Finally discovered why I am unhappy about my current job: it's a problem of motivation! Basically, my boss does not give me a lot of confidence in his ability to manage this project, and my impression gets confirmed by everyone who works or worked with him. Hence, everything he orders me to do seems pointless and off the mark, and I feel like I am wasting my time... It's like being a rat on a shinking ship: I'm trying hard to get out... The one advantage this job brings is that I have time to wait till I can catch a really good opportunity!

Sunday, I will start my trip to Turkey. Looking forward to go to the airport again: I love that place! It's so vibrant; people coming and going, saying goodbye or seeing each other again after a long time, getting ready for a trip, or for going back home - the air full of emotions and noises sometimes disturbed by the metallic voice of a flight announcer... But over all: the feeling I will start some "adventure" again, and the knowledge that I am leaving a place I know so well that I get totally bored by it...

See you later, you who stumbles upon my diary and feels bored enough to read it!

A moral question

During the past two weeks, I have been watching the fourth season of the American series "24". Truly one of the most addictive series ever, it shows the happenings during one long day when terrorists attempt to harm the U.S. of A., and the Counter-Terrorist Unit (usually lead by Jack Bauer) tries to stop bad things from happening.

In the previous seasons, I sometimes got a bit irritated because of the propaganda in this series: it is clearly supporting the current government and their approach to terrorism, and the President of the USA is allways a super responsible, capable person who wants the best for his people. This was irritating, but what happens in the fourth season is even worse: there's a very clear plea in favor of the "Patriot Act" there and for allowing the use of torture to get information from terrorists (think: Guantanamo!) The general idea is that, sometimes, torture is necessary to save millions of lifes. In the series one cannot but agree that torturing really helped stopping some terrible things from happening.

I thought a long time about why it is wrong to have this kind of message. My conclusion is that once you start using the methods of your enemy, you are no better than him. Furthermore, if you allow torture in some instances, where do you draw the line? In the series, the hero (Jack Bauer) tortures all the time, and because he's a good guy, you can live with it. However, once torture is accepted as a normal way to get necessary information, it will be easier to start torturing again once you encounter a problem that is maybe not that urgent. Also, who can decide when torture is appropriate and when it is not? 

There is one extreme scene that really struck me: Jack Bauer has captured a Chinese scientist who sold nuclear secrets to terrorists. The guy knows where the terrorists (who are about to set off a nuclear device) are hiding. However, he is wounded and needs surgery or he will die, destroying every chance to find the terrorists in time. When Jack arrives at the clinic of the Counter-Terrorist Unit, he finds there that the man who saved his life earlier (Tony) is in surgery because of the bullets he took for Jack. His wife (who is Jack's girlfriend, but discovers she still has feelings for her husband) is there as well. Basically, Jack has to choose: save the guy who saved his life, or save the Chinese scientist who can guide CTU to the terrorists. Without a second thought, Jack points his gun at the doctors helping Tony and forces them to save the Chinese guy. Tony dies, the Chinese scientist lives.

It's a scene that explicitly shows what Jack Bauer stands for, and what the directors think is admirable behavior: feelings are not important, just save all the lifes you can - sacrifice one if it can save a million. This is considered "serving your country". Isn't this wrong? I would say that Jack Bauer is a psychopath instead of a hero... What do you think?

Someone told me today that my blog is depressing. I admit that it is indeed not very high-spirited, mostly because I only feel like writing when I am sad.

So, to cheer this place up a bit, here it comes, a BIG SMILE:

I feel like I have calmed down somewhat these days. I am less restless than I have been most of the previous months, and I have the general feeling that I am finally getting used to living in Belgium again.

There's still a lot of areas that can have improvement, but I feel that eventually they will improve, and that it is no use living too much in the future. It might be the prospect of a trip to Turkey that is causing all this though.

Really hoping those crazy birds stop infecting people down there!