Monday, January 08, 2007

Blood Diamond:Have you watched the movie?



My question is this: Is every day life in African conflict zones that brutal? Or is it Hollywood sensationalism?

I remember studying the Rwandan Genocide at UFT and running into a Hutu guy whilst researching at Robarts. He described to me how his sister had a machete hacked into the middle of her forehead by a neighbor, and how she survived for days with it lodged in her skull. He said most of things I read were sanitized for North American readers that the reality was gorier, and indescribably inhumane.

So I need to know, from someone who has traveled there, who has first hand knowledge, (not through a book you’ve read, or some documentary you’ve watched,) are those vivid scenes of children shooting people and of men hacking off limbs, are those scenes real?

As an aside, I have never been a huge fan of Diamond rings. It isn’t a big part of Indian culture. More than ever, I would like to inform my ‘would be’ hubby, it is simply not necessary. (Um I do not need any of u smart alecs to point out that there is no ‘would be’s’ right now.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't know about Hutus or Tutsi, but I could be a would be if you'd like me to be.

Crankyputz said...

U give up the diamond,....and the would be's come out lol =)

U made me smile....

Anonymous said...

I'll make you give up the Cranky name then! Maybe there is some jewellery in your future.

Seriously..sad that the continent of Africa has not been able to rise above negative Western perceptions. Stability and unity were never allowed to be encouraged. Try to look at individual countries within the continent though...not Africa as a collective grouping.

Crankyputz said...

Would B: I didn't mean to give the impression that I am looking as Africa as a collective group. I was refering more specifically to conflict zones.

While there is horror all over the world, the barbarism of what's happening in the Sudan and what happened in Rwanda, Zaire and the list goes on, like the hacking of limbs, mass rapes....is scary.

I suppose I am trying to understand the violence within its context, like when you travel to a place like mumbai where poverty is the norm, and often potrayed in a completely unreal way by western media. Are conflict zones in Africa as barbaric as is potrayed in the media....

It would take a lot to get the crank out of me!