:: Youth & Eternity ::
America the beautiful.
[2004-05-02 @ 4:05 p.m.]

Okay, you know what? I know I should be studying or spending time with my family or something like that, but I feel that if I don't rant about a few things that my head will implode, and then my computer room will become very messy.

First off: I hate the Virginian newspaper. I read it every day, and every day I'm sorely disappointed in the movie reviews. But this time the reviewer went too far (I'm not being wholly superficial, I'm moving into a heavier range of topics in a minute) with his review of Eternal Sunshine. Yes, I understand that I am a biased fan of Elijah Wood, but even if you took him out and replaced him with Hugh Grant, the movie would be wonderful. And do you know why? Charlie Kauffman is a genius. But this reviewer had the gall to call Kauffman a "hack writer trying to sell a gimmick as a script." Then he said that Kauffman was "hurried" and depended on the crutches of "narration" and "amnesia". Excuse me? But the entire movie was based on a carefully constructed idea from a card that read something along the lines of, "Happy Birthday. If I had you erased from my memory, would you still want to know me?" (that's not a direct quote). Kauffman took a long time looking at the many facets of human memory, and, yes, it was about amnesia, but it made it new, it made new ideas about how humans recall things, about how humans fill in gaps in memories with what they want to believe, and how very precious memories are. It was no hack script. Then he proceeded to undermine other Kauffman screenplays, among them Being John Malcovich. You know what? I'm no great shake with films, I'm not pretending to know everything about them, but I do know something, I do consider myself informed. So I wrote, "You may have had previous complaints about the movie review section of the Daily Break (written by Mal Vincent)-- at least you should have. I read the Daily Break to find that the acclaimed hit Charlie Kauffman screenplay, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" was given only two stars, and proceeded to read about how the impressive screenwriter was merely a "hack trying to sell a gimmick as a script" depending on the "crutch" of amnesia. The movie�s plot was refreshing and different, and did not depend on but provide new angles on amnesia. Not only that, but the performances and downplayed effects combined with masterful cinematography all spawn a four-star film. Considering that this was not the first review of bad taste I have read in this paper, I believe that a new aspect on current films is needed, one of taste and knowledge of good films, one that will not rate Scooby Doo 2 higher than a Charlie Kauffman screenplay. Perhaps the 757 can be extended so teens, such as myself, can give more opinions, and teens that are interested in film, such as myself, can produce real reviews instead of the existing hack writers."

I'm so sick and tired of people making ignorant statements for attention.

Case in point: there's a lot of anti-American sentiments firing around right now. But a lot of what I'm reading is sheer ignorance. I'm so angry about the hasty generalizations, the uninformed stereotypes about Americans that I'm shaking all over. I've voiced my opinion to someone already, and now you get to hear my opinion, too.

I am an American. I'm proud. Do you know why? Because America's a great country. America's not perfect, I'm not pretending that it is. I don't think I've ever met another American that considers America to be so, either. But, for some reason beyond my comprehension, nearly everyone outside of my country thinks that all Americans are pretentious and flat out stupid, believing their country to be the best of the best without a doubt. I've also heard accusations that Americans are merely money-hungry, cut-throat, maniacal people without ideals or care for other countries in need. First off, if America is so bad, why does everyone look to us to help out with other countries' problems? Hunger in the third world? Well, why isn't America helping? Umm, HELLO, we are helping. We're millions of billions of trillions of dollars in debt because we're feeding starving countries. There are people starving in our streets, but we're feeding other people. There's such a bad recession that there's been suspicions that this country is going to fall into another Great Depression, but we're still using money to feed other countries. And instead of raising taxes to pay off the national debt only to fuel the domestic lack of money, George Bush is lowering them so that people in America can have money to afford bread every night. To claim that Americans are money-grubbing is absolutely asinine! And, not to switch topics, need I remind you that the Jews were called the same thing before the Holocaust?

