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This week in our ASTU class we started watching the Oscar nominated picture American Sniper directed by Clint Eastwood; the movie follows the real-life story of American SEAL Chris Kyle and his experience in Iraq. I have never seen the movie before, and I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it yet. On the one hand, I feel that it is important to recognize the sacrifice many soldiers make to fight for their country and this movie serves as a representation for them and their stories. On the other, I feel as though American Sniper disregards the politics of the US invasion in the Middle East by ignoring the “other side of the story”.

Sniper represents the trauma and hardships many soldiers who have gone into combat have had to deal with. While many have criticized the movie for glorifying a sniper – who is often called a coward for hiding in the shadows rather than being at the fore front – I feel that it is important to acknowledge that the things they did and what they went through can cause the same emotional and mental trauma as any other soldier. Even if I don’t condone war, I understand that these men and women fought to protect their country and their losses should not be disregarded because of that.

My issue with American Sniper is that the film really only tells one side of the story. It blatantly ignores the politics of 9/11 and the US invasion of Iraq. I remembered hearing on Entertainment Tonight of critics praising the film for focusing on the individual rather than the politics of it all. Which seemed really odd to me, because how can you tell a story of mass-bloodshed without it being political? After watching the first hour, I started to understand what they were referring to. Especially when one moment you’re watching Kyle and his wife reaction to the horrifying footage of the 9/11 attacks, then the next Kyle is being deployed to Iraq. There’s absolutely no reference to the politics behind it, simply that it happened, and now they were off to fight the “enemies”.  The lack of the political aspect contributes to creating America’s blanket narrative. They completely disregard the other side of the story and only focus on that of Chris Kyle, who is painted as a war hero. I was rather uncomfortable with a lot of the scenes where militants were invading people’s homes and shoving them to the ground while they point guns at their heads.

American Sniper plays a huge role into the topic of “us versus them”. I found that it really villainizes Middle Easterns, which has fueled the divide between the two nations for a long time now. It is through movies like these that promote xenophobia and islamophobia. They tell you who the villains are, and encourage us to demonize them. While I haven’t finished the movie yet, I feel that Eastwood’s transformation of the Iraq war into an almost PG rated production could have better reflected the politics of the war rather than glorifying a single individual and his troubles.

As we know, the 89^th annual Oscar awards just passed this Sunday, and while it was a great year for people of colour (POCs) – such as Viola Davis winning the award for Best Supporting Actress, and Moonlight for winning Best Picture – it also served as a political platform for POCs to voice their thoughts and sentiments. Iranian Director Asghar Farhadi, who won the Best Foreign Language Film for The Salesman – had a written message read by a colleague expressing how the US travel ban disrespects his people. His statement became the center piece for an episode of a republican’s web-show. Host Tomi Lahren became incredibly racist when voicing her opinion about the director’s speech, causing Hasan Piker – host of The Breakdown – to create a video in response. Piker essentially tears apart Lahren’s argument, and while incredibly entertaining, he makes a point that ties in nicely to what I have been discussing in my recent blog posts. Piker states, “I guess the irony is not lost on our more educated viewers who are aware the US government played in overthrowing the democratically elected government of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosadden in 1953, spurring decades of fervent anti-US sentiment,” (1:45).

I had stated in a previous post that I believed that the US needed to consider their actions in the past and how they might have affected what is going on in the world today. This is a primary example of how US foreign policy has participated in less than ideal relations with the Middle East. Piker makes the argument that US foreign policy tends to relatively follow this pattern: The US meddles in the Middle Eastern affairs, disrupting the status quo à this then fuels anti-American sentiment and creates tension between the two nations (that often result in the bombing/attack of sorts) à when Middle Eastern citizens try to escape these conditions, THEY are labeled as the terrorists.

Listening to Lahren speak was honestly quite painful; she was extremely uneducated (or simply ignorant) about the darker aspects of American history. She fails to acknowledge how the US involvement has caused such a massive divide between the Middle East and the States. This video articulates a point that I have been making throughout the past couple of posts: the US can no longer stand on its high horse and ignore the problems they have essentially started. While I do not blame the US for the attacks on 9/11, nor do I think it was deserved, I do believe that their past actions have caused this anti-American sentiment, which had contributed to the reasons for the attack.

