Representation

It’s been awhile since I have shared any thoughts, but since it’s still summer and I just finished classes I figure why not reflect on what I have learned.

My history professor made us watch a documentary called Why We Fight (2006). From a normal American citizen with no knowledge of government-military relations, I recommend it if you have an hour and forty minutes to spare. My thoughts are based on and supported by it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWyhOKbqdEQ (that’s right, youtube isn’t only for watching Justin Bieber’s flashy dance moves or the direction One Direction is headed in)


Yesterday, I played Ultimate at a local park with some high school friends for the first time in about a year. I was almost as rusty as how Mars appears today, but I found my ground and did okay and had a good time, until a mishap. A teammate of mine threw the disc into the endzone, and the receiver tracked it down well, too well. There was a kid on a bike on the sidewalk and everyone was shouting something along the lines of “OMGKIDKIDKID STOOP WATCHOUTLOOK UP!” and obviously you can guess what happened. So the kid gets hammered but luckily the grass provided a safety net. The receiver helps the kid up and makes sure he’s okay.  And look who we see trodding along about 50 meters away (thank you Olympics for giving me a good sense of measurement). His father of course. At that point, the kid starts crying for attention (literally) and the father gets super pissed and over protective. He pretty much kicked us off the field.. “You’re done here, go home” he states. First of all, this hotshot thinks he’s the boss. With his non-prescription sunglasses donned on his noggin’, he thought he saw one of us “smile”. Charging up to us, he stammers, “Oh, tell me why you think this is funny?” And gets pretty close to us with blood coursing through his veins. Of course the receiver apologized and even helped the kid up and made sure he was okay (not a single scratch) but the dad had none of that. He pretty much camped out and made sure we did not resume play that evening while the kid was biking circles again.

That guy thinks he’s so good that he is actually not good. Here’s my analysis:

1. You can not kick someone out of a public park unless cops tell you to leave. This ain’t your house and we’re not on your lawn so put that shotgun down.
2. You can’t just yell at a group of innocent kids and not even accept their apology. We are not your kids.
3. You are not a good father if you let your kid run around unattended for such a long distance and think his biking skills will steer him out of trouble (he is a kid!).
4. You need better sunglasses (or just a better brain) if you think there are no dangers when being around flying objects. I know he had to see us playing since there were about 18 of us.
5. You can’t assume that a tired appearance = one that is mocking the situation. Ya are mouths are gaping open because we are replenishing our oxygen levels, not laughing at what happened to your son.
6. Money is not power. Just because you are rich (I am judging him based on the neighborhood, cocky personality, and alumni-fratty looks cause I can) doesn’t mean you can always have it your way.

The way he handled things really took me by surprise, he misrepresented himself out there. We know he was just trying to protect his son but he by no means did just that. He took away rights of college/high school kids having fun. If he thought it was dangerous at the park, he should be the one to leave since we were already playing and it was just his family.. that is like me telling loud people at a concert sitting next to me to buzz off because I can not hear and enjoy the music. This is not Burger King where you can have it your way. He provided us with a horrible image of a father. What will his son take out of that? “Oh my dad is so badass he kicked 18 people off the field!” Probably not since it seemed like he was five or so, but to us, the dude tried to make up for his lack of parenting by taking it out on us. It was an honest accident, and if we did not intend it to be, that “father” would really have gotten it handed to him and his family (he is so so lucky most of us are humble, respectful, peaceful, and nice, since parks nowadays can be very dangerous). All I know is that that is not the kind of father I would want to become. You can’t get anywhere in life by raging (unless its college), yelling, making a fuss out of nothing, blaming others for your own faults, and attempting taking charge of what’s beyond your capabilities (I am surprised his wife deals with that, unless he misrepresents himself in that relationship for the sake of his dignity). In the end, in this local shingding, no one died. No one got hurt. No one even got scarred. A year from now everyone will forget about this incident and life will move on. No big deal.


Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you would know that the Summer Olympics is going on right now. When I think about Olympics, I think about how it’s most intense competition on the planet by athletes all over the world. What other people may think about is how beautiful these athletes’ bodies are while applying intricate movement via the kinetic chain with utmost precision. What countries as a whole may think is how they are the best at what they do. What Michael Phelps thinks is that he has the most medals ever (fact). But what about what the government thinks? The government wants you to think about the Olympics as the unification of all nations, and it gets that message out pretty clearly. After all, the rings on the Olympic flag symbolizes the unification of all inhabitants of Africa, Asia, Americas, Australia, and Europe. Why do they want you to think this? It’s because of what happens behind the scenes, the events that happen off of the fancy HD LED 1080p 55 inch flat screen Samsung TV (or what have you) that is collecting dust in your living room. The Olympics is a great distraction to detach you from why nations go to war and engage in conflict.

