Actually overheard: "What? You can't let him do it, he doesn't know where to put that caulk!"
In order for Other to get me to watch a movie with him, he basically has to pin me to the couch. But yesterday he somehow got me to watch Control Room, a documentary about the (allegedly accidental) bombing of Al Jazeera's headquarters. I'm glad to have seen it, because I had sort of unconciously been perceiving the perspective of most Iraqis (and, more largely, Arabs) as being about 80/20 glad Saddam would be gone/unhappy about being invaded. But if the documentary is accurate, it seems to be more the case that it's about 95/5 infuriated about the invasion/grudgingly willing to admit that having Saddam out of power is good.
Hearing Bush's speeches about how he's going to invade Iraq if Saddam isn't out in 48 hours and then, at the official end of combat operations, about how America is now safe, was difficult the first time around. But watching roomfuls of Arabs watching those speeches was... wrenching? Something. It was frustrating, though, because I, and so many people, so strongly feel that he doesn't represent us. Or, I guess, because he does in practice represent us, he doesn't represent us accurately. This is not how we feel. I can't say that I know how they feel, watching him strut around at the helm of the most powerful nation, watching him declare his intent to invade what they identify with as their part of the world. But I wish there were some way to communicate to them that we're desperately unhappy about what he's doing.
In order for Other to get me to watch a movie with him, he basically has to pin me to the couch. But yesterday he somehow got me to watch Control Room, a documentary about the (allegedly accidental) bombing of Al Jazeera's headquarters. I'm glad to have seen it, because I had sort of unconciously been perceiving the perspective of most Iraqis (and, more largely, Arabs) as being about 80/20 glad Saddam would be gone/unhappy about being invaded. But if the documentary is accurate, it seems to be more the case that it's about 95/5 infuriated about the invasion/grudgingly willing to admit that having Saddam out of power is good.
Hearing Bush's speeches about how he's going to invade Iraq if Saddam isn't out in 48 hours and then, at the official end of combat operations, about how America is now safe, was difficult the first time around. But watching roomfuls of Arabs watching those speeches was... wrenching? Something. It was frustrating, though, because I, and so many people, so strongly feel that he doesn't represent us. Or, I guess, because he does in practice represent us, he doesn't represent us accurately. This is not how we feel. I can't say that I know how they feel, watching him strut around at the helm of the most powerful nation, watching him declare his intent to invade what they identify with as their part of the world. But I wish there were some way to communicate to them that we're desperately unhappy about what he's doing.
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