In a perfect world, as a historian extraordinaire, the president of the United States would call me up and ask, “So… this whole Libya thing. What should I do next?” Not that he needs my help per se. He has plenty of smart people around him and he is no slouch in the brains department either. However, President Obama would be served well to consider the lessons of the past, if not the sage-like advice of a blogger with about 4 people on a regular reading list – one of them being my mother.
And so, we turn a hopeful eye towards North Africa. Libya has been a center of civilization in the region since antiquity. It could prove to be so again in the 21st-century but a great deal of things would need to fall into place – a confluence of events that only seems to happen in the history of countries. When considering how best to help the country and its nascent governmental structure, there are three main things it desperately needs from those claiming friendship and one thing it could certainly do without. The president has made comments to suggest the role of the U.S. will be limited because of our standing in the region. That would be a huge mistake – the kind that one term presidents with a penchant for making nationally televised speeches about malaise make.
Step one, send in a slew of politicos including campaign managers, strategists, voting experts and observers to bring the country more quickly to free elections. The United States did this with the countries of Eastern Europe when the Soviet Union lost influence and ultimately, collapsed. The Libyan people and the transitional government will need all the help they can receive from the world’s democracies to create one of their very own. Such experts can organize the process of the selection of candidates for office and the standardization of voting places and procedures. We have a great opportunity to influence the course of events in Libya, a course of events that would serve the Libyan people well.
Step two, there needs to be economists and business people to advise and invest in the country. One thing that makes the Libyan economy so shaky and fragile is its lack of diversity. Oil revenue makes up about 95% of its total export revenue and a whopping 25% of GDP. Economists and investors could change that. There are needs that, if paid for by the oil revenue, could do much to increase the standard of living. Perhaps, such assistance might also turn around the fact that it imports roughly 75% of its food. Additionally, economists could help shape domestic and international fiscal policy as well as set up new trade agreements and steps to increase foreign investment.
Lastly, there needs to be people who provide infrastructure construction and advice. With the various improvements that need to occur within the economy, a major dose of infrastructure projects would secure new foreign business and investment. It is likely that much of the port and pipeline facilities could use updating or repair but so too is there a need for additional road construction. Much of the country is desolate but increase road construction throughout the northern part of the country, which has only 35,000 miles of paved roads, might increase a variety of other industries.
One thing that would not serve the country well would be the appearance of United Nations peacekeepers. First of all, it sends the wrong message to the people of Libya – “we don’t trust you guys to put together a government without killing one another so we are going to send a bunch of soldiers in little blue helmets.” Second, the United Nations do not have a great track record for this kind of action and ultimately, a mismanaged and ineffective outside force could do much to ruin what other measures might be able to create.
As Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard mentioned on one of the Sunday shows this past week, we cannot control what is going on but we have it within our power to influence. Perhaps, a democratic country seeking to help out a budding democracy in accordance with our principles might do much to change our image in the region – surely, it will do more than refusing to do nothing because we fear people not liking us.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
What Baseball Means to Me
There is a legion of people out there who think baseball is boring. I know because every time I run into them and they find out of my obsession with baseball, they never hesitate to tell me and tell me often. This must be what soccer fans feel like. However, like soccer fans, I don’t consider the sport boring. Like most young boys of my generation, my experience with baseball began with time spent with my father. The most beautiful green grass was offset by the brown base path. The warm summer evening was accented with the smell of hot dogs and other baseball culinary accoutrements. My father taught me to score the games, likely to keep me engaged than anything else but it is a tradition I do to this day. Above all, the game allowed for conversation.
As an adult, I appreciate the sport for different reasons, while fondly recalling my times as a young boy. As an historian, there is something about an annual event that, for the most part, has not changed in the near century and a half baseball has been around. Technology has changed the sport and the environs have grown fancier but the product on the field as not changed. My score card and that of one from the 1940s will look roughly the same. To know that I’m connected to generations dating back to the late 1800s holds a continuity over me that, as an historian, gives me a chill. If I could somehow speak with someone from 1910 about baseball and our favorite teams and players, the conversation would flow because the subject is the same. How many things in the modern world can one say that about?
Second, it allows for an escape from modern society. While technology has seeped in and taken over the game production value, one can simply focus on the game and escape the hectic and artificial world that technology can create. The game moves at its own pace and not at the frenetic and bizarre one that inhabits much of our world today. There is no clock and no set time it must end. The game unfolds organically. In a world where we are rushing to get nowhere, here is a slice of what our country and our culture used to value. From this, I began to develop my values accordingly. When one attends a place like Wrigley Field in Chicago or Fenway Park in Boston, it heightens the experience but these ballparks come to us from an earlier age. I’ve been fortunate enough to visit these parks and it is a magical feel. Many who are not as enamored with baseball as I am find the romanticizing of the sport a bit too much. However, I would submit the reason for this approach is a call for, not so much an earlier time but an earlier approach to life.
Third, it is a combination of two sports mindsets – the importance and value of team but also the drama of a one-on-one face off. In baseball, each individual achievement is the product, not so much of the player but of the team. Every baseball player who ever pitched a no-hitter or reached a hitting record, did so because of the efforts of their teammates. A pitcher benefits from the defensive work of his teammates. The hitter benefits from the strategy forced upon the pitcher by the batter before or after in the lineup. Yet, when one pitcher squares off against one batter, it can be a marvelous thing. It is not always dramatic but the finality of the encounter is wonderful. At the end of an at-bat, one will walk off his spot either victorious or a little ashamed. In particular, I love the deadly pitcher refusing to walk or pitch around the great hitter. The pitcher is saying, “Yes, you are good but I’m better and I’m going to show you and the world.” And with the action on the field, come the statistician-fan who, through their scorebook and their knowledge of the game, rise and fall with the ebb and flow and continue to make that connection with an earlier time.
Finally, more so than any sport, baseball represents renewal. No other sport has fans that deal with defeat and loss with the level of optimism for the next year like in baseball. Spring is a rebirth and no matter the product on the field the year before, spring training represents another chance to prosper. Across the spectrum, baseball gives us what we lack in life. Perhaps, baseball does not mean that much to you, if at all. However, I’m often asked to describe why this sport wraps me up and draws me in. This is the best I can do.
As an adult, I appreciate the sport for different reasons, while fondly recalling my times as a young boy. As an historian, there is something about an annual event that, for the most part, has not changed in the near century and a half baseball has been around. Technology has changed the sport and the environs have grown fancier but the product on the field as not changed. My score card and that of one from the 1940s will look roughly the same. To know that I’m connected to generations dating back to the late 1800s holds a continuity over me that, as an historian, gives me a chill. If I could somehow speak with someone from 1910 about baseball and our favorite teams and players, the conversation would flow because the subject is the same. How many things in the modern world can one say that about?
Second, it allows for an escape from modern society. While technology has seeped in and taken over the game production value, one can simply focus on the game and escape the hectic and artificial world that technology can create. The game moves at its own pace and not at the frenetic and bizarre one that inhabits much of our world today. There is no clock and no set time it must end. The game unfolds organically. In a world where we are rushing to get nowhere, here is a slice of what our country and our culture used to value. From this, I began to develop my values accordingly. When one attends a place like Wrigley Field in Chicago or Fenway Park in Boston, it heightens the experience but these ballparks come to us from an earlier age. I’ve been fortunate enough to visit these parks and it is a magical feel. Many who are not as enamored with baseball as I am find the romanticizing of the sport a bit too much. However, I would submit the reason for this approach is a call for, not so much an earlier time but an earlier approach to life.
Third, it is a combination of two sports mindsets – the importance and value of team but also the drama of a one-on-one face off. In baseball, each individual achievement is the product, not so much of the player but of the team. Every baseball player who ever pitched a no-hitter or reached a hitting record, did so because of the efforts of their teammates. A pitcher benefits from the defensive work of his teammates. The hitter benefits from the strategy forced upon the pitcher by the batter before or after in the lineup. Yet, when one pitcher squares off against one batter, it can be a marvelous thing. It is not always dramatic but the finality of the encounter is wonderful. At the end of an at-bat, one will walk off his spot either victorious or a little ashamed. In particular, I love the deadly pitcher refusing to walk or pitch around the great hitter. The pitcher is saying, “Yes, you are good but I’m better and I’m going to show you and the world.” And with the action on the field, come the statistician-fan who, through their scorebook and their knowledge of the game, rise and fall with the ebb and flow and continue to make that connection with an earlier time.
Finally, more so than any sport, baseball represents renewal. No other sport has fans that deal with defeat and loss with the level of optimism for the next year like in baseball. Spring is a rebirth and no matter the product on the field the year before, spring training represents another chance to prosper. Across the spectrum, baseball gives us what we lack in life. Perhaps, baseball does not mean that much to you, if at all. However, I’m often asked to describe why this sport wraps me up and draws me in. This is the best I can do.
Money's Impact on Education
Over the last sixteen years of my teaching career, a decided change has occurred within the realm of education. When I began my career, and even going back to my own distant and not quite esteemed high school career, there was a moderate call for education as a method of occupational success and earnings. Today, the call for “learning” for the sake of making money is pervasive and deafening. The call for “career/money-obsessed education” even turned on its origins, wiping out vo-tech education as beneath the children of the world’s most prosperous country. Don’t believe me? Try suggesting to a high school guidance counselor to invite a technical trade school to career day. If you can watch the physical recoil without a response or giggle, you are a better person than me. Today, it is college or bust. Today, children are told to make education an “investment” in their future.
Today, students are inundated with messages of money, career and the connection of that to happiness and self-fulfillment. They are taught that meaning in life is unequivocally tied into the university and the salaries and fields of endeavor that can be acquired. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a fanatical proponent of higher education. I have a bachelor’s and a master’s however, I see those achievements more than the financial rewards that they have generated (though, in public education, such rewards are small, to be sure). And, before charges of communism are levied, I’m also a big fan of money and would never turn it down. Yet, what is the impression of the student who realizes, as I did for a time right out of high school, that college is not for them and they want something else out of life? It can’t be good. And, the purpose and value of education can’t be about money or success. It is much more important.
Still, as much as the public education system is encouraging students to sell themselves out and turn the pursuit of education into the pursuit of money, the education system is leading by example. Today, the focus of education is about testing and schools are doing nearly everything they can to apply for federal dollars and make sure their test results are the best in the district. In Atlanta, Georgia, hundreds of teachers and administrators have been sacked for falsifying the results of the state’s Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). The paradigm for the kind of school districts and leaders who would perpetrate this type of fraud is not based on education but on the pursuit of state and federal dollars, rankings and if they are really lucky, an appearance on the U.S. News and World Report best school issue. It has nothing to do with what is best for the students or the advancement towards the pursuit of knowledge.
In case one thinks this is an American phenomenon, one need only to look to Europe. In the Netherlands, a major school scandal has rocked the university education system. The InHolland University of Applied Science has been under scrutiny for one offense after another since the early part of the year. The biggest scandal came back in the spring when the school was found to have awarded diplomas on the scantest of qualifications and standards. The questionable diplomas have been ruled invalid, students who have graduated from these programs could be forced into the awkward situation of returning to school and retaking courses, though they have current jobs based on the old diplomas. The icing on the cake stems from government funds that are awarded to schools based on the amount of diplomas awarded. The director of the school group, which have six branches throughout the country, announced in May that the school accepted the findings of the government investigator and would work hard to strengthen the rigor of the school and its diplomas. However, the damage is done, deepened by new scandals on overpaid executives and according to new reports, enrollment is down and once again, the presence and temptation of money have sent schools down a non-educational path and the students suffer.
As long as money and testing attached to money is a characteristic of the education system, the education quality and the subsequent success will never materialize. As an educator, I’m painfully aware of my field’s shortcomings and, in the bigger picture, my likelihood of effecting large scale change in my current position. The worst part is that I can’t even have this conversation – not with administrators or parents. Most have been trained in the current mindset and cannot be deterred. When education opened up from an activity of the wealthy and elite to the masses, it was framed under the guises of the lowest common denominator – work, money, status. In the elite’s mind, these were the things that mattered most to the common man. Over the last century, it has ebbed and flowed over other concepts such as national identity and a good citizenry. Today, educators have thrown away such notions with a cynical sneer and have boiled down the motivation for school to its most base form. It will take a great deal of soul searching to remove ourselves from the abyss. I wonder if we have the stomach for such introspection.
For more information on the Atlanta situation, check out the Atlanta Journal and Constitution's special section on the subject:
http://projects.ajc.com/topics/metro/schools/crct-cheating-investigation/
For more information on the InHolland School, check out the Dutch news English website's search list on the subject:
http://www.dutchnews.nl/searchresult.php?cx=008221010404510662473%3Avzie3leg34o&cof=FORID%3A11&q=Inholland#0
Today, students are inundated with messages of money, career and the connection of that to happiness and self-fulfillment. They are taught that meaning in life is unequivocally tied into the university and the salaries and fields of endeavor that can be acquired. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a fanatical proponent of higher education. I have a bachelor’s and a master’s however, I see those achievements more than the financial rewards that they have generated (though, in public education, such rewards are small, to be sure). And, before charges of communism are levied, I’m also a big fan of money and would never turn it down. Yet, what is the impression of the student who realizes, as I did for a time right out of high school, that college is not for them and they want something else out of life? It can’t be good. And, the purpose and value of education can’t be about money or success. It is much more important.
Still, as much as the public education system is encouraging students to sell themselves out and turn the pursuit of education into the pursuit of money, the education system is leading by example. Today, the focus of education is about testing and schools are doing nearly everything they can to apply for federal dollars and make sure their test results are the best in the district. In Atlanta, Georgia, hundreds of teachers and administrators have been sacked for falsifying the results of the state’s Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). The paradigm for the kind of school districts and leaders who would perpetrate this type of fraud is not based on education but on the pursuit of state and federal dollars, rankings and if they are really lucky, an appearance on the U.S. News and World Report best school issue. It has nothing to do with what is best for the students or the advancement towards the pursuit of knowledge.
In case one thinks this is an American phenomenon, one need only to look to Europe. In the Netherlands, a major school scandal has rocked the university education system. The InHolland University of Applied Science has been under scrutiny for one offense after another since the early part of the year. The biggest scandal came back in the spring when the school was found to have awarded diplomas on the scantest of qualifications and standards. The questionable diplomas have been ruled invalid, students who have graduated from these programs could be forced into the awkward situation of returning to school and retaking courses, though they have current jobs based on the old diplomas. The icing on the cake stems from government funds that are awarded to schools based on the amount of diplomas awarded. The director of the school group, which have six branches throughout the country, announced in May that the school accepted the findings of the government investigator and would work hard to strengthen the rigor of the school and its diplomas. However, the damage is done, deepened by new scandals on overpaid executives and according to new reports, enrollment is down and once again, the presence and temptation of money have sent schools down a non-educational path and the students suffer.
As long as money and testing attached to money is a characteristic of the education system, the education quality and the subsequent success will never materialize. As an educator, I’m painfully aware of my field’s shortcomings and, in the bigger picture, my likelihood of effecting large scale change in my current position. The worst part is that I can’t even have this conversation – not with administrators or parents. Most have been trained in the current mindset and cannot be deterred. When education opened up from an activity of the wealthy and elite to the masses, it was framed under the guises of the lowest common denominator – work, money, status. In the elite’s mind, these were the things that mattered most to the common man. Over the last century, it has ebbed and flowed over other concepts such as national identity and a good citizenry. Today, educators have thrown away such notions with a cynical sneer and have boiled down the motivation for school to its most base form. It will take a great deal of soul searching to remove ourselves from the abyss. I wonder if we have the stomach for such introspection.
For more information on the Atlanta situation, check out the Atlanta Journal and Constitution's special section on the subject:
http://projects.ajc.com/topics/metro/schools/crct-cheating-investigation/
For more information on the InHolland School, check out the Dutch news English website's search list on the subject:
http://www.dutchnews.nl/searchresult.php?cx=008221010404510662473%3Avzie3leg34o&cof=FORID%3A11&q=Inholland#0
Friday, August 12, 2011
Is it a Good Walk Spoiled?
When I was a young boy, I had no concept of golf. People with clubs in my quirky neighborhood in Baltimore were convicted or wannabe felons to stay away from – not genteel sportsmen looking to spoil a walk. The first time I saw it, my grandfather had it on the television. I thought the television was broken and asked him why he was watching a test pattern with a greenish hue. My grandfather was not an avid fan, did not watch it often, likely thought I was the family idiot who asked stupid questions and therefore, had no response.
As I got older, I grew to associate it with the rich. I think that is normal given how it was advertised and positioned in the 1970s. Living in my still quirky neighborhood in Baltimore, those golf courses might as well have been on the moon. Because my family was tightrope walking the poverty line and because I associated the sport of golf with rich people, I could not have been more disconnected and adversarial towards the game.
So, why do I have a set of clubs in my garage at the moment? Well, it began when ambivalence set in. Leaving the military and entering the teaching profession, people that I grew to like and befriend liked the sport. Some played it. Nearly all of them had some association with the sport. I did not understand it. These folks were not of the upper echelon of society – they were regular Joes like me. What did they see in this sport? What allure did it hold? Ambivalence grew into curiosity but even as these emotions sprang forth, I chastised myself. What was I doing? This was not me. But then, my friends were playing it. It can’t be that bad.
About six years ago, my professional mentor, an avid fan, convinced me out onto the course. It should come as no surprise that I was about as bad as one could be at an endeavor sincerely approached. However, the fact that I was horrible was not a deterrent. I was a fairly athletic man, having played a slew of sports. It was curious that I was so horrible at this. My ineptitude drew me deeper into the game. One thing I did know prior to first walking upon a golf green was that the golf cart girls were supposed to be cute. However, upon my initiation, I learned that the muny courses do not have girls like that. Some of them are even guys, much to my disappointment.
Now, I play on a semi-regular basis – either a round or on the driving range. As time as gone, I’ve also figured out the allure to this mysterious game. It is being with friends and being outside. I’ve played pool for years with a group of friends and what drew me to those weekly two hour sessions was the camaraderie. This is what golf has to offer. It does not matter that my play sets the history of golf back two hundred years. It does not matter that sometimes I whiff on the ball so hard, I nearly screw myself into the ground. I’m with friends, I’m enjoying a nice day and I’m also gaining a little exercise. I’ve even caught myself, not for long mind you, watching a little golf on television. I’ve found that I like the sport. If I'm lucky, my grandfather no longer sees me as the family idiot. Maybe.
As I got older, I grew to associate it with the rich. I think that is normal given how it was advertised and positioned in the 1970s. Living in my still quirky neighborhood in Baltimore, those golf courses might as well have been on the moon. Because my family was tightrope walking the poverty line and because I associated the sport of golf with rich people, I could not have been more disconnected and adversarial towards the game.
So, why do I have a set of clubs in my garage at the moment? Well, it began when ambivalence set in. Leaving the military and entering the teaching profession, people that I grew to like and befriend liked the sport. Some played it. Nearly all of them had some association with the sport. I did not understand it. These folks were not of the upper echelon of society – they were regular Joes like me. What did they see in this sport? What allure did it hold? Ambivalence grew into curiosity but even as these emotions sprang forth, I chastised myself. What was I doing? This was not me. But then, my friends were playing it. It can’t be that bad.
About six years ago, my professional mentor, an avid fan, convinced me out onto the course. It should come as no surprise that I was about as bad as one could be at an endeavor sincerely approached. However, the fact that I was horrible was not a deterrent. I was a fairly athletic man, having played a slew of sports. It was curious that I was so horrible at this. My ineptitude drew me deeper into the game. One thing I did know prior to first walking upon a golf green was that the golf cart girls were supposed to be cute. However, upon my initiation, I learned that the muny courses do not have girls like that. Some of them are even guys, much to my disappointment.
Now, I play on a semi-regular basis – either a round or on the driving range. As time as gone, I’ve also figured out the allure to this mysterious game. It is being with friends and being outside. I’ve played pool for years with a group of friends and what drew me to those weekly two hour sessions was the camaraderie. This is what golf has to offer. It does not matter that my play sets the history of golf back two hundred years. It does not matter that sometimes I whiff on the ball so hard, I nearly screw myself into the ground. I’m with friends, I’m enjoying a nice day and I’m also gaining a little exercise. I’ve even caught myself, not for long mind you, watching a little golf on television. I’ve found that I like the sport. If I'm lucky, my grandfather no longer sees me as the family idiot. Maybe.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
In the Land of the Vikings...
When asked to comment on the Scandinavians, most Americans think of jagged coasts, beautiful women, darn good skiers and an affinity for molded shark meat. I prefer this kind of image because it makes them a little quirky. However, two major incidents over the last week have brought a different image – one that defines them as morally confused and so liberal as to be a little goofy, and not in a good way.
The Norwegian ambassador to Israel, Svein Sevje, said in an interview, “We Norwegians consider the occupation (of Palestine) to be the cause of the terror against Israel…In the case of the terror attack in Norway, the murderer had an ideology that says that Norway, particularly the Labor Party, is forgoing Norwegian culture.