I think that it gives us an excellent look at what some everyday life is like in Iraq at the moment:
"Children, typically shut indoors for their protection, whooped and jumped in the middle of intersections."
"The festivities were unusual partly because of what was missing. No gunmen stopped passersby from filming the scene with their cell phones; in fact, many revelers slowed down to make sure they were photographed."
"Showing none of the usual everyday fear of revealing personal details, Iraqis gave their full names and lengthy interviews to a reporter."
These quotes in particular give an idea of the fear that has become the norm, though was temporarily lifted with the victory. Even just small things like letting children play outside are no longer feasible. People don't wish to be identified. People apparently can't film. It is an interesting way of telling us what goes on...by introducing us to a time when the opposite is happening.
I'm curious what parts of the article that you found interesting? There is a lot more to it, but I'd much prefer to hear what others have to point out.
2 comments:
First of all, I had no idea that the Iragi had a soccer team, although I could suppose that most countries are involved in world sports of some kind (bravo). It is unfortunate that we cannot resolve our conflicts with a simple soccer match - whoever wins, wins the "war" (!).
There has been a lot of conflict over whether the US has been a good influence or has simply gotten itself involved in a civil war again (Vietnam, which was the losing soccer team in this game). It is an interesting juxtaposition.
[Few spectators missed the irony of Iraq defeating Vietnam, a nation with its own experience with a bloody, ill-fated U.S. war. One Iraqi sports commentator dubbed the match "the wounded vs. the healed."]
"The wounded vs. the healed" struck me as an interesting comment - which is which exactly?
Iraq is such a touchy subject - I am not exactly sure where I stand, mostly because I do not have enough information. However, I feel that war (i.e. killing people) is never a good answer. If war itself were simply a live-action video game, or a sport, without the killing of people, I feel that the same conclusion could be reached, and nobody would die.
Please comment on my comments.
Yes, I very much enjoyed the irony of the Iraq vs. Vietnam. I hadn't thought about which is which...kind of made me laugh actually.
I've seen lots of people asking why we don't just settle differences with some type of game or something...boxing, one leader fighting the other, chess, etc...
I agree that Iraq is quite touchy, and having so much of our information censored makes it even more difficult to come to a conclusion. That is one reason that I liked this article; it told about what was going on by telling us what wasn't at the moment. Talking about normal things that were once normal, but are now out of the ordinary.
Soccer is probably the sport most able to have political impact. During the 2006 World Cup, there was a lot of talk about how, since they had qualified for the tournament, Ivory Coast had a cease fire between the two factions of their civil war, temporarily uniting the nation to cheer for the team. Interesting stuff.
Post a Comment