite radio? Well there are actually a couple of good reasons:




1.) People are LAZY by nature, especially Americans: No one want to have to switch their daily routine around to listen to Howard Stern! Howard is, at best, someone you listen to for a quick laugh, or a cheap joke. And is it no big surprise that no one followed him, because there is such an abundance of radio jocks that can provide the extract same cheap jokes and quick laughs without having to go through the trouble of switching to satellite radio.

2.) Everyone only take so much of him!: Howard Stern is not a personality that can be taken in big doses, and in fact, it could be argued that it might even be detrimental to a listener's health to listen such crap everyday! In addition, he is the type of personality that once the novelty wears off, whats really left? Not much!



3.) Too much of an inconvenience: Somewhere between finding out what satellite radio is, how to get it, operate it, finance it, and then install it...continuing to listen to Howard Stern doesn't seem to have the appeal it once did.

So whats going to happen to Howard Stern? Honestly, I don't know, and if anyone did know...well, then he wouldn't be Howard Stern! Somehow, I think he will pull through this, reinvent himself again, and find yet another way to shock us!

A Look at Spiritual love in A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

Shakespeare once said, “ Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.” This statement that true love is between two minds, or spirits, not bodies, is in congruence with John Donne’s poem, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning. Donne uses similes to convey the message that true love is spiritual love that transcends the mere physical world, and therefore, is not affected by distance. Donne invokes the nature of spiritual love to discourage “tear floods” and “sigh-tempests” that are usually associated with departures from loved ones. All of Donne’s comparisons and exaggerations delineate the idea that genuine love is on a spiritual plane separate from the earthly, carnal desires of mankind.

Donne uses many similes to convey this theme. For example, Donne states, “Though I must go, endure not yet/ A breach, but an expansion, / Like gold to an airy thinness beat”.This simile is comparing Donne’s separation from his lover to gold. Gold, which also represents purity and perfection, is used here to illustrate how their souls, which will be separated physically, but, like gold when stretched, will not really be separated because their spiritual love keeps them connected at all times. Donne also states, “ Such wilt thou be to me, who must, / Like the other foot, obliquely run;/ Thy firmness makes my circle just”. This simile compares his lover to the foot of a compass. This illustrates a picture that basically demonstrates that by her being true to him, it keeps him true to her because as long as she doesn’t falter his circle can’t falter either.

This is a prevalent theme in numerous poems, novels, and movies from all time periods. For example, Shakespeare wrote about “the marriage of true minds, as well as more modern authors such as Anne Rice in The Tale of the body Theft, where she writes about a man who switches bodies with a female, but those who truly loved him previously were unaffected by the change because their love transcends the physical. In summary, the theme of the poem is very universal and is something that everyone in some way can relate to.

So what do you think...does true love transcend physical appearance? Or does it only happen in poems?

Patriotism--Arrogance at its Worst as seen in Achebe's Things Fall Apart

George Bernard Shaw once stated: “Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it”. Patriotism—has there ever been a more deadly assassin, a more successful killer? How many lives have been claimed in the name of patriotism? Almost every war that has ever been fought in the history of mankind has had countless soldiers that have given up their very lives in the name of this so called “patriotism”; patriotism for their country, for their leader, for their people, for their culture, for their way of life. The very idea that they are fighting people that are fighting for the very same reason seems at the tip of iceberg deeply ironic, but once submerged under the sea level the irony disappears and is replaced by a profound sorrow and sadness. The realization that throughout all of known history the human race has been plagued by this brainless notion of “patriotism” and as a direct result has massacred entire groups of people, lost countless lives, and all in the name of something, that when you get right down to it, the other side is fighting for as well. In fact, the only things really separating the two sides engaged in combat are lines that are arbitrary and ambiguous at best. This raw truth of “patriotism” parallels one of the prevailing themes in Chinua Achebe’s novel Things fall apart in which Achebe demonstrates the utter arrogance and deadliness that this notion of “patriotism” can lead to, and indeed how capricious and arbitrary the lines are that are drawn to separate one “patriotic” group from another.

Patriotism—is it really such a noble ideal? Should anyone be proud to be a “patriot”, especially considering the thousands of years of bloodshed that lay behind that word? The character dynamics portrayed in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and the prevalent theme of how patriotism can lead to arrogance, and arrogance of arbitrary issues no less, issues such as the practices and ideologies that one is born into, and how the dynamics of power and control rapidly come into play, demonstrates the fragility of human nature and its ability to be easily swayed by matters that if even the surface is scratched in the slightest way—the foolishness and inanity shine through with the utmost of clarity. Patriotism—the pathway to war, oppression, and injustice.