AC/DC

I'm a negative person.

I don't mean that in the bad way. Although, I've noticed that it can head in bad directions when it's not really monitored well. And part of me doesn't think I can turn it off. It's just that - I have the talent of seeing problems with things that most people can't see until they use hindsight. I point out potentially harmful situations, hurdles and roadblocks for plans and goals. I also see little reason to offer solutions since I'm not just pointing out the obvious. But, living completely in the negative on someone else's plans (or even your own) has its down side.

I have to wonder if it's so simple to place people into the two distinct camps. We do it in our storytelling - good v. evil is the most common theme out there. In the two basic story modes (Two Dogs, One Bone and The Hero's Journey) you have conflict that arises from a genuinely good person being pitted against a genuinely bad one.

Luckily, I think that we're starting to move away from how simple that is and to see stories with complex characters - good people that have bad traits and vice versa. Of course, from this thought, I'll segue into the most natural location: foreign policy.

If we really are inundated and influenced by media, it's a good thing that the types of stories we have are evolving. If we start seeing our characters as multi-dimensional, can we start seeing ourselves that way? Our friends? Our enemies?

Up to this point, our national history has reflected our stories in that inexorable way that art infiltrates life. Our wars are fought with evil enemies - Nazis, Communists, Terrorists. We find genuinely bad people to fight in order to play the genuinely good role. I imagine in some small part, this view of the world has been bolstered or encouraged by our art - our movies mostly. Millions of young people pile into a movie theater to see a Middle Eastern man play a terrorist hijacking a plane. They see incredible racial stereotypes and cultural discontinuities. They see these for one reason, and I think it has little to do with racism and more to do with the structure of our stories. There's no room for dynamic characters - only room for flat ones, people that represent something.

So we never learn about the terrorist's struggle back home, his family life, his remarkable traits, the better angels of his nature. Likewise, we never see the dashing hero's faults and flaws.

If this art has affected our racial opinions or our ideas about foreign countries, then it seems logical that the complication of that art will lead to better cultural understanding. Seeing more diverse people playing deeper, more rounded characters might give us sympathy to a different lifestyle. And it can extend to our personal experiences and to our dealings with other major countries.

Likewise, the proliferation of the internet, specifically its ability to connect us to other people can do nothing but shape our minds in a more global way. The thought here is that if someone can chat with another person in China, their view of the Chinese becomes more humanistic. It's not necessarily more real, or less racist, but it becomes more complex and more human.

Some contact will reinforce stereotypes, but in the broader sense of the worst consequences of foreign policy - having a friend in Iran makes it harder for me to want to bomb that country. For fear of her safety or because I have personal knowledge that good people are there.

Complex art and intricate characters make us think. And I still don't know of situations where thinking more is a bad thing.

Here's to getting to know one another.