leaflets?!
CNN and Anderson Cooper (on his way to Beirut) are in full effect.
The U.S.-centered perspective is spilling through my t.v. at every second, complete with scrolling reports adding to the concern, and a live clock indicating Beirut time (7 hrs. ahead).
The Lebanese-centered perspective is more challenging to determine: phone calls to friends in Beirut and its environs, The Daily Star (English-language Lebanese newspaper available online: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=73960), and a mindset that forces me into accute awareness of "media" and over-simplification of events.
I've been to the places they're highlighting on the handy-dandy on-screen maps. Runways at the Beirut International Airport have been bombed out. There's now talk of a marine-run evacuation of U.S. citizens. Canadians? Well, they don't count on CNN.
What to say? I have no idea. I'm a little nervous but not jumping the gun yet (sorry, poor expression to choose). With any luck, the frustrations will cool... yeah, that's how political/religious issues are solved in the Middle East all the time, right? Fuck.
posted by Vicki @ 11:16 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Bit by bit and day by day...that's how it is. Shit happens and life doesn't stop...at least not of those who live.
I'm so surprized that people don't even know about what's going on.
Canadians don't count...you're right. At the end, no one counts.
And yet, good things still happen...
Oh my god...I just heard the news about bombing in south Beirut...happened some 2 hours back.
I'm sitting here and thinking about you Vicki. How would I handle this one eh? Its just hitting me harder than I thought.
India bombings and now Israel and Lebanon on the verge of war.
As our piscean minds work overtime on this thought...just keep going.
Brazil first.
R: I didn't mean the Canadians don't count thing as general sarcasm. They just don't count on U.S.-centered news so the info I want isn't what I can get from TV in this area.
R, J, M, et al:
My family over there is fine. People we know from Canada are stuck in Lebanon--no one is allowed in or out. France and Britain are sending ships to get their citizens. Canadians have been told to "keep your heads down." How comforting. And, call me crazy, but teaching at an American university doesn't seem wise in that area right now--AUB was bombed once years ago so it's not so far-fetched that I'd be fearful of LAU's position this time.
My thoughts are that if the direct hits don't kill people who are in the wrong place at the wrong time (one of my biggest fears) then we'll have hostage issues to contend with...
Main arteries are being destroyed by Israel in "hopes" of quelling whatever plans Hizb'Allah may have--the goal, or so it seems, is to dismantle the Hizb'Allah network and to stop them from receiving arms in Lebanon and to make Lebanon a reverse fortress (keep these folks where we can contain and control them, so to speak).
So I wait. Wait for a month or so to see what happens. Make a decision then. For now, my "concerns" aren't anything--are pointless--compared to the people living in the throws of this. Real people are re-living the 25-year civil war. They are experiencing real threats of war and death. I'm in a privileged position to be "watching" this from the outside. My worry/anxiety is gravy... really.
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