- Joined
- Oct 5, 2001
- Messages
- 30,085
Had a few thoughts / observations that I wanted to raise, but since they are related to several different threads, I will try to (cunningly) link them via a new thread.
First, the media. It is a somewhat sad fact that the Western media plays ranking games with what is important. The death of three westerners in flooding will always get more coverage (and maybe even more aid more aid) than (say) 3000 deaths in a third-world country. Whilst the reasons for this are fairly obvious, it can send the message that Western lives are more important than those of others. The tragedy that was September 11th completely overshadowed everything else in terms of saturation coverage. Events in Toulouse were completely ignored, as soon as a link to Al Qaida was ruled out, even though there was very little that was newsworthy and actually "New" coming out of NY and Washington D.C. And this was a major event in a EUROPEAN town. This is all about generating perceptions.
On this, what is the perception of "EVIL"? It is very easy to highlight that the Taliban are oppressive and hence "evil", but that is a so-called "enlightened" view from the developed world. There are still quite a few countries and regimes that oppress woman (for example), and even in the westernised world, we have only recently (by human standards) given woman voting rights. Hell- 10 years ago many countries believed that homosexuals were subhumans. Racism is still rife world-wide. What I am trying to say is that people who say that the Taliban are "evil" are saying this effectively "in their opinion". Their opinion is drawn from their experience and their environment. We could easily say now (and some do) that anyone who wants to clone a human is "evil". I wonder what the general population will think of this two hundred years from now, when society will (most probably) be completely different. Many of those growing up in Afganistan are exposed to a different environment, and hence, in all probability, they believe that the Taliban is "right". Hell - even our US posters can't agree whether its the republicans or the democrats who are the "good guys"!
One thing is for sure - anyone who thinks propoganda ended with Goebels (spelling?) is naive. Just because you are given a perspective from the government, it may not be right. I heard from a friend working in Kuwait that the Iraqi invasion was actually the result of Kuwait renegging on a deal with Iraq. This may or may not be true, but it is a "different" view.
Dubya wants to divide the world into good guys and bad guys. Which side he is on is just a question of your particular point of view. In my opinion, he is neither - he believes that he is "good"; yet some of the things that he does I perceive to be "bad". The scary thing is that he holds the biggest stick. He has every right to defend the States and their allies - I don't argue with that. But defend them against what?
Are North Korea, Iran and Iraq "evil" because they are trying to develop weapons of mass destruction? If so, then aren't the US, UK, Russia, China, Pakistan, India, France etc already evil? Its all a bit hypocritical, really. Unless they are evil for completely different reasons.
First, the media. It is a somewhat sad fact that the Western media plays ranking games with what is important. The death of three westerners in flooding will always get more coverage (and maybe even more aid more aid) than (say) 3000 deaths in a third-world country. Whilst the reasons for this are fairly obvious, it can send the message that Western lives are more important than those of others. The tragedy that was September 11th completely overshadowed everything else in terms of saturation coverage. Events in Toulouse were completely ignored, as soon as a link to Al Qaida was ruled out, even though there was very little that was newsworthy and actually "New" coming out of NY and Washington D.C. And this was a major event in a EUROPEAN town. This is all about generating perceptions.
On this, what is the perception of "EVIL"? It is very easy to highlight that the Taliban are oppressive and hence "evil", but that is a so-called "enlightened" view from the developed world. There are still quite a few countries and regimes that oppress woman (for example), and even in the westernised world, we have only recently (by human standards) given woman voting rights. Hell- 10 years ago many countries believed that homosexuals were subhumans. Racism is still rife world-wide. What I am trying to say is that people who say that the Taliban are "evil" are saying this effectively "in their opinion". Their opinion is drawn from their experience and their environment. We could easily say now (and some do) that anyone who wants to clone a human is "evil". I wonder what the general population will think of this two hundred years from now, when society will (most probably) be completely different. Many of those growing up in Afganistan are exposed to a different environment, and hence, in all probability, they believe that the Taliban is "right". Hell - even our US posters can't agree whether its the republicans or the democrats who are the "good guys"!
One thing is for sure - anyone who thinks propoganda ended with Goebels (spelling?) is naive. Just because you are given a perspective from the government, it may not be right. I heard from a friend working in Kuwait that the Iraqi invasion was actually the result of Kuwait renegging on a deal with Iraq. This may or may not be true, but it is a "different" view.
Dubya wants to divide the world into good guys and bad guys. Which side he is on is just a question of your particular point of view. In my opinion, he is neither - he believes that he is "good"; yet some of the things that he does I perceive to be "bad". The scary thing is that he holds the biggest stick. He has every right to defend the States and their allies - I don't argue with that. But defend them against what?
Are North Korea, Iran and Iraq "evil" because they are trying to develop weapons of mass destruction? If so, then aren't the US, UK, Russia, China, Pakistan, India, France etc already evil? Its all a bit hypocritical, really. Unless they are evil for completely different reasons.