What's in A Sign?

Among all the craziness of the soccer games this week, AUC did not fall short of their usual standard of entertainment. The first thing that grabbed my attention, and the attention of most American students on campus this week, was a sign recruiting people to the Model UN Club. The sign featured pictures of Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, and (sandwiched between the two) George W. Bush. Under the picture, it says "What do these three have in common?" The answer, under that, is, of course, "None of them were Model UN members." And the sign concludes with, "Join Model UN. Meeting on..." And...this is incredibly offensive. Bush...to Stalin? To Hitler? Seriously?

This is offensive for several reasons. First, I know he wasn't great, but the presidency of George W. Bush is in no way comparable to the rule of Stalin in Russia or Hitler in Germany. Bush may have declared war on an Arab, Islamic nation, but he was not a maniac who systematically killed people and it is wrong, even jokingly, to compare him to leaders that did this. Next, before Egyptians criticize American leaders, maybe they should re-evaluate their own leaders and their own political system. How would they feel if there was a sign made featuring the pictures of Hossni Mubarek, Fidel Castro, and Kim Jung-Il, with the question, "What do these three have in common?" And the answer, "they are repressive authoritarian leaders!" This might even be a more acceptable sign because it would be closer to a representation of true fact. Not only would Egyptians be angry with this and offended by it, they would be concerned by it. Such a representation in their country would not be tolerated. And it bothers me that they criticize our leaders even though they are politically and structurally incapable of criticizing their own. They are so blinded by their hatred of George W. Bush and the America he has come to represent that they do not realize it is American democratic values and norms that would allow them the right to criticize their own leaders in the way they are criticizing ours. That they don't see the need to criticize their own rulers, but don't give a second thought to criticizing our leaders, leaders who try to promote these democratic values and norms both within and outside the nations they lead, is offensive to me. And most Americans on campus agree with me.

Thankfully, the signs have been taken down. And apparently, the president of AUC, who is American and was out of town this week, would have never let the signs be put up around campus. This is comforting, but it is still, beyond being somewhat comical and just illogical (really how, in any way, are Bush, Stalin, and Hitler similar...if you think about it from one regard Bush and Hitler are almost opposite considering their relationship to Israel, in Bush's case, and the Jewish people, in Hitler's case), but it is still a source of concern to most American students.

The other way AUC has managed to not let us down on the entertainment front this week has been through its crafting of its new policies regarding swine flu. First of all, all Egyptian public schools have been ordered by the government to be closed for an extra five days after out break from November 26th until December 1. This would only close AUC for an extra two class days, the way our schedule is set up, but AUC, in direct defiance to the government, has vowed it will reopen on December 2 as scheduled. As for what will actually happen, we have no idea. We may go back on December 2. We may go back on December 6. We may not go back. (Some people are saying the rest of the semester will be cancelled. I don't think this will happen, but you never know. At this point, I hope it doesn't. We're so far behind already, I just want to finish the semester out under as little confusion and frustration as possible). It's a guessing game at this point.

Also regarding swine flu, AUC has advanced a few new preventative policies which rival, as far as logical thinking is concerned, the Egyptian government's policy of preventing an epidemic earlier this year by killing all the pigs in the nation. It is now necessary that all buses transporting students to AUC drive with their windows open at all times. This is because if someone on the bus were to have swine flu and the the windows were closed, the air that they breathed and contaminated would be recirculated throughout the bus, making other passengers sick. Opening the windows will cause the contaminated air to leave the bus before it is able to contaminate anyone. Opening the windows also causes Cairo city air to constantly enter the bus, maximizing the time we breath this air, and maximizing our chances of being diagnosed with lung cancer in the future. I'm not sure of the truth of this statistic because I read it on a leaflet distributed by an AUC anti-smoking club (so it may be completely made up for shock value), but I read that living in Cairo is equal to smoking one pack of cigarettes per day. Even if this is not true, breathing the heavily polluted air here cannot be beneficial to anyone's health. AUC has also decided that any classroom of any student who is infected with swine flu will be quarantined. This means that all the classrooms of an infected student can no longer be used. I am not sure what the exact reasons are behind this because I thought germs did not live on inanimate objects, but I am sure AUC has their reasons. And at this point, I don't even think it is worth questioning them.

So, it's been an entertaining week, much thanks both to African national soccer and, as always, to quote our study abroad advisor at Notre Dame, "the powers that be at AUC." It is finally the weekend though, thank goodness. And next week is a short week due to the break beginning on Thursday. This is good news, as the break is definitely much anticipated by all of us here and will be a welcome hiatus from the craziness of Cairo and the, I'll call it, entertainment, constantly put on by AUC.