1:25 a.m. - 2003-09-08
Civil Disobedience
I watched a special report from Iraq tonight. Alexandre (Sacha) Trudeau, the second son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, is a photojournalist. He spent a month living with an upper middle class family in Baghdad during the pre-war and invasion period of that country this past year. The piece "Embedded in Baghdad" was evocative in itself. The family members were articulate and the footage of the takeover captured the progression of their feelings and the changes to their city in a very non-emotional way. What was interesting was the number of unanswered questions it raised. That seemed to be deliberate.
For example, reference was made to the diverse faith/cultural systems living together there. The traditional battle for supremacy in that country was suppressed by Hussein's regime. Now that restraint is gone, there appears to be a swift return to intra-community hostilities that historically have been extremely violent. How is that likely to play out? There was reference to looting and, implicit in that, the extremes of wealth and poverty within the general population. Anarchy was limned on the streets by some of the photo sequences. A brief interview of Alexandre after the documentary by one of the W-Five moderators who also has been a war correspondent drew very guarded - almost cryptic, read between the lines - responses from Sacha. There seemed to be a great deal he wanted to say but dared not.
Maybe I was reading more into the documentary than was there, but the Middle East was one of the areas I specialized in while I was working as a volunteer for Amnesty International. Amnesty. The nuances of the photos, commentary, and interview may not have been understood by the average Canadian. It does require a significant understanding of the history of the region and its people.
Also, the night before I and my youngest son had watched "To Kill a Mockingbird" together. Because he is only 15, he has no direct recollection of the social and political context of the civil rights battles fought in the US earlier this century. I found myself trying to explain the unspoken (tacit) body of experience and knowledge most of the viewers it was intended for would have had. I was also flashing back to the book "Cry the Beloved Country" at the same time. I had done a comparative study of the two novels in grade eight (I think) and needed to unravel which factors were relevant to just that specific movie since the two books expressed different octaves of the same behaviour patterns. That was what I had explored in the comparison. Also, in the back of my mind, was the fact that the conditions in those two stories have not ended. We are still watching the story play out with no guarantee of an ending. I was trying to filter those thoughts and concerns out of my discussion with my son. I suspect that may have been happening with the documentary's presenters tonight.
For relief, I went to the George Carlin website George tonight. I have always enjoyed his material even though he manages to push my "buttons" from time to time too. What I like about his work is that it seems to be intended to make people examine their lifestyle decisions and choices consciously rather on the level of "well that's the way we've always done it" or "well everybody knows....." or "I've never considered the impact....". It's never comfortable to discover one's blind spots or shadow behaviour because once you see them the , as adults, it requires one to take responsibility for those behaviours. The site has links to other comedians, free MP3 downloads and comprehensive comedy website.
Once I was done there I spent time enjoying the antics of Miss Kitty and her family. Their favorite toys right now are ribbons, anything that can be rolled from marbles to golf balls to tennis balls and each other. WWF (whatever) has nothing on these little wrestlers - they're fierce little fighters. Mom's energy has returned and it's fun to watch her participate in wild games of tag and hide and seek. My Dad had given me a fairly large bird cage which also features prominently in playtime now. One baby will climb through the door, the swat at a sibling til they're enraged enough to follow the other into the cage. It becomes their arena for their battle with the other babies climbing on the outside of the cage watching, meowing their encouragement to the combatants. I guess some wild feline characteristics have not been bred out of the "civilized" family pets.
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