Confession: there are enormous gaps in my knowledge of world history and events. ENORMOUS. I try to keep up with the news as it happens, but because my understanding of the background is so spotty, I often don't quite get what's happening beyond the basics.
Case in point. Last night we were watching 5 Broken Cameras, an incredible Oscar-nominated documentary filmed by a Palestinian villager in the West Bank, chronicling his village's conflicts with Israeli soldiers starting in 2005. We got about a minute into the film and I had to pause it to have Israel/Palestine explained to me. CM actually knew the exact year the State of Israel was created! 1948, by the way. It was humbling. Throughout the film we had to keep breaking out the iPad to Google different elements of the conflict. (How is it possible I did not know the word intifada???) I've already ordered this book to begin to remedy the situation.
And while we're sharing, I am also pretty shaky on the following: The India/Pakistan conflict. Tibet. Provinces of Canada. Gangnam style.
Perhaps I should spend a bit less time reading historical fiction about the court of Henry VIII. That might help.
Anything you should know but don't? Come on, make me feel better.
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When playing Veronica in "God of Carnage" this fall, I had to Google the Darfur tragedy. (She's writing a book on it.) I even watched several documentaries on it because I couldn't remember. Oops.
ReplyDeleteI think the world is a big, big place.
ReplyDeleteI have to remind myself of this all the time.... also that I probably know more about....say..... italian female composers of the 1600s than 99% of the population. So it all evens out, right? But we'll never be without something new to learn!
I think there is a need-to-know philosophy that keeps us sane. Unless you are a game show freak. Although, random fact checking can be fun. Now, which direction from Iraq is Afghanistan...
ReplyDeleteI don't know anything about the Kardashians and have no idea why anyone else does. And I get all the blond movie stars mixed up. And I also know nothing about gangnam style, but I have heard of it.
ReplyDeleteThank you, all! I'm feeling better. And surely my knowledge of every celebrity's children's names will come in handy someday, right?
ReplyDelete