Assumptions

March 25, 2008 at 6:14 am · Filed under Uncategorized

So it’s been a while for me. I guess one thing that’s on my mind right now is about the connection I made between a reading I did in my English class and the movie Babel. So I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie but it is pretty damn good, so see it and make your own interpretations out of it. What I got out of the movie was that even with this huge rise in efforts to push globalization we are as isolated as we can be. Especially in the western world, we claim that we have an idea about other people of different parts of the world and we claim ourselves to be the least ignorant and most advanced. Advanced in technology, advanced in economics maybe, but we still have the same level of empathy and understanding of the non-western world as we did two or three centuries ago. Our understanding of cultrual representation and social structure hasn’t changed one bit. Like Michael says there is still a “white” part of town, “black” part of town, etc. In fact I believe the way globalization is being approached is what’s making distinct barriers between people socially just as geographically. In order to save time and money we must make assumptions about each other and decide quickly who to do business with and who not to do it with. One mistake or one bad judgment by one person sticks with an entire nation or race. We are judged by our history, and there is no way to undo that. As unfair as that might sound, that is a result of a long process of human labeling according to race, gender, nationality, religion, etc.

So the movie is about four different locations in which each have different social and historical contexts. I guess the theme is that each location is unable to hear or see the actual context to why something might have occurred because it is blinded or deafened by its own assumptions about the other locations. For example, there was shooting involved in a Muslim country so the U.S. automatically assumed there to be terrorist activity although there wasn’t. So the reading I did in my English class was called “Notes on the Politics of Location” by Adrienne Rich. It’s a good text, although confusing at times. Anyways, she talks about how it is important to at least think about and attempt to understand the politics of different locations before assuming things or imposing what’s “right” or “wrong.” One example she uses is how the Western white feminists went around the world to unite women around the world for this cause to fight the patriarchal system of hierarchy. The problem with that was that everything they did was structured around what white women living in higher parts of the social structure were thinking. So these women would go around the world and tell women in the middle east to do certain things that went against the latter’s beliefs. So white women basically defined for women of other locations what is “right.” This connects to the movie in that because history and past social dynamics have led us to be separated clearly distinct lines, we have to realize that one country or one specific group of the social structure does not possess the all that is right for the entire globe.

I guess the moral of what I am trying to say is listen. We have got to try to understand one another before making any assumptions. We all talk too much. How is this relevant to New Orleans? Yeah we have been put into very fortunate places and yes it is great that we are going to help the less fortunate. But we are not the almighty and the nicest of the nicest bearing gifts bringing joy to those living through the adversity. We are going there to find the good in all the destruction and all the hardship. Or as Michael would say, we are there to find Jesus ourselves not bring Jesus to them. We are there to learn from them. Because they went through way more crap than we probably ever will. It is OUR privelege to go down there to be allowed to connect with such amazing people as Miss Doris, Camille, Beatrice, and Shirley. We are going to get better understanding about the truth and how to act on that truth. We are also going to remind ourselves and in turn remind others about the different parts of this world that exist outside of our own very very little worlds. We are going to challenge all the labels and assumtions history has placed on us to separate us in an effort to actually connect and eventually take those labels off. I just hope people think about this aspect too. Although we are rich in money and kindness we lack understanding and we haven’t quite cured ourselves of deafness yet. There are millions of people out there deserving of not only attention but the deserving of our understanding about the truth. I hope this makes sense, if it doesn’t please say something and I will respond.

—Danny

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