Nov 7, 2006 4
yes.
you know, sometimes i come off as hopeless based on some of the things i say on this blog and a lot of things do make me feel hopeless. but i’m not hopeless.
i attended this year’s OCAD graduation for which our former governor general, adrienne clarkson was a guest of honour and gave a customary speech (karim rashid also gave a speech. he designs cool stuff but his speech sucked). her speech started off with reference to the explosive nature with which the davinci code (and the subsequent movie) hit the world, and that if there’s anything positive we can take from it, it’s that the massive attention blitz made it possible for the pre-Eusebius (not to be mistaken with portuguese football great Eusebio) gospels to emerge and for us to be aware of the messages therein. yay for optimism!
and now i turn to something of similar, but scaled-down hype, the borat movie, and its utilization of dramatic irony to bluntly showcase ignorance and narrow-mindedness in the american public. but maybe it’s not that simple. i think there’s a dischord that exists between the rhetoric that underlies so much hate/prejudice/blah we’re allowed to easily pass judgement on and the general kindness and hospitality with which the borat character was received into people’s homes and private lives. because, how can both exist? how can you in one instance sermonize on the evils of an ethnic group and at the same time welcome a member of that group into your home? and it does exist …
now this is what gives me hope, that there is an openness in the human heart to grant a stranger a seat at your family table.
(ps: i cannot stop listening to sade)