And genocide is the driving factor behind this war. I've been collecting information here. The Kurds are a group of people that were divided into different Middle Eastern countries, Iraq being one of them. In case you don't know, "genocide" is a mass killing of a certain type of people based on race, creed, or other ethnic division. In 1988, while Iraq was 9 years under Saddam's rule, "Anfal" began, the genocide of the Kurdish race. I've seen thousands of shallow graves, each one stock of dozens of Kurds, all shot in the forehead. Kurdish women (even ten or younger) were raped and killed by Saddam's followers, even his own sons. Entire Kurdish villages were wiped out by mustard gas, homes were looted, Kurdish civilians were kept in "protected areas" (like concentration camps) by Iraqi soldiers. No one protested. Everyone was afraid.

Saddam's rise to power was not unlike Hitler's. He was actually raised by a Nazi-supporter ex-government official uncle. When Saddam began government work, himself, he worked under his cousin, al-Bakr. Eventually he convinced his cousin to resign as Iraq's leader, and began a campaign for himself, headlining an Iraqi cleansing of any "Communists", or anyone against his rule. On July 22, 1979, at a Revolutionary Comman Council, he read off names of his "Enemy of State List", a list of people that needed to be executed in 21 hours. Many of the men at the council were on the list. 1.5 MILLION innocent Iraqis were killed, 15,000 of them were Kurds. And still more are being found raped, forced from their homes, and left for dead. Disease was rampant, and starvation was wide-spread for the entire country, and for a period of time, Saddam covered the truth behind euphemisms and propaganda, and America (along with other countries like Britain) remained its ally.

Until a few years ago, everyone was oblivious to what was going on. And when America was attacked by a neighbour of Iraq, by the Al Queda group in Afghanistan, on 9-11, the world was at a stand-still. America is the most influential country in the world, you can't argue it. We sent soldiers to Afghanistan in pride, out of nationalism, and while we were in the Middle East, we heard rumors of a different terrorist campaign in Iraq, completely unrelated to the 9-11 attacks, that Saddam was building weapons of mass destruction. Out of fear for our own country, because of the bruises left by Al Queda, we wisely acted as quickly as we could, aided by Canada, England, and other countries besides. There were bio-weapons found, including a portion of small-pox (that fact was quickly taken from circulation to quell well-founded American fears) given to Saddam by Russia, supposedly. Larger weapons were being built, but none were found finished. Nothing on the atomic level. But the things that were found were under the floors of schools, of houses, jeopardizing the lives of the innocent. What would have happened if the Coalition waited?

Then we found him, December 14th, 2003, we found him like a drowned rat in a hole, in a hut in a civilian area, because if he's gonna be bombed, he might as well take the innocent with him. For awhile, that old American pride swelled again, for awhile even his biggest critics (the Americans) loved Bush again. But then he said that we couldn't withdraw from Iraq. Do you know why? Because Saddam's followers are still there. Because until they're exterminated, they'll rebuild his bloody regime as soon as we leave.

This war isn't based on money. It can't be, because America's losing it all. This war isn't based on oil, we've got enough in Alaska to keep us well-powered for decades. This war isn't about us, it's about Iraq. Before you Bush-bash, learn the TRUTH about why not only Bush, but Tony Blair and Paul Martin and John Howard, support the Coalition and support American interference in Iraq. I've read a lot of arguments, but none are based on truth. And all statements out of ignorance become stupidity.

How 'bout this? How about instead of hating people you SHOULDN'T, you support the soldiers despite your views, and hope they all come back safe? Because, like it or not, soldiers are dying for a cause, and they need support.

That's why I'm an American. That's why I'm proud. I hope you feel better informed by my deduction, because I did a lot of research for you. Unlike some people have.

Ignorance must be bliss, a lot of you suffer from it and don't seem to care.

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one thousand embraces

SILENCE, TRAITOR! - 2006-05-10
Irish History - 2006-05-02
Goodbye Bio! - 2006-05-01
DANCE, WATER! DANCE! - 2006-04-26
Gaaaaaah. - 2006-04-24

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