Enter the United States military. Unless you are living under a rabbit hole for the past year (if you have found it), you know that US troops have been withdrawn from Iraq. Why did we engage in that nine year war anyway? War aims have seemed to fade away. Well the original invasion was due to the events of 9/11. We wanted to find out who was responsible for such terrorist acts. Was that all we wanted? Apparently not. At one point, the government actually worked well with Saddam Hussein as we saw a positive relationship with him based on oil, but then he made a move with another country and the government did not agree, so we got after him. The government demonized him to the public and he became one of the most wanted guys in the world. America wanted to secure peace in Iraq and free the peoples. What they were actually doing was trying to overpower the Iraqi government and be in control, while “terrorizing” innocent citizens in the process. What happens to all your hard earned money that you un-willingly fork over to our government? According to the Military-Industrial Complex, coined by Eisenhower, it mostly goes to defense spending, which the U.S spends more on than other nation. We want to be powerful for the wrong reasons sometimes. We used billions of dollars purchasing new tech, inventing new shiny weapons, and use them to threaten other nations. “Hey our rocket is bigger than yours haha no innuendo intended”. That will back them off. No that is not what happens. Media nowadays is very controlled and selective. Ever since the Vietnam War, reporters are no longer allowed to be caught in the heat of action. The US wanted to slip into Vietnam unnoticed but the media exposed their plans, and we had to retreat before our image was ruined. That is why we do not see live action footage of what happened in Iraq (publicly that is, the documentary shows some). The general public would not know what the bombs and planes were used for, but can only believe the news reports that roll in.

What really went on in Iraq? American government saw democracy as a good thing and believed everyone in the world should live by it. We believe in it so much that we force ourselves into other countries’ business and start trouble with them, to "fix what's broke". Other countries would have to comply because they know we have the power to blow them up to smithereens. What we do is station ourselves there to make sure democracy is happening. The US government bombed innocent civilians in Iraq and have the media report them vaguely as bombings in Iraq, innocents killed, as if it was set off by Iraqi government. We are the ones that always has to look good, and we have the power and resources to back that notion up. Before the war, Iraqi citizens hated Saddam and wanted him overruled, and they were happy that America came to intervene in hopes that things will change for the better. Sure they may be able to vote now, but there was a heavy price to pay. There are always sacrifices to be made for the future generation (see slavery) and Iraqi citizens suffered. They no longer wanted to be like America because America took lives away. Now they are supposedly starting that process as they had voting booths last time I checked (thank you sometimes misleading media).

Support our troops? 100%. Support our government’s decisions? That is questionable. Bush did not even know why we war with Iraq, and blamed it on his vice president (something along those lines... watch the documentary! I was sleepy so didn’t catch that part :p) I give credit to the ones who are sacrificing their lives for the country they love dearly, but some of those are unaware of why they are fighting. Some troops have no homes, some have no ways to support themselves, and others do it because they believe in a good cause. Those personal thoughts aside, you fight for America and what America wants you to believe in -freedom, no matter the cost. I mean, it worked for America right? Only because Great Britain was not tight about us leaving, and it worked “happily” for us. War with Iraq? “Hell ya I wanna kill some bad terrorists who bombed us because we invaded them first since they did not want to share their oil!” No oil = no military. Oil yields power and it is abundant in the Middle East which is why there is so much conflict with the area. We just want your damn oil! We pretty much pissed off some people to make them look bad when they target us. “Oh, little boy picks on the big boy with power? Now have a taste of our power...” Maybe that’s not exactly how it happened, but the idea is similar. Oh and sorry kids dad, you may have thought you seemed intimidating, but in my head I was laughing because he thought he was so tough and commanding. Perhaps he is an ex veteran who was also coerced by our government... hmmm..

It doesn’t matter how many gold medals a country wins, and it doesn’t matter if you have a wonderful family and happy life. But you gotta keep your composure, be true to who you are. We are America, we are strong and successful. We may be good, but if we think of ourselves as too good then others may think otherwise. We are not the policemen of the world and we shouldn’t act like that either. Neither should the father of two with a high paying job and hot wife (no I did not get a good look at her, just giving examples). Represent who you are proudly and justly, and let people base you off of that. Many countries hate America with a passion because of what we do to them, just like how I dislike that father who went overboard with his actions. He may be a good man, just like America may be a good country (depends on where you stand), but I would not know because he acted like a total d-bag, albeit these two situations are similar, one is more grave than the other.

I love America don’t get me wrong. It is better off than many other countries out there, and there is total freedom. But after seeing what really happened in Iraq, I cringe. It hurts me seeing innocent bystanders being killed when they have done nothing wrong. I can’t trust what I hear in the media all the time, the stuff that matter anyways. Big whoop the Lakers got Dwight Howard, now tell me something that will affect my life. Oh wait, you can’t! According to the documentary, America is building stations (9?) in Iraq so we can ensure that democracy is imminent. We may have pulled out our troops, but we still have officials there. I don’t remember hearing that in the news, oh wait..I actually didn't.

I’m not a radical or a left wing nutjob or whatever the crazy thinking political people are called (Americans? hah just kidding). I am just a college kid sharing thoughts and experiences. If I had not watched the documentary, I would think America is always good, and always have good intentions. I mean, we are leading the medal count so far anyway, right? :p

With a grain of salt and $.02,

-KT