(Oh yes, LJ, go right ahead and post my comment somewhere other than where I told you to post it. Pfah.)
It’s about the fact he walked away and tried to conceal the shooting from his superiors
That is actually the first I'd heard of that. SERIOUSLY? Jesus.
To your second-to-last paragraph: this is not stuff that shows up in US history books or television programs. And I wonder why have I never caught on to this until now? In the beginning of this, I said something to my mom about how I didn't understand the riots and wondered why there couldn't just be an election. But I'm getting a clearer picture. I don't think I can say "I understand" because...I can't even get my head around it completely. It's so far outside my everyday reality, where if you don't like it, you can raise some hell, and/or vote for the right people, and it will change at some point in the near future. It's not that I'm unaware of situations like dictatorships, juntas, etc., but I didn't ever connect "bad government system" with Greece. Whenever Greece gets mentioned, it's like, oh, Greece? Yeah, they invented democracy. Greece is awesome. Until now, I think the general public's concept of Greece has been riding on common knowledge of ancient Greece. ...Plus feta cheese and pretty beaches.
They haven’t made their peace that it doesn’t matter if they study/work hard/attempt to excel within a system that’s rigged for them to fail.
I think that is another reason this strikes me. Okay, so my generation did get together and elect Obama. Yay! But what have we all done for our own cities lately? Hell, for our own neighborhoods? We want change but we don't always want to fight for it. We love to ask other people to fight for us. I'm incriminating myself as much as other people, here. A large part of it is that I can see the problems, but I have no idea where to start fixing them. Suddenly I'm seeing people my age (as well as other ages, yes) standing up to fix something so hugely messed up that I can't imagine it. That is what I admire. I see broken areas of my country and tend to think, oh well, the politicians will fix it! But...maybe I'm stronger than I think. Maybe my whole generation is. Maybe we just aren't under enough pressure yet. (I had a weird reaction to the riots. I had this crazy strong urge to go get on a plane to Greece and do something. Perhaps it's a misdirected "do something" urge. There are things to do here, there are battles here. Somehow I don't think Greece is my battle. But I still wish I could get on that plane. People like me are doing something, why can't I?)
My mind feels like it's in knots. I keep talking but I don't know how much sense any of it is making.
2/2
It’s about the fact he walked away and tried to conceal the shooting from his superiors
That is actually the first I'd heard of that. SERIOUSLY? Jesus.
To your second-to-last paragraph: this is not stuff that shows up in US history books or television programs. And I wonder why have I never caught on to this until now? In the beginning of this, I said something to my mom about how I didn't understand the riots and wondered why there couldn't just be an election. But I'm getting a clearer picture. I don't think I can say "I understand" because...I can't even get my head around it completely. It's so far outside my everyday reality, where if you don't like it, you can raise some hell, and/or vote for the right people, and it will change at some point in the near future. It's not that I'm unaware of situations like dictatorships, juntas, etc., but I didn't ever connect "bad government system" with Greece. Whenever Greece gets mentioned, it's like, oh, Greece? Yeah, they invented democracy. Greece is awesome. Until now, I think the general public's concept of Greece has been riding on common knowledge of ancient Greece. ...Plus feta cheese and pretty beaches.
They haven’t made their peace that it doesn’t matter if they study/work hard/attempt to excel within a system that’s rigged for them to fail.
I think that is another reason this strikes me. Okay, so my generation did get together and elect Obama. Yay! But what have we all done for our own cities lately? Hell, for our own neighborhoods? We want change but we don't always want to fight for it. We love to ask other people to fight for us. I'm incriminating myself as much as other people, here. A large part of it is that I can see the problems, but I have no idea where to start fixing them. Suddenly I'm seeing people my age (as well as other ages, yes) standing up to fix something so hugely messed up that I can't imagine it. That is what I admire. I see broken areas of my country and tend to think, oh well, the politicians will fix it! But...maybe I'm stronger than I think. Maybe my whole generation is. Maybe we just aren't under enough pressure yet. (I had a weird reaction to the riots. I had this crazy strong urge to go get on a plane to Greece and do something. Perhaps it's a misdirected "do something" urge. There are things to do here, there are battles here. Somehow I don't think Greece is my battle. But I still wish I could get on that plane. People like me are doing something, why can't I?)
My mind feels like it's in knots. I keep talking but I don't know how much sense any of it is making.