Hotel Rwanda...and a quick apology...

I just saw Connelly-Ann's mention of Hotel Rwanda and wanted to make a quick comment.

I saw the movie this weekend, and it floored me. I had studied the situation in Rwanda in my African Politics class last semester, but to see it was hard.

I couldn't tell you how much I would like for people to go see this movie. I've asked most of my friends if they even know about it (800,000 people killed in 100 days in 1994), yet none of them did. To be clear, I don't say that to put myself above others, because I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't taken that class last semester.

This movie is significant in that the resounding statement from the international community after the conflict was that they will never let it happen again, yet their sincerity is questionable in that the Hutu's are still doing the same thing in DRC and not to mention what's happening in Darfur.

I'm sorry I'm always talking about this stuff. I promise you all I'm a happy person. When I watch TV, I watch The Simpsons (the source of all important knowledge) and my favorite movie is The Big Lebowski (try to tell me that it is not the best movie ever made, I dare you). I'm not some tortured artists or political activist who watches C-Span all day, I promise.

It's just that, at the same time, I really want to do something about these issues in my lifetime, so I study them a lot. My girlfriend always makes fun of me for getting so caught up in it. She's from Taiwan, and I'm always trying to bring up the missiles that are being shot into the Straights of Taiwan (I only mention that so you don't think she's indifferent. She just tells me if you think the whole world's going down the toilet, you won't help anything).

Sorry, also, that I can't write without rambling.

Here's a good site for information on Rwanda:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/

Have a good night,
Robert