Looking back on what I’ve written about this semester, from Searching from Debra Winger to When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, there is an undeniable common thread between them: each work has made an attempt at breaking down the traditional mindset of an issue with a new perspective.
Riverbend’s Baghdad Burning is no exception. Taken directly from her blog of the same name, these entries detail the life of a 24-year-old Iraqi girl living in Baghdad. Despite an obvious bias, Riverbend’s presence in Baghdad during the American occupation provides invaluable insight into affects of the American presence in Iraq from the opposing perspective. With a certain degree of anonymity, Riverbend is able to discuss the occurrences of Iraq and give her true opinion of the political leaders without censorship. Her descriptions of day-to-day life of Iraqis in Baghdad and the troubles they face during occupation offer a glimpse into the misperceived Iraqi culture. With that being said, both her anonymity and occasional irrationality end up being major faults in the legitimacy of her blog. A measure that was undoubtedly taken for her own safety—the use of a pseudonym—ends up ruining some of her credibility; readers accepting of the accuracy of her personal life may find it difficult to trust the facts she uses when discussing the political aspects of the occupation. Riverbend often sounds like an expert, leaving readers wondering how a computer programmer is so knowledgeable about the U.S. actions and political leaders. Maybe she researched it with her spare time, or maybe she has an undisclosed family member involved in some of the occurrences. Regardless, the political aspect and anti-American sentiment may turn off the more patriotic readers, forcing them to put the book down out of disgust instead of leaving with a heightened sense of education on Iraqi suffering. In publishing her blogs without editing, however, Riverbend was able to keep her perspective legitimate, harsh criticism of America and all. The repetitiveness of her blog, while at times frustrating for readers, seems to solidify its accurate depiction of Iraq from her perspective; while readers may get tired of hearing about the electricity being shut off, the reality is that Iraqis had to experience the repetitiveness of their troubled lives.
In terms of the blog’s level of bias and accuracy as a representative of the Iraqi people, Baghdad Burning could’ve been improved. The infuriation that infiltrates Riverbend’s writing at tense times, such as after the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib, often leaves her with a jaded perspective that comes off as irrational. But from the perspective of a reader, Riverbend’s lack of objectivity, most noticeable towards the end of the book, also serve as a representative marker for the anger towards the U.S., legitimate or otherwise, that began to consume Iraqis. If analyzed not purely on the basis of Riverbend’s writing—and given some understanding for the included emotion, Baghdad Burning can serve as an incredibly useful tool for beginning to comprehend the Iraq War from a perspective other than the American bias fed to us by both the government and the news outlet.
I thought the quote for this entry was quite appropriate for the subject matter. It's from a movie with "war" in the title. This one's much less of a classic, however. Any guesses?
