If Only Dinesh D'Souza Came to Menlo...

Play it through your head. Dinesh D'Souza is introduced to the school by...the young conservative's club...my mistake that does not exist at Menlo School (and probably never will.) Nevertheless he is introduced somehow, perhaps by an outspoken teenager who feels their views on politics in the world are being crippled by those around them, or maybe by a teacher... Let's face it, a speaker like D'Souza would never be accepted at Menlo School. To be brutally honest, the points he makes about American Society are so anti-liberal that they would be bashed by the majority of politically correct thinkers of our school.

Nevertheless if* Dinesh D'Souza came to Menlo School he would see that we pride ourselves upon political correctness more than most everything else. He would see that there is not an American Flag in our quad, but instead a Gay Pride flag. What's So Great About America would have insight into the reasons for why our school placed a Gay Pride flag up in the quad before the American Flag, and it would also have a take on why most at Menlo would not even put an American Flag up at all. 

I will admit, I was/am a bit of an America hater, and have even imagined living in a foreign country for my adulthood. I have grown to be a critic of America, and lately all I see are flaws. However, D'Souza makes several valid points on why America is "Great." He says -- It is the country that has the most "rags to riches" stories. It is the only country where the poorest of people still own a cell phone and a television. It is the country that all other nations look upon as great; however, many within speculate whether or not our country is as great as others think it is.

Sometimes I think Menlo sees America as far from "Great." Perhaps Dinesh D'Souza would be an influence upon our school. He would be able to give us that conservative outlook that most are deprived of these days.

Armenian Genocide and Politics

In a BBC article, titled Armenian Diaspora Bound by Killings, Steven Eke touches on how modern day Armenian identity is greatly connected to the events of genocide. Also a law was passed in France “forbidding denial “ of the Armenian genocide. In a second article from the BBC, police investigated the theft of an Armenian genocide monument in Paris. It was said that the Armenia bill might have triggered this attack because there were influences against the bill including Turkey, which still strongly denies the past genocide, and the EU, which also criticized the law. In 2007, Turkey “threatened to restrict US access to a key military base used for its operations in Iraq” states a third article from BBC news, as well as provoke “anti-Americanism throughout Turkey if the bill is passed.”

Fran(t)z Fanon

Franz Fanon was a great philosopher, physician, and a leading campaigner for decolonization in the forties and fifties, publicly speaking against the French controlling remote territories, especially Algeria.  His findings about the influence of brutal French control for generations were frequently referenced after his death by other anti-colonialism leaders.

I found it interesting that this website, named after one of Fanon's pieces about the fight for freedom in Algeria, is full of literature by Aime Cesaire, who was of course his teacher and fellow advocate of anti-imperialism.  One of the first listings is a piece about Toussaint L'ouverture, which is cool because we know about him.  Like Franz Fanon, he was a minority living on French-owned land who rose up against the French establishment, became a figurehead for anti-colonialism, and became wanted by the French government.  Unlike L'ouverture, Fanon didn't actually bargain or debate with the French, and he never held any official power after resigning from his government post.

Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe (Paris, France)

The Arc de Triomphe is a famous monument located on Champs Elysees Avenue in Paris, France. This monument honors those who fought for France in the Napoleonic Wars. Under the arc is a tomb of an unknown soldier from WWI, who was buried there in 1920. This arc was designed by Jean Chalgrin in 1806. Napoleon commanded him to build an arc that was to represent the glory of the French army. Since Napoleon admired Roman empires, following the example of a famous roman arc, Napoleon decided to build a monument himself for France. Construction began in 1806 and was only completed in 1836. 

Websites:

http://www.france.com/docs/547.html

http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/arctriomphe/arc.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/18/world/bomb-near-arc-de-triomphe-wounds-17.html

Since I've never been to Arc de Triomphe, I was interested in what people had to say about their experience.

Interesting website ... people provided reviews on the Arc de Triomphe:

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-reviews-2776016-prod-travelguide-action-read-ratings_and_reviews-i;_ylt=A9j8e6xE1utJ.HsBiAasFWoL

After reading the reviews, I found out that most people had excellent things to say about the arc. Some said they liked the architecture while others said they liked the view from the top. Although the Arch is so amazing, there is one thing the people that left bad reviews are concerned with; the traffic around the arc is so dangerous and its really hard to drive around it and it destroys the peaceful nature of the statue. Frustrated by this, a very few people gave the arc bad review. However, there must be a reason why its at the center of attention. Perhaps it represents French pride and glory because of the many names of war generals inscribed on the inside of the arc. In the picture below are the names inscribed on the inside of the arc. 

Dinesh D'Souza: Exposed

"A national disgrace," "a childish thinker," who "hates America" and "insists on joining forces with the Satanists." Ever since he hit college in the early 1980's, Dinish D'Souza has faced criticism towards his disputable, yet not extremist views. "I came here because the United States gives me freedom to make the life that I could not have made in India." D'Souza sometimes comes off as a supporter of Bin Laden and his followers, but he argues that no man would chose to leave his family and community behind to migrate to a country that he hated. In this article, written in the Washington Post, D'Souza must once again clarify himself and his views published in his books and those that have caused controversy among many scholars. But this man is a high scholar himself, who poses great questions and only further explores the relationship between the Muslim community and the Americans, more so the "left" or liberals. 

