IT MATTERS: Juxtapostion-Roman Polanski

I will not summarize my namesake's life, as tragic as it is, and will simply assume that you, the reader, already knows it. If not, a short version of it and recent occurences are found in the link below.

Polanski Update

In English class last week, we learned about

juxtaposition.

It is the idea of placing to things/ideas adjacent to one another for a desired effect.

Roman Polanski. His life. A juxtaposition of unimaginable tragedy yet also that of a critically acclaimed (and well deserved) artist. In most cases, the accomplished artist with a troubled life is almost archetypal. It seems as though there is some sort of poetic resonance in response to tragedy which results in beauty. The sheer abhorrence of Polanski's tragedies however are what separate him from this archetype. I digress.

Roman Polanski. His case. A juxtaposition of unimaginable tragedy and an abhorrent lack of common sense. I cannot fathom horrors more grotesque than my dear family being brutally murdered in Hitler's gas chambers, or my pregnant wife being brutally murdered by unmerciful, and un-regretful individuals. At the same time, it seems as though there is a total and utter lack of common sense and even more importantly empathy in the dealing with this man. We live in a world where our judicial system works by hard facts. And, maybe not often, but far too often than it should, without common sense. If every case were dealt with philosophically, maybe these problems wouldn't arise. And I think we try to, but as is evident, it doesn't help. Perhaps the one thing missing from said system of justice, is in fact, empathy. On a micro-social scale, within a family for example, values are taught (in many cultures) to forgive people for their actions. Sometimes to understand that what they are going through could be difficult, and its not worth to hurt them more. If only this could be applied to the system as well. Then the "man" would seem a much kinder man, and issues would be less controversial, if society, and more importantly the victims, were empathetic with those they condemn.

This combination of tragedy and lack of empathy sums up only to the torturing of an already tortured soul. What kind of justice is it that we are imposing onto this poor man if nobody (the 'victim' asking repeatedly for charges to be dropped) was in any way was hurt.

Its like we don't have anything better to do right?

Best Of Week

s0 lst week i think da best 0bsrvtn was prolly made by Anna fri. she sed dat amirs childhd memrys 0f afganstn r almst p0lar t0 th0se 0f his adulthd. whn he was a kid afgnstn was c0ntrld by rusia in war but l8r wld b 0f da taliban c0ntrl. both r times 0f 0pprssn but r diff kinds 0f opprssn. dis is leik da pckt dat mr allen gave us about memry. da pckt says dat memrys of da past r wr0ng usally n da real past culd b way diff. but amirs memrys r all taken as tru b/c it is a mem0ir. s0 da diff fer him is realy da past n da present n0t diff verzns of da past. but just leik da chess playr in da pckt who was sh0ckd when he f0und 0ut his treasrd memry 0f bears h0ldng a chess board realy was li0ns hldng sw0rds amir will face sh0ck frustratn n c0nfusn when da new reality 0f talibn afgnst c0nflcts w/ his memrys 0f pre rusia and rusia c0ntrld afgnstn. dis was a very imprtnt 0bsrvtn dat was made b/v it als0 put emfasis 0n da craft 0f da riting. leik mr allen sed b4 real gewd riting puts da karectr in c0nflct w/ demselvs 0n a macr0/micr0 scale. da happenngs 0f da macr0 wrld affect amir 0n a micr0 levl. housseni puts amir in c0nflct w/ a reality amir cnt change. wethr 0r n0t da macr0 change 0f rusia 2 taliban it wuld [assuming amir DUZ in fact feel c0nflct] be hard fer him 0n in a micr0 sense. pers0nally i think amir will b affcted by da change b/c it is difficult for ne1 0r @ least wuld b for me. m0st peopl tend t0 b disc0ncrtd when they realize dat imprtnt memrys r inc0rrct n i think dis is b/c 0f an adult unwillingnes 2 micr0 change. in my life i have n0ticed a trend 0f very young childrn being xtrmely flexible but adults being much more affectd by change [i.e. moving]. as a small child [0-10 yrs] i m0ved @ ar0und 3x ar0und chicag0land n i dnt recall being negatively affected @ all. my parnts m0ved fr0m rusia 2 chicag0 @ 20 ish but it was difficult for dem. my grandma who is alm0st 70 refuses 2 m0ve 2 da US even tho der wuld b a sig increas in her quality 0f life. mayb a partial reas0n f0r dis trend is w/ age xp is gaind n has its own sentimental/n0stalgic value b/c 0f which 0lder pe0ple may resist change. mayb its b/c changing a lifestyle @ such an 0ld age is alm0st leik thrwing away 1s wh0le life for a new 1 when it is near 2 its end. amir is @ ar0und 40 when he g0es back 2 da middle east which wuld make the change all the harder fer him.

SHORTHAND:

leik = like

xp = experience

b/c = because

w/ = with

1s = one's

dus = does

da = the

dat = that

r = are

n = and

+ many more words lacking vowels and correct punctuation.

Change of Mind: Kite Runner

A prevalent idea I have noticed so far in the Kite Runner is Amir's desire to be good; of which the methods of achieving are unfortunately terribly skewed and distorted. Much of the distortion comes from the gap between himself and his father, Baba. Amir (at least in his childhood years) feels as though his father secretly hates him. One of the reasons for this, he believes, is because his mother died during childbirth. Therefore, he logically reasons, his father hates him because he killed his mother. Murder (although according to Baba is a variation of stealing) is a great sin. Naturally, Amir wants forgiveness from Baba, which he won't get until the gap between them is gone (if there is no gap anymore, that means Baba must have forgiven Amir). This drive trumps all of Amir's other moral obligations due to the intensity of the sin of murder. Therefore, I believe it is because of this that Amir feels jealousy, and is willing to be unfair towards Hassan if it means getting closer to his Baba.

Due to this understanding of Amir's logical reasoning, I have changed my mind on the nature of people, "evil" people in particular. People who we typically regard as "bad people" are often seen as wanting to simply do harm onto others. However, I have long ago established that from his/her point of view, they are trying to do the best as well. I also remember hearing somewhere (unfortunately I cannot remember where exactly) that all people have a desire to be good. So I reasoned that they must have faulty logic, that their reasoning was skewed. Hitler, being a famous example, wanted to purify the world by creating a u niversal race of Aryans. He wanted to do a "good thing" but the logic is strange. He would have to have been a smart man however, to be in the position he was in, but how could he been such a smart man if his logical reasoning was so distorted? This is where Kite Runner comes in.

Thanks to Amir, I realize that it isn't the LOGIC that is flawed, Amir's logic is sound. But the conclusion is twisted because his logic is based on a fundamentally wrong assumptions: that his father hates him because he killed his mother. Although to Amir it seems natural and obvious that this should be so because his mother DID die during HIS childbirth, there is not enough proof to be 100% sure. This in turn strengthens my belief in that major arguments could be solved by sitting down and having a philosophical debate (much like Aristotle's Philosopher Kings would do).