I recently watched a trailer for Tina Fey’s upcoming movie "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot."
Oy.
I really tried to justify this to myself. Maybe they’re gonna use satire to expose some misconceptions… like, maybe they’ll star some Afghani and Pakistani women to show how incredibly fearless and badass they are, I thought. I hoped.
But, nope. Nada. Nothing. I couldn’t justify how someone could make a "funny" movie about terrorizing my people. How can you possibly find years of bloodshed and poverty… funny? I understand that certain levels of ignorance will always exist and people have to make money, but I can’t just sit here and support the commercialization and exploitation of a region which has been torn apart by war and occupation for such a long time.
To me, this looks like a movie about a bored old privileged woman who wants to experience how "exhilerating" the occupation in the Middle East/South Asia is in hopes of finding a "refreshing" new angle for her news network. Yeah, I know she’s a war correspondent, but actual war correspondents don’t think their experiences are funny (most of them come back to the States with severe trauma). Ultimately, it just looks like she wants to find some sort of self-validation by traveling to and covering a “third world” country.
In short: waddup, white savior complex.
It’s wild to me that we’ve become such a desensitized society when it comes to violence, especially when our own policies have contributed to the demise of so many communities, both within our country and around the world. I know a lot of people think I get too heated over these things… but how can I not? I’ve personally seen how political unrest destroys the infrastructure of a country. On the evening of December 27, 2007, I remember going shoe shopping in Karachi, Pakistan. On my way back to my aunt’s house via taxi, I passed Liaquat Bagh where Benazir Bhutto was having a campaign rally. Shortly after passing the area, I saw, what had seemed to be in my eyes, fireworks. Suddenly, my brother and I heard loud screams and saw so many civilians running for their lives. The taxi driver stopped the car to see what was happening, but my mom kept shouting, “GO! GO! GO!” Terror quickly replaced my excitement of the new Pakistani shoes I had just bought.
When I arrived at my aunt’s house, I later found out that Benazir Bhutto had been assassinated, and that the sound of the “fireworks” was actually a bomb that had detonated right before us. As if seeing a bomb explode wasn’t bad enough, I also found out that members of the Taliban, who were responsible for the assassination, were trying to poison the Karachi water system. Due to the state of emergency, a lockdown was issued for three days and no one was allowed to leave or enter individual gated communities. After hiding underneath the bed during the first day of the lockdown, I decided to step onto the balcony for some fresh air. As I scanned my eyes over the city, I saw hundreds of Pakistani military men guarding every corner of every gated community in the area.
When you see a bomb detonate in front of you and have truly felt what terror feels like, you will never be able to flip the channel, skip a tweet, or scroll past an article that talks about the many bombings that take place every single day around the world. You will never be able to ignore the fact that you had the privilege of escaping that feeling of terror while others must deal with it for the rest of their lives because it is permanent.
That’s why I will never view war or political violence in a lighthearted manner. And you can bet that I’ll never pay to indulge or take part in exploiting or, quite frankly, dehumanizing all of the innocent lives which have been taken due to western occupation.
Tina Fey, go home. You did not make me laugh today.