This article goes in depth about the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. D'Souza says that the build-up of actions from many presidents, such as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, not just Bush, have angered the Muslims. After that day, people wanted to know why they hate us, but "no one wanted to comprehend the enemy -- only to annihilate him." I know I was only in third grade at the time, but I know that even now I can't comprehend how a person could do such things. Reading this article on D'Souza has really changed my views on this war we're in right now, but I still don't understand how a group of people could kill thousands of people, now matter their race or background. 

Many people argue that the Muslims hate us because unlike in many of their societies, Americans have a great amount of freedom. D'Souza uses the example of Planned Parenthood International, who went into Eastern countries giving contraceptives to young girls, and human rights groups, that "used their interpretation of international law" to make countries change their laws on abortion/homosexuality, to support his statement. When I think about it, being on the other side of this situation would really upset me. If I had people from the East coming into my home (or community) and pressuring my peers and me to change our views, I'd be annoyed. If a group of Muslims convinced all my friends to wear traditional clothes like the hijab, and they all looked down on me for not following, I'd blame the people who brought this into my life. This is a bad example, but since America is a relatively free country, I can't think of many things outsiders do that we take offense to. 

I respect Dinesh D'Souza greatly. "I have no sympathy for Bin Laden or the Islamic radicals. But I do respect the concerns of traditional Muslims." This Stanford graduate has found a way to balance his views and interpret both points of view. Reading this article has given me more insight on the Muslim culture and their reasons behind their feelings toward America. 

Armenian Genocide Memorials/Monuments

http://www.genocide-museum.am/eng/
http://www.armenian-genocide.org/memorials.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsitsernakaberd
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marseille_Genocide_Memorial

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montebello_Genocide_Memorial



The three links above will hopefully help me in researching Armenian Genocide Monuments. The first link is the home page of the The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. Their mission statement is, "The Armenian Genocide Museum & Institute (AGMI) is a non-profit organization based in Yerevan, Republic of Armenia. The mission of the Museum-Institute is the academic and scientific study, analysis of the problems as well as exhibition of the textual and visual documentation related to the first Genocide of the 20th century." Another piece of information I learned from this site was that the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day is April 24. The second site is the most important because it features Armenian Genocide Monuments from all over the world. Countries included on this site consist of Chile, Canada, Bulgaria, Germany, U.S., U.K., Syria, Greece, Venezuela, etc. So far my favorite monument is located in Glendale, California. It is called Memorial Khachkar (cross-stone) and it is a beautiful carved rock that has the date 1915 inscribed in it. The final link is the wikapedia page of Tsitsernakaberd which is a Genocide Memorial located in Yerevan, Armenia. This memorial is special in it's own way because I have never seen anything like it. The two following links describe to other Genocide Monuments one located in France the other in California.






The picture to the right is located New York on the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.












The picture to the right is located in Glendale, California and it too is commemorating the horrible genocide that took place in Armenia in 1915.











Finally I found this other blog written by Goran Sadjadi called Recogonizing and Remebring the Armenian Genocide. I find his information to be valid and his opinion to be quite interesting. I plan on contacting him and talking to him about his beliefs on the Armenian Genocide. http://zaneti.blogspot.com/2007/04/recognizing-and-remembering-armenian.html

According to Mr. D'Souza, the real threat to America is at home.

On the night of January 16, 2007, well-known, somewhat inflammatory conservative Dinesh D'Souza appeared on the Colbert Report expecting to advertise (in a serious manner) his book, The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11. This being the Colbert Report, Colbert was trying more for comedic effect through exaggerating D'Souza's claims. D'Souza however, kept on rolling with the punches and retained a semblance of seriousness with Colbert.

D'Souza's main point in his more or less 7 minutes of airtime was that depraved liberal culture (homosexuality, promiscuity, maggot-eating, etcetera) is responsible for the rest of the world's relatively negative view of America. He goes on to explain that this insane, excessive, glam America (The America of movies and Hollywood) is something we know is not "really" America, but that for the rest of the world it is all they are presented with, and all they know. In this I would have to agree; American media (with a few exceptions) is largely biased towards the liberal viewpoint, and this becomes reflected in what people from other countries hear about America from their own media. According to D'Souza, the rest of the world only knows the depraved liberal America.

Naturally, an America of homosexuals, out-of-control sex, non-traditional-ness (not a real word), rapists, pillagers, plunderers, capitalists, and atheists (oh, those evil atheists...) is not well received among people of more traditional cultures and values. In this, I agree with D'Souza.

However, that is where my agreement with him ends. In his book, D'Souza conveniently misconstrues or picks and chooses certain facts to further his arguments (and conveniently ignores others in the process). One person who reviewed the book on Amazon (Scoff not- there are a surprising number of very intellectual reviewers there) made one of my points as clear as it could be: "He attempts to explain away American torture and rendition claiming that PFC Lindie England was acting out her "blue state moral depravity" when she was abusing and humiliating prisoners at Abu Ghraib with unusual cruelty. This has all the logic of a psychoanalytic diagnosis made under the influence of a jug of white lightning rather than an insightful probe of the collective unconscious. He fails to mention the FACT that there is a higher rate of divorce, murder, illegitimacy, and teenage births in red states than in the morally depraved blue ones, that "traditional Muslims" in Brooklyn and neighboring New Jersey enclaves were warbling in celebration at the destruction on 9/11, or that American flags were adorning most homes and modes of transportation here in decadent New York City. " (Edwin C. Pauzer of New York City: Post linked here )

As such, I do not think that The Enemy At Home is a book that contains purely truths, but is merely a stepping stone on a journey to truth (as corny as that sounds). We analyze history not by seeing one source and taking it as the truth, but by taking in as many sources as possible to see the big picture.