Posted on 09/10/2008 6:50:26 AM PDT by pabianice
Now that the subject of presidential campaign is significant and almost in every gathering and discussion the subject comes up, I find myself a little indifferent.
First, I am not an American citizen, and I have far more important worries such as surviving my classes and my immigrant life after all those loans I've taken from family members, friends and the university.
Second, I am beginning to lose all hope and start to believe that once again Americans are going to elect someone who is less concerned about public health, education, economy or peace and human rights.
It wasn't until a couple of days ago that I decided to write on this topic. I was waiting in the bus stop where I overheard a conversation between some foreign students. None seemed to be passionately following the presidential campaigns, yet each had interesting aspects to distinguish between the candidates. One said, "if the old guy wins, we all will be sent back to our countries." Another referred to a candidate as "the black guy." I thought of the strong role race plays in this vast land, where people have come long ways and sacrificed much to enjoy being equal. It is deep that a simple, na've comment can remind us how there are still primitive prejudices and racial agendas.
It is an intense show that these hardworking candidates have put together. Watching the candidates, I am entertained, though I hope that entertainment is not their sole purpose. The media are not less guilty either. Being black and being a woman have been great tools for their agenda-making process. Isn't it true that the media have played with anything from Hillary's boring clothes and Sarah Palin's excellent sense of motherhood to Senator Obama's being an alleged Muslim?
Such wonders I have heard over the past year or so. I often think of how it would be watching Senator McCain running to the gates of hell to catch Bin Laden or seeing Senator Obama sit on a dialogue table with nations such as Iran, which are angry at America due to years of mistreatment and damage.
However, amusement is not all I get from witnessing such competition; I am somewhat saddened too.
It is unfair to see how women are being exploited once again. I respect, for instance, the choice of Sarah Palin and her family to give birth to a special needs child, or to justify a teen pregnancy, but I wonder if it is moral to set these choices as standards for all women?
It is unfair to constantly hear about experiences of a veteran who is using war as a sacred opportunity that qualifies him for running a nation. I believe that war is a difficult situation to be in, but I often wonder whether feeling it shouldn't make a person more in favor of peace or a withdrawal of troop from an occupied country.
As a woman, I just felt so invisible when I came across the vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin's veto to slash funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers in need of a place to live.
And there are all those scary talks on tax cuts benefiting the rich, encroachment on same sex marriage, or no plan for universal health care which remind me of the conversation on the bus stop. America is a wonderful country. I am honored to be here. But am I seeing what I thought prior to my trip I would be facing?
Maybe it is seeing or hearing such conservative stands on social, economical and international issues that make some of us feel unsafe and scared. I think of the people on the bus stop and I think of myself. I am no expert in American politics. I am in favor of no particular candidate. I am just a simple immigrant, appreciating my exceptional education. I am a woman from an old generation of subjugated women who have fought in their own ways to get a voice. Yet, I feel that something is not right.
I might have not been in the United States long enough to truly grasp the status of women in this society, but I can definitely see some double standards. When running for presidency, Hillary Clinton was criticized for her look. Now that, proudly, another woman has found a way into professional politics, she is favored for her "beautiful legs."
I wonder whether it is immature to raise a question of what is happening to the world. I had a difficult summer facing my birthplace, Iran, after many years with such dramatic, cruel changes. I escaped back to the U.S to see that the world is still hesitant over an African-American president, or the world is still pondering upon the right of a woman to her own body.
Maybe I am too impatient. I want to see the world act its age. Maybe, I have a lot of faith in America, and my expectations are too high.
Well, until there are indecisions like this, I must raise the question: "What is happening to the world?"
Parisa Saranj is a Collegian columnist. She can be reached at psaranj@student.umass.edu.
Dear Parisa Saranj,
Window or aisle seat? Any special dietary requirements? Cool. I’m buying, and you’ll be winging your way out of this dark capitalist sinkhole and back to paradise by late tomorrow night. Just email me your passport number and full name — I’ll do the rest. In the email’s subject line please write, “I accept.”
As an added incentive, I’ll do my best to get you a seat next to Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins.
ping
I’m hoping that part of the problem is a language barrier. But if she’s really from Iran, and she’s that concerned about life in America, I would like to respectfully suggest she return to the land of her birth.
susie
Wherever you came from, welcome!
susie
Great email! I’ll split the cost with you though.
Yup!...and we the taxpayers are probably subsidizing her education too...Glad shes so grateful to be here...
This is a woman in need of an education.
Six weeks of Rush could answer a lot of her questions.
It would be worth skipping class for her to listen to him.
Six weeks would give a whole new and accurate perspective.
Thank you - I came from not so far away and not as much of a change as did the author of this bit of angry writing struck me - I’m just a hop away from the northern border of the USA. By her name she could have come from India or the middle east.
Still, no matter where a person comes from to visit temporarily or permanently take part in our great offerings here in the US, they are wasting their time and ours if they carry negatives or passive aggression in their minds.
They’ll never ‘get’ what the USA is like and how it can free up a person’s way of thought and life itself.
Nope. The leftist Obama will lose.
And get a whole name.
Bless you! I have known many older immigrants, thru the years and they tend to be very loyal and appreciative of what we have here (and think many native born Americans take it for granted, which I’m sure we do). The other type really baffle me. I think they are the minority, however, they are are vocal.
susie
Hi Again...
This type is trolling for attention. I wonder if he/she is what is written there or just trying to get us in a snit.
The less attention paid the better. If it is real - then what he/she thinks matters little to us.
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