Recent Thought Developments

October 24

I thought that coming to Africa and seeing the influence of the West would really strengthen my radical liberal feelings and American cynicism, causing me to want even more badly to fight the System. But in a way, I’m feeling a strong sense of appreciation for the democratic systems we have in America, imperfect as they may be. We do have something valuable in America-a stable, peaceful government that the vast majority abide by, whether they like to or not. And we can voice our opinions relatively freely without fear of consequence-we’re not going to be immediately fired from a government seat for endorsing a presidential candidate. We also don’t have to worry about the military overthrowing the government the way many African nations do. Thus, African governments have to use a lot of their money keeping the military happy at the expense of economic growth and productive developments like education and roads. It’s such a waste, but I don’t really see an answer for it because if a country reduces the size of the military, the likelihood of a military coup just increases.
One evening I showed my sister this Ani DiFranco song where she goes on this long rant about America and her response was, ‘Gosh, you’re always so angry about America. Doesn’t seeing what we have here, especially in our government make you appreciate what you have?’ I said, yeah, but I’m cynical only because a lot of what goes on in the American government frustrates me because it doesn’t reflect what America claims to have-freedom and justice for all. However, I was taken a little bit aback though and thought it over awhile. She says she doesn’t get involved in politics because it’s so corrupt, but I argue with her and say, how is anything ever going to change if good, reasonable people like you don’t participate? Building Blocks citizenship lessons in action! Nevertheless, although I get annoyed by American governance, especially in recent years, I do appreciate the legacy we have. But the actual people in those positions really determine how well a government structure holds up, no matter how decent the system is.
One thing I have gotten infuriated by is the way the entire continent of Africa has been completely screwed by past Colonial rule. “Africa is not poor, Africans are poor”is the adage we have heard so much since coming here and it’s so true. And so much of it originates from Colonial rule-the British pitting tribes against each other, making tribes at least in Kenya today so afraid to trust each other, breaking up the existing decentralized governments on coming into Africa and creating a legacy of centralized, hierarchical, easily manipulated governments so that now, whatever tribe is in power gets all the perks from the government, overdeveloping certain institutions to maintain control like the military so that they’re still much more developed than they need to be. There’s a lot more but I won’t recite all of my poli sci notes here. Anyhow, these are a few kind of new yet kind of old, yet refreshed ideas I’ve been mulling over.

I came home yesterday angry at a lot of things in Kenya, it was just a bad day. Will got his backpack stolen in Kenyatta market and that morning Jamie and Stacey witnessed a man being beaten to a pulp by another man in a suit while a crowd watched. They said his face was half gone when it was over and he just staggered off. They were on their way to the matatu stop. And I was tired. And my eyes hurt, as they often do at the end of the day from the dust. And I was sick of my boogers being black every evening when I got home from breathing black fumes from trucks and buses. And I was sick of people associating “white” with “rich” and assuming I always had money to hand out to them or buy their stuff. And I was sick of men yelling stupid things at me and I was sick of a lot of other less important things.
But I was happy to see my family when I got home. My mom came home from Sweden yesterday and brought lots of presents, mostly of the chocolate variety. I also got Chinese bootlegs of the OC Season 2 and Sopranos season 1 for about $5. They're poor quality and my money is probably supporting something terrible, but for that cheap, I had to give into my moral apprehensions...I guess everyone does at some point. I never thought I would be one of those OC people, but Kenya has a way of getting you into American TV (or awful Spanish soap operas for that matter-I can’t say I like them, but I do know the storylines now and they are strangely entertaining). I have decided 2 things though when I’m back-I’m still not going to watch any TV and I’m going to spend way less time surfing the internet.