Reflection on a bygone troubled time
The world shown on the “big screen” is far from real, but sometimes a movie will make you stop, think a little and then sigh in relief that we live in an easier world than many others. Tonight, we sat through The Last King Of Scotland and we came away with troubled spirits. The headlines in a local newspaper don’t provide enough content for us to realize how bad things have been in various times and places.
I’d had my first contact with the Ugandan “situation” when I arrived in Quebec back two decades ago. Some of my students were refugees; I didn’t know the back story, other than that they’d left a country with a crazy dictator. This film provides far too much detail and colour about what life with such a leader might be like. The fear on the faces of the various characters was what put this movie apart from so many others.
Again, I remain thankful that the worst thing in my day is a late transit bus or too much snow.
Enough movie reviews for one evening; this afternoon I watched a TELUQ presentation on local cable by a software specialist, who took the time to compare the world of Open Source to that of the private sector model. He was an evangelist; I’ve been there and I still “use” OSS, but years of preaching to the deaf has shown me the error of my ways. As long as the private sector continues to buy eyes in education, we aren’t going to change our systems. You see, when money isn’t the object, people (in charge) don’t really care. What is in place will suffice. I think you understand the nuance.
