20th Century World History

IRAQ OPINION ASSIGNMENT

Although the Iraq war was “supposed” to help Iraq, it put Iraq in a much worst situation than how it was to begin with. Right now, not even experts are able to arrive to an agreement about what should be done about this crisis. All options are very complex and obviously no option will solve the problem completely, yet, in my opinion the best option would be to replace US troops for UN peacekeeping troops. I think this because Iraqis are very angry at the US and 80% of them don’t want them to be there, but pacifying UN troops would just help to stabilize the country and increase peace.

 

Yet, in order for this to be successfull, the country should be divided into three different states. In this way, the groups would stop fighting to achieve the power of the country and would be “ruled” by someone who had the same ideals. Obviously violence between these rival groups won’t end immediately or completely, but at least it will decrease and stability will increase. Iraq always had these divisions, but the British put them toghether and “forced them” to get along. Almost 99% of Kurds want to be independent, the country is basically already divided, officially dividing it into 3 states is just an opportunity to make it right and end the violence.

 

The U.S. has been in Iraq for 5 years and the situation just gets worst, its time to try something new that will take away reasons for the groups to fight between them since they’ll have the control they want, and also make Middle Easter countries send less troops and arms since there is nothing to fight for any more.

 

IRAQ BLOGS

I chose two blogs, the one called Baghdad Burning- Bloggers without borders, and another one called hails of wrath.

The first one is about a family which immigrated to Syria because of the bad conditions in Iraq, it explains all the different things they have to do in order to have the visa and legally be there, it explains the feeling of being refugees and feeling not welcome in any country (especially your own), and what was most impressing for me is when the author said: “Syria is a beautiful country- at least I think it is. I say “I think” because while I perceive it to be beautiful, I sometimes wonder if I mistake safety, security and normalcy for ‘beauty’.”. I felt bad to think that these people find it beatiful just because of these things and because their country of origin lacked all of these characteristics, and also because we dont even value it these things at all. 

I think it is a somewhat reliable source, although maybe the author isn’t as educated and is not able to see both viewpoints. therefore although i think its somewhat reliable and that hes saying the truth, i think it has a great biase since he has first person accounts and has been caught up in this war, and therefore cannot look at it objectively. Also, another thing that made me see the biase was when he said at the end:”I cried that night because for the first time in a long time, so far away from home, I felt the unity that had been stolen from us in 2003.” I feel that although this helps us see another viewpoint and introduces the idea that there IS a certain unity, he isnt taking into account all the other problems between the groups that were already there BEFORE 2003. He is saying the unity was stolen from them and it doesnt seem to be the right verb to describe it. 

 

The other blog entry I chose was called hails of wrath, and it talks about the soldiers and the violence that has been occuring. It talks about people being killed just for having darker skin, and many other atrocities. 

I think it is reliable since all the informations is pretty objective and it just seems to be facts of things that have happened. But of course, it has a lot of bias since it is an iraqi that wrote this and therefore while it talks about all the iraqis being killed it doesnt talk about american soldiers being killed, or iraqi militias. and when it talks about Sadam Husseins lawyer being killed, it doesnt talk about all the horrible things Sadam did, and therefore all the horrible things this lawyer defended. But leaving this apart, I think it doesn’t have that much bias because it is true that Iraqis are the victims in this situation, to a certain extent. It simply has the bias that any writing of this characteristics would always have. 

 

 

 

Genocide

I think Genocide is something that hopefully will decrease in amount and happen at a lower scale through time, but I don’t think that it will ever stop happening completely. I think this will continue happening in some part of the world even if there are very few people killed, and probably, we won’t even find out. I think this will always be an issue because we can’t expect for cruelty to disappear completely, and we can’t hope for ideal governments either. I think it is a human instinct to take advantage of those who are weaker, at least in some humans; and therefore weaker groups of people will continue to be blamed for problems they didn’t create, and those people will be attempted to ” be exterminated” by those who see themselves as superior.  I would like to believe that this will stop happening some day, and that violence won’t be an issue; but I simply think it is impossible that humans can change so much, i dont think its possible that in the future, all of those who are cruel enough to commit these types of crimes and all those in power which allow them to happen, will be replaced by ideal and good persons. 

 

 

 

 

 

Holocaust Movie

I watched the movie: Life is Beautiful.  This movie takes place during the Holocaust, and is a mix of tragedy (because of the topic) and comedy (because of the great acting, script and direction). The first half of the movie, spectators watch Guido try to make Dora (a school teacher engaged to a Fascist official) fall for him. Finally, Guido and Dora get married and have a boy: Joshua. But when Joshua is about five years old, the whole family is sent to a Nazi Concentration Camp. In order to protect Joshua and keep him from suffering, Guido does a huge effort to hide his feelings and pretends that it is all just a game in which whoever gains 1000 points first will win a big military tank. This is a touching comedy and the story of a man who sacrificed everything to save his family, The result is a movie which will make you cry for the unfairness of the situation, smile for its sweetness and beauty, and laugh despite the serious and tragic the topic.

The target audience is basically anyone who likes good movies, and comedy mixed with dramatism. I would recommend anyone to watch this movie because it makes you spend a nice time and really makes you reflect, but also smile inside. I would say that little kids, maybe younger than 12 years old, wouldn’t enjoy the movie so much; since a big part of it is being able to understand what is really going on AND the sacrifice and effort Guido is making for his son. I know this because I watched this movie when it came out (about ten years ago) and I barely understood it. So anyone can watch it, (there are not any violence scenes) but someone who will be able to understand it will enjoy it much more; since my impression of this movie now has nothing to do with that of 10 years ago. 

The groups represented are basically Jews and Nazis. They are well represented, with Guido and his family and other Jewish characters we are able to experience the humanity of concentration camps, how they can’t just be described with numbers (so many million people were sent to concentration camps) but with stories like this. Because in these camps there were real people, not just numbers on history books; but people with actual lives, stories, personalities, families and feelings. People like Guido, Joshua and Dora. People which could’ve been ourselves. Nazis are well represented as well, since we see the mean and ruthless officials, as well as some cases of people on the Nazi side which didn’t want to be there. 

The meaning of this movie isn’t so much about the tragedy of the holocaust but about family, about going through hard times and keeping priorities in order no matter what, about sacrifice, and about the best gift a father could give his son, protecting him from really understanding what was happening and keeping him from suffering and being scared. This was created to show how the Holocaust was not only about brutality and deaths but about separate, individual, very touching stories about families trying to cope with disaster, fear, and despite everything having hope for it all to go well. About a man who was in the worst situation, and instead of getting depressed he was able to put some humour into it and put all his efforts, even risk his life, just to make sure his wife didn’t lose hope, and his son didn’t suffer, get killed, or get scared. 

The stereotypes of how Jews were, were perpetuated, but with a new angle and perspective on it. In some ocassions parts of the Jewish stereotype was also broken down, because they are sometimes portrayed as “weak” during the Holocaust. But Guido isn’t weak at all, he is able to keep his son from suffering, and is always proud of his religion and heritage (for example when he “rescues” Dora with the green horse with something offensive to Jews written on it by the Nazis). The stereotypes of Nazis were perpetuated with the military officials, some teachers, etcetera; but also broken down showing some exceptions like Dora, who isn’t Jewish and asks to be taken to the camp, and the doctor who doesn’t want to be helping the Nazis. 

I liked the film very much, it was one of the best films I have ever seen. It made me laugh, cry, and smile inside all along. Life is beautiful is simply a beautiful film, and there’s not more to it.