John’s Video Blog No. 5/6
A short video series made here in Bangkok with my friend John, from New York. We made six videos together. Enjoy!
<<< John's Videos >>>
<<< John's Videos >>>
No Politics
Street Discussion
John: You believe in peace?
Man: Yeah, definitely. I believe in peace. I want the whole world to live in peace. The whole world.
John: How can we achieve peace?
Man: I think now it’s very difficult for me or for you… because there’s no peace now. There are a lot of wars taking place everywhere… and every time. So you can decide for yourself… for example, Adam says he can play music to make people happy. And this is his vision for peace I think. For me, it means to be friendly with all people. Respective of their religions, cultures, beliefs, whatever.
John: Where are you from?
Man: I’m from Sudan.
John: Sudan! Really?
Interview
John: It’s pretty cool living in Thailand, because I get to meet people from all kinds of different cultures… especially here around Khaosan Road in Bangkok. A lot of people come through here. So usually I meet people from England and Europe, but sometimes you get to meet people from different countries, like the Sudan… for instance. I met one guy from the Sudan and that was pretty interesting.
He was the only guy I’ve ever met from the Sudan. So… I’ve heard a lot about Sudan. I’ve heard that there’s a Genocide. People talk in the news about genocide in Sudan. So I mentioned to this guy that I heard about a political conflict in the Sudan, and he was very defensive about it. He started accusing me of being responsible for everything that America does.
At the time I got a little bit annoyed at the guy. But I guess I can understand where he’s coming from… because… the same way that people come up to me and say, “why does America do this? Why does America do that” I’m sure people come up to him and say tell me why you’re committing Genocide in the Sudan. I wish I could see the guy again and tell him I felt this way, but now he’s already gone. So that’s that.
Street Discussion
John: The point of my documentary has nothing to do with politics. This about Learning English in Japan, but maybe you learned something. People from Sudan do not like America.
Man: Maybe this is my own point of view. I don’t represent any political regime.
John: He doesn’t represent everybody.
Man: Maybe everywhere, not only in Sudan (people don’t like American government)
John: maybe everywhere.
Man: Yeah, not only in Sudan, maybe everywhere.
John: Maybe everywhere. But anyway, the point is… this is a nice happy country (Thailand). And you see… people from Sudan and people from America, we can get along.
Man: Yeah we can.
John: We can talk about peace. Are you Islamic? Are you Muslim?
Man: Yeah!
John: Because “Allah” means submission, and “Islam” means peace.
Man: Yeah really! When you say “Salam Alaikum”, this means, the “Peace of Allah be upon you”. So it is a religion of peace. Those extremists represent themselves. They do not represent Islam. Anyway, you’ll find extremists everywhere you go… in every culture… even in the USA.
John: We see extremists all around the world. We see extremist Muslims. We see extremist Christians. We see extremist…
John: Alright I’m going to sign off. (Politics) has nothing to do with the point of this documentary. We got into politics. Sorry William that you have to watch this. You can edit this out as freely as you want. Peace!
Word Help
definitely もちろん achieve もたらす taking place 起こっている decide 決める make people happy 人を幸せにする. And this is his vision 考え方 Respective それぞれのreligions 宗教 beliefs 信仰 all kinds of あらゆる especially 特に come through 通り過ぎる Genocide 集団虐殺 mentioned ～について話した political conflict 政治紛争 defensive 身構えた started accusing 非難し始めた a little bit annoyed すこしイラついた my own point of view 自分の考え方 represent 表す political regime 政治体制 get along 仲がよい submission 従うこと extremists 過激派 edit 編集する as freely as you want 好きなように
