what is your worth?

"...in 1994, Rwanda experienced the equivalent of more than two World Trade Center attacks every single day for one hundred days. When America turned for help to its friends around the world after September 11, Americans were gratified by the overwhelming response. When the Tutsi cried out, by contrast, every country in the world turned away."

a few weeks ago we studied genocides for our political geography class. we watched this movie "Shake hands with the Devil". it was about the canadian general who was sent by the UN to Rwanda during their civil war. he requested many times for reinforcements and more money, but the UN turned him down and countries withdrew their troops from Rwanda. the general was so traumatized by what he experienced he tried to commit suicide many times. he's better now but i think he is still affected by it today. anw, he returned to rwanda years later and spoke at a local university there. he told the students in their faces that "the world does not care about you". that's the truth. it's sad and disgusting how some peoples can be deemed worthless.

tonight i learnt about how colonial ideologies are still present in our world today, only repackaged such that people don't really notice it. this practice of "Othering" based on some hegemonic (aka Western) standards still exists. third world countries have to develop the Western way, whether or not it's appropriate for them, and have to be like them in order to be developed. Countries and cultures like the muslim world, the african nations, the south american and asian nations are presented as the lesser peoples of the world who are evil and less valuable. the thing that struck me hardest was the fact that these perceptions have infiltrated the everyday world. There are countless examples! It is easy to point our fingers at world governments and leaders (who really ought to be slapped) but! whether we like it or not, we have to admit that we are racist to a certain extent, we have subconscious perceptions of cultures (our own and others) that are so deeply ingrained in us we don't realize it, and we value different people differently. the last, and most dangerous, thing that can happen is for us to shrug our shoulders and say 'oh, it's inevitable' and leave it as it is. perhaps it is inevitable, but to consciously be aware of it and to resist thoughts and spoken comments that reproduce such "othering" is already a step forward.