I had a stimulating conversation with my Iraqi flatmate last night. A conversation that has been long overdue because all these times we only talked about superficial stuff, you know like what are you cooking today, oh is that the staple food of your country you're cooking and bla2. I was afraid to ask him about the situation in Iraq because i thought its very sensitive issues as he might have lost someone in the war and my question would just bring back the memory that he is trying to forget or something. But it turned out that he was very open about it.
Initially i was under the impression that how grateful he must be for being in this peaceful country, away from all the mess in Iraq, it's the land that makes you go ' Thank god, at least i didn't get blown up today' or 'what do i need to do to live another day tomorrow' before you fall asleep. But heck no, i was completely wrong, despite everything that is happening in Iraq, things are worst here. according to him. He whines about how expensive the food, accommodation, tuition fees and etc also complains about the weather and the people here. In Iraq he owns two big houses and a BMW and here he can't even have a decent food because its too expensive. I reckon he has never been abroad before because you cannot mentally convert all prices here into your own currency every time you go shopping, otherwise you'll die because you find out that a proper lunch meal costs like a week expenses in your country. For instance, the plate of rice with chicken curry costs about 4 pound, and that is like RM 30, if u keep converting the currency you cant even eat. Anyways what i'm trying to say how the media can easily manipulate your perception towards something, they can distort your view, they can nurture hatred and you will only know what they want you to know. The situation in Iraq might not be as bad as what the media potrays, yes people still die in Iraq everyday but people also die everywhere else in the world. In Africa for instance, how many people die because of starvation,malnutrition, civil war AIDS, name different ways that people can die, Africa got them all. North Korea is another example, do u know how many people died from getting shot by their own government because they are fleeing the country in a hope for better life, not much better but just enough basic necessity for survival. I bet you don't know, neither do i. Thats because the media are not focusing on them, they don't seek to write stories about them, In Iraq the death is more confined to a certain area and its easier to make stories from, and better still, they actually have someone to blame, the America or British, although the bombing might have been carried out by Al Qaeda, Sunni, Shia. Yes i know, if they have not invaded Iraq in the first place, all these insurgencies will never happen. But if you were to analyze one step further, one could also argue, if Iraq was a country that did not discriminate or oppress people just because they have slightly different understanding of Islam, i mean the conflict between Sunni and Shia, with the power shared equally, they will have a stable political environment coupled with extreme wealth of hydrocarbon and thats to me equal to a strong country. Of course things were the other way around, you know, one sect held the power and discriminate the other sect and the same time they have something that everybody wants. The hydrocarbon. They had all the elements to invite occupation from the west. You cannot totally blame the US for invading Iraq, they were just doing what they had to do to survive, as many people may realize, US foreign policy makes them very unpopular, but at the same time the modern lifestyle of the country demands a continuous supply of energy. They are the biggest consumer of energy in the world and their oil field in Texas, Gulf of Mexico is running dry and will not cope with the future demand, so invading Iraq was seen as the solution to secure the future supply of oil to the US. It was rumored that even after all the oil fields in the world have run dried, the ones in Iraq will still flow steadily under natural pressure.
Im not taking sides of anyone here, i am just voicing out my opinion which could be totally wrong but who cares if i was wrong. I just needed to get it off my head.
In the end, its all about the survival of the fittest, just like what Darwinian scientist believe. After all we are just another species that live the earth within a very brief interval in geological timescale. Are we going to extinct just like any other species that roamed the earth before us? I believe we are.
