Okay, I'm officially catching up on all of this TODAY because I'm done with EVERYTHING. HA HA HA.
Thursday began really early, surprisingly, and I made the poor life choice of wearing high heels to campus. Hills are really hard to walk up when you're wearing three inch wedges, and they're more difficult in stilettos. This has been a public service announcement.
Middle East Politics was spent in a haze regarding a debate over whether or not to launch a calculated airstrike on Iran to destroy their nuclear program, which left me on the side of a very firm "no" opinion. I was sitting next to this poor Persian girl, and she was fucking livid about what our opponents were saying, mostly because it was poorly researched and everyone was trying to be all "rhetorical" and whatnot and didn't focus on the fact that a strike by the United States would cause a fucking war, for chrissakes. It was hard to watch. Like I said, politics has real impacts, people.
Anyway. I then walked over to Macky Auditorium, where I was hit in the face by the Russian flag, the Italian flag, and the Irish flag when they were blowing in the wind, so that was fun. I attended my last CWA panel entitled "Nukes in Unstable Regimes," and it was amazing. One of the panelists was Valerie Plame Wilson, the CIA operative who was illegally burned when her name was leaked to journalists back in 2003 and led to the Scooter Libby Trial of 2005. She's like the coolest and I was fangirling in the audience like a loser.
They started the panel by saying "I doubt many of you woke up this morning and thought about nuclear weapons," which was pretty inaccurate given the fact that I actually did wake up thinking about nuclear weapons. It happens about once a week. They said it was one of the truly global issues that the earth faces, and should be given more thought than it's awarded, and that was pretty interesting to hear. Their presentation was spectacular and it was super nice to hear from experts the fact that war with Iran over this situation is irrational. Also, in order to get this deal with Iran to work out, "the do-nothing Congress actually has to do nothing" and that's fucking scary because the only certainty about American politics lately is its total uncertainty.
Anyway. It's a fun time to be a political science student, kids!
After that, I headed to my Norlin class, where we learned about development from NGO's from Ben, which was really cool and super well done, and then I talked about Edward Snowden and the USA PATRIOT Act. Watch John Oliver's piece because he explains it far better than I can, plus he gets to talk to Edward fucking Snowden, which I think I might actually kill for given the chance.
I also just want to mention that the USA PATRIOT Act was indeed passed through the House, Senate, and signed into law by George W. Bush in only three days. That's right. It was introduced on October 23, 2001, and became law on October 26, 2001. That's nothing short of remarkable, and that's also honestly fucking terrifying, because there were a lot of really troubling things in this bill that were not addressed at all and received hardly any pushback. Today, we're feeling these ramifications.
It was also really surprising to me that not many people knew who Edward Snowden was. Politics is my life, and I know that I care about a lot of really obscure things that literally nobody else does (DSMs in Trade Agreements!!! I'm one of four people that get really jazzed about this!!!), but this in particular is pretty far-reaching in its effects, you guys. Like really. The government is watching you. This is something that people should be concerned about, and the amount of apathy or ignorance is frightening. I know you all don't want to end up like me shouting bitter things about nukes in a bar on a Thursday night (just wait for it) or not giving a shit about keeping up with the Kardashians because the Clintons are so much better, but it's not going to kill you to engage with this world a little bit. Hell, you're the only thing that has the potential to change this terribly broken system and get these crucial issues out in the open. Please. I'm begging you.
The USA PATRIOT Act is up for renewal on June 1, and I encourage you to call your senators and representatives if it troubles you and talk to them about it. Do it. Please. You're the fount of authority in this nation. Please be very mindful of that responsibility. That's all I'm asking for.
I came home and hung out with the roomies for awhile, where we went to Good Times and talked about life, and then we watched the HBO documentary on Scientology Going Clear, which Holy Shit is about what I have to say about that. I was profoundly disturbed. I was aware of the fraud and the blatant exploitation of their congregation, but I hadn't heard about the harassment or the alienation of the people that have spoken out about the Church's practices. I don't like the lack of transparency about their beliefs or about what they truly do, and I don't like how it quenches questioning or investigation of any kind. That's scary for me. That's not okay. I'd recommend it for sure, but not if you want to have a good time afterward. I was pretty nihilistic for the rest of the day.
Anyway. I hung out in the library for awhile and fine-tuned my presentation and read about African regionalism, and then I met the Drinking Buddies Connor, Joe, and Dani at the Rio for Marg Night, and it was spectacular. Bongi met us out, which was rad, and we spent the evening drinking margaritas, talking about Thrones (where I shouted a little about Cersei, sorry you have to put up with my shit guys), talking about nukes (where I shouted a little about Iran, sorry you have to put up with my shit, guys), dancing the night away at both Absinthe House and the Downer (thanks for all the drinks, Connor), and ultimately wandering home repressing my feelings of awkwardness and shouting about how much I fucking love my problematic fave America. I am going to make a great president someday.
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| Actually Me After 4 Drinks |
Thanks for reading :)
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