I won't bother to tell you things have been crazy, because, really they haven't been all that crazy; Scientist and I actually went out and did something social as opposed to sitting on the couch and arguing over who's cuter, so I was actually busy this weekend. Other than that, I've been too lazy to write.
My classes are going pretty well thus far, although I'm a little wary of Global Health and Human Rights class. The subtitle (I guess that's what you'd call it) of the class is 'War and Beyond'; the course is suppose to examine the effects of war on health. I say suppose to because thus far we've not spent a whole hell of a lot of time discussing the impact war has on health, but instead my classmates and one of my professors (there are two) have made it abundantly clear that they want to 'discuss' how bad war is and how we should not be in Iraq and that Bush is a total fucker.
I have multiple problems with the way this class and it's subject matter are being handled. Firstly, I think it's pretty obvious that war is bad (DUH), therefore sitting around and repeating that very idea over and over again in different ways seems like a waste of time. It doesn't bare repeating--we all know war is "bad".
Secondly, this is not a political science class, nor a politics class, so discussing the validity of the war and why we entered into it in the first place seem irrelevant. If I had wanted to take a class about the second gulf war, I would've signed up for that. One of the professors seems perfectly content to let this go on, and in fact encourages it to a certain extent.
Thirdly, and most importantly, it upsets me a little that we're wasting valuable time discussing Iraq when we could be discussing things like the effect of civil war or ethnic cleansing on the health of the general public in warring countries. I took this class because I thought we'd be discussing the impact war--ALL types of war, not just the war we're in--on those living in affected countries. Ideally, I would like to work in an organization that helps the international community/immigrants with healthcare issues. I originally decided to enroll in this class because I thought I'd learn a lot of valuable information that I could later use to understand some of the people I'd be helping over the course of my career.
Instead I've learned something that actually drove me away from applying to graduate school years ago: Academics are completely out of touch with reality and have no idea how the world really works. They also have their own agenda, and even though I'm liberal, and I really dislike Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, Inc., I'm sick and tired of having this academic fantasy world shoved done my throat. I also find it very difficult to take any of the undergrads serious (I'm also one of three grad students in the class, another surprise I discovered on the first day).
Last week I listened to a presentation given by a young man who said 'fuck' over five times along with 'shit', as well as slammed the army and called some of them psychopaths. I was offended.
So, my strategy to get through the class is this: I'm reading a book for a presentation that has NOTHING to do with Iraq. It is about Chechnya, a subject much more relevant to what we're suppose to be studying, and something I've studied before. Hopefully I can just put my head down and involve myself in my own work for the rest of the semester.
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4 comments:
Interesting. You question the effect of War on Health without even considering the discussions you cite as being the cornerstone of your class.
War, my dear, drives people insane.
It bands them into feral packs of armchair liberators out to either prove the path of violence or extoll the wonders of peace. And it isn't limited to universities, they just have better facilities than a front stoop or bus stop.
However, while your average college student is a moron and your average professor isn't much better, that hardly discounts their opinions as ones of undue merit.
In fact, it's the academic context that best encourages people to speak up and speak often of all their little loves and hates. Yes, it's a bit of a "fantasy land" but the world needs that. We all need places of safety and solidarity to remember in some near future as the bygone days when we actually gave a shit about something.
No, in this case, you're probably not gonna learn anything new after the first fifteen minutes, but so what?
Just keep your head down, read your Chechnya thing and savor the irony of the chaos around you.
You're absolutely wrong about me not considering the discussions we've had (and will continue to have) all semester. I'm not nearly as short sided or dismissive as you think.
I realize war drives people insane, that's why, in about 2 months I leading a discussion about PTSD (which I know more than a little about). I consider a discussion about mental health absolutely relevant-- that's why I'm pissed that we haven't even broached either it or the effects of war on physical heatlh yet. It's three weeks into the semester!
You're right, academia is a perfect place for people to entertain ideas and speak freely. But it is also a place some of go to learn something that we can hopefully some day use to actually help people. That's why I care what we spend our time discussing in class. Dispite the fact I had a less than stellar stint in the Peace Corps trying to help a communtiy that really, when you came down to it, didn't want my help, I still want to give it another shot. I want to learn about war so I can help people who come here having fled things I can only imagine.
Well, actually I was considering the insanity of your average onlooker, rather than a soldier, but now that you bring it up, PTSD is an interesting middle ground to bridge the gap between what we're both saying.
As said, I'm of a mind that War and its attendant issues tend to encourage a great deal of posturing on both sides, publicly.
Those who rattle their sabers, proclaiming violence and fear as our only option, and those who cry and wail at the sky, "Why oh why can't we all just get along?"
And it's usually one or the other. Hell, they don't have to fight, they're content to let their opinions rest comfortably in some fantastic, untested extreme. Talk to some soldiers sometime, to anyone who's been in combat and you'll find they tend to embody BOTH sides of that argument.
They are sometimes angry and violent by nature, sure, but some are also fearful and well, practical by nature as well.
And all of them must face Fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of death.
And the conflict itself, the very real action of blood and noise and all of that pain, polarizes those ends, bringing fear and anger to occupy the same space.
It's like that old story about the dog that gets hit by its owner so much it finally snaps. On the one hand it wants so badly to kill its master, while at the same time it's certain that this action will bring more pain, or even death. Hell of a mess to have whirling around in your head.
Well, actually I was considering the insanity of your average onlooker, rather than a soldier, but now that you bring it up, PTSD is an interesting middle ground to bridge the gap between what we're both saying.
As said, I'm of a mind that War and its attendant issues tend to encourage a great deal of posturing on both sides, publicly.
Those who rattle their sabers, proclaiming violence and fear as our only option, and those who cry and wail at the sky, "Why oh why can't we all just get along?"
And it's usually one or the other. Hell, they don't have to fight, they're content to let their opinions rest comfortably in some fantastic, untested extreme. Talk to some soldiers sometime, to anyone who's been in combat and you'll find they tend to embody BOTH sides of that argument.
They are sometimes angry and violent by nature, sure, but some are also fearful and well, practical by nature as well.
And all of them must face Fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of death.
And the conflict itself, the very real action of blood and noise and all of that pain, polarizes those ends, bringing fear and anger to occupy the same space.
It's like that old story about the dog that gets hit by its owner so much it finally snaps. On the one hand it wants so badly to kill its master, while at the same time it's certain that this action will bring more pain, or even death. Hell of a mess to have whirling around in your head.
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