http://feeds.feedburner.com/TEDTalks_video
This is sensible fullstop.
In my view, the west (Europe and America) should acknowlege and apologise for their effect on middle eastern countries.
I know it sounds naive and unimportant, but, often acknowlegment and apology is what people need.
For example, in the compensation culture of America, doctors are not allowed to apologise for fear of strengthening someones legal case against them. But, I read somewhere (sorry, cant remember, you will have to search to find it), that some hospitals have tried a different tack, they allow apology and listen to the complaints, and, instead of resulting in more compensation payouts, they are being sued less. Some people only sue to get the acknowlegement that what a doctor did was negligent. Of course others sue for different reasons too...
So, we hear about "Islam" all the time now...I fear its going to become more extreme as times goes by...for crying out loud please please governments stop playing the technically PC correct game. Say sorry. Stop intefereing in the middle east only when it suits your aims, have more integrity. Stop the PC playing lip service to minorities (in the UK) and instead truly treat minorities as citizens of the country, and insist on integration (in schools etc). Religion should not be governments concern at all, schools, roads, hospitals etc are governments concern. Government should actually specify what its remit is for all to see, because in the UK we don't have that laid out. Then stick to it.
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Hi Emily,
Thanks for the link, it looks very interestingly.
The reason that I have enjoyed doing this course; DD101 so much, is because it has helped to shed light on things which I was aware of but didn't know were, 'official'.
As with people on a personal level, what you see is rarely what you get. Which is why I find it so refreshing when people at least try to be honest, even if it may be to my detriment. In politics, like most people I guess, since the beginning of my adulthood I have been aware that what you see is only half, if that, of what the reality is.
In my humble opinion, the situation in the Middle East and indeed Iraq and Afghanistan has less to do with religion and more to do with oil, power and political gain.
These are all very complicated issues but the underlying remits are the same. I won't say that I think Al Qa'ida and the Taliban are irrelevant because I don't think that they are. The reason they got a foot in door in the first place, was because of Western Duplicity. On the one hand, for the benefit of their own citizens, they are un-approving of the despot regimes and their corrupt practices. On the other hand, they give tactile support to those very same regimes. The people living there, know this.[And, if anybody care's to know, I think that the majority of citizens in the 'Western world', now know this too].
(Libya, these days, is a different story but maybe for a later time...!)
That is why 'Islamic jihadism' was given a lifeline in the first place. The people were stuck between a rock and a hard place and Al Qa'ida came along like supposed knights in shining armour (forgive the pun!), to rescue them from corrupt governments(Saudi, Yemen, Eygpt, to name but a few) being illicitly supported by far stronger states (mostly from the Western hemisphere)- who claimed to have their best interests at heart...
Apologies would be useful if the situations had been resolved. They have not. To use your example of patients suing doctors, the 'doctors' in this case, are still mutilating- sorry operating....
Politics, is a dirty business, not least because as in the module: Force, fear and persuasion are the tools used by states to legitimise their authority to govern...it's just a shame (to put it in a sanitized form) that all the people stuck in the middle of these patterns and trends of change, don't have much say......democracy in the early 21st century is the form favoured by minimalists it seems; ie, (very) indirect rule by the people.
As opposed to a more direct form of democracy, where the people are consulted more, which means that they are more informed...but that wouldn't do would it- then how would the governments get to achieve their objectives, without outraging their own citizens with the less than moral strategies?!
Just a snippet of my viewpoints...
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Jameela, I just don't know...It is appalling that in this age of easier communication around the world that some people are still in the most dire of situations, especially since these situations are man made.... I shouldn't really comment though...because, I don't know anything first hand and I haven't studied it either...but, can't help but be interested...