If anyone is interested in watching Piker’s episode of The Breakdown I have linked the video down below. Thanks for reading

https://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks/videos/10154423332834205/?hc_ref=SEARCH

This week’s post is a continuation of what I had talked about in my last post. After reading a Chapter out of Judith Butler’s book “Frame of War: When is life Grievable,” I found information that I believe supports what I
was previously trying to articulate.

I had previously expressed how I was bothered by how, following the attacks on September 11^th, we indirectly placed value on certain lives and not others. I found that Butler communicates what I was trying to say really well when she proclaims that “We […] think of war as dividing populations into those who are grievable and those who are not. An ungrievable life is one that cannot be mourned because it has never lived, that is, it has never counted as a life at all,” (Butler 38). She continues by acknowledging the immense public grieving dedicated to US nationals in comparison to the lack of “public grieving for non-US nationals, and none at all for illegal workers,” (Butler 38).

I’ve come to realize that people don’t always like to look at the whole story, we see parts of it and accept that as the truth. I think it’s important to consider Butler’s argument when reflecting upon 9/11. Although Butler only addresses illegal immigrants and non US-nationals in the passage stated above, her statement still applies to how we think about those in the Middle East, and other foreign war torn countries. During times of war, we tend to pick sides, and by default, we often dehumanize “the enemy”. This is demonstrated in how we choose who is commem
orated and who is not, who we choose to remember and who we justify as a “consequence of war”.

This idea of dehumanization is present in many of the books we have read in our ASTU class, such as Obasan, Safe Area Gorazde, and The Reluctant Fundamentalist. However, I felt that it was the most prevalent in Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco. The journalistic comic book describes the authors time in Bosnia from 1994 – 1995, following the Bosnian war. The book consists of Sacco’s personal experiences and conversations with Bosnians about their time during the war. There was one chapter titled “Can You Live with Serbs Again,” where a handful of Bosnians answer th
at very question. In many of their answers, they dehumanize and villainize Serbians because of the acts that have been committed in the name of war. Although it can be justified, we can see how Safe Area Gorazde advocates Butler’s argument that in times of there is an evident divide. Through Sacco’s lens, the lives of the Bosnians were put at the forefront of the novel, it was their lives that were commemorated, rather than the Serbian lives lost, who were “the bad guys”.

It is important to consider Judith Butler’s ideas when analyzing times of war. We can see in both the events of 9/11 and the Bosnian War that the side you are on determines whether or not you will commemorated.

Hey everyone!

The most recent novel we’ve been reading in our ASTU class is The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid revolves around a young Pakistani man’s journey to the United States and his life before and after the events of 9/11. If you hadn’t guessed already, this means that we’ve been frequently discussing our thoughts and opinions on the events that unfolded that day, and today, I’m going to share them with you.

I’ve never been saddened by the events of 9/11. I know how that may sound. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t personally affected, that I had connection to anyone that died that day. I’ve never even been to New York. Don’t get me wrong, I do understand that the planes that crashed into the twin towers and the pentagon were tragedies, and I understand that these events are upsetting and heartbreaking to many, but I honestly don’t feel the slightest bit of sadness when thinking about it. If I’m being frank with you, it honestly makes me a bit angry, and not because a terrorist group had the nerve to launch an attack on American soil.

My issue with 9/11 is how a terror attack on US soil brings more attention than one in Afghanistan (or anywhere in developing countries) might cause. We will always remember September 11^th, because it is something that people put great effort into never forgetting. Yet, we hear about, for example, a school that was bombed in Syria in October 2016, and then a few weeks later we forget it even happened. It honestly boggles my mind how we indirectly value certain people’s lives over the lives of others. We feel the need that these people’s stories need to be told, but those living in the Global South might get as much as an article in an online newspaper, or a quick update on the news ticker. But who are we to place this value? Why do we get to choose who and who doesn’t get remembered? I heard the argument that it was “because that is a part of their reality and not ours”, but how does one even use that as an excuse to justify the horrors these people have to endure (I feel the need to place emphasis on the word people, because it seems that many tend to forget that they are people). It’s not to say I don’t think the lives taken on September 11^th shouldn’t be commemorated, but I firmly believe we need to start paying attention to tragedies that are not always based in Western countries.

I read this post on Facebook, from the page Humans of New York, and yes while it is harsh, the man makes some valid points in my opinion. America believed that they invincible, that they could do things without any repercussions. 9/11 served as a wake-up call.

I figured this might not be what people want to read and I hope I don’t get any death threats like the man quoted on Humans of New York, but I wasn’t able to sit back and bite my tongue. I could barely empathize with it, let alone try to come up with a story about how “sad” I think it is. I am sorry that people died that day, but like Isaac Newtown said “every action has an equal and opposite reaction”. I think America needs to consider their actions, when reflecting on September 11^th.

It is with a heavy heart that I write this post. This week in our ASTU class we began to discuss the novel Obasan, written by Joy Kogawa. Told from the perspective of a child, similarly to Persepolis, the story surrounds the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War, and the aftermath of that trauma. The conversation surrounding this novel has sparked a larger conversation concerning racism, and the relevance of Obasan in present day, especially due to the outcome of the US presidential elections.

Being the class blogger last week, I noticed that many of my classmates discussed the darker aspects of their culture’s history. Similarly, this novel draws light to another blemish on that of Canada’s. For those of you who don’t know, after a surprise attack orchestrated by the Japanese on Pearl Harbour — a US naval base located just off the coast of Hawaii —  there was an extreme influx in xenophobia directed at Japanese Canadians. It was significantly higher on the West Coast, so much so that the government decided to send them to internment camps.

In light of recent events, I am genuinely scared for the future of people of colour. Since the debut of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, there has been an outbreak of racism all across the United States and even in Vancouver, Canada — where I reside. People have shared their experiences, and it has honestly been horrific. I have never seen so much hatred and fear amongst a population. The fact that Trump was able to base his entire campaign on pure racism and misogyny, and that America LOVED it, will forever astound me. When discussing Obasan in the past couple classes, I could only think about how there was a genuine potential for this to happen again, only this time it would most likely be Muslims.

I can only say that I hope that we have learned from our ancestors mistakes, and that we will not repeat the events that occurred following the Second World War.

A post a girl on Facebook had written about her experience with racism after the Trump election.

Stay safe everyone!

Hey guys!

I hope you’ve all began to situate yourselves in your new year at UBC. For many of you, this is your first year, which means this is all brand new. Hopefully by now, you’ve been able to make some new friends, and identify yourselves with a social group, because this will help you relate to what I’ll be discussing today; the topic of identity. Recently, in our ASTU class, we have finished reading Running in the Family, a memoir, in some sense, by Michael Ondaatje. However, the novel is better classified as a historiographical metafiction. The story follows Ondaatje’s journey back to Sri Lanka to help him discover the truth about his father, thus aiding him in resolving his identity crisis. Although not everyone can relate to Ondaatje’s epic adventure, I believe we can all relate to the idea of identity.

When I was started high school, I felt a little out of place. Not that I didn’t have friends or anything like that, but I wasn’t entirely sure where I fit in and I think this was because I wasn’t fully sure of who I was. Unlike Ondaatje, I did not have a sizable part of my life missing from me, that I felt I needed in order to accurately understand who I was. However, I was not aware of what my morals truly were or what I genuinely liked and disliked, all contributing to the gut wrenching feeling that I did not know who I truly was. Throughout the first couple years, I did some things I am not entirely proud of, that I am not comfortable disclosing on the internet, but I did these things because either my friends did it or I felt that by doing it, people would like me. By the end of ninth grade, I felt that the person who I pretended to be was completely disconnected from the person I truly was.

In grade 10, I ended up going to a different school to participate in a year long outdoor education program. After sort of escaping the environment I had been in for the past two years, I was able to sort of locate my bearings. I found friends that I felt I could truly be myself around and I slowly developed into the person I felt I was. I think many other people “found themselves” that year, because when I returned to my high school after that year, the atmosphere was much calmer than it had been the previous years. In a similar sense, Ondaatje needed to escape his current environment in order to uncover aspects of himself he had yet to discover.

You hear it all the time that high school is when you “discover who you really are” and from many of the people I’ve talked to, it seems to be true. It takes some time, and you make some mistakes along the way, but I found it was from those we were able to learn of our values, which helps us establish the type of person we want to be.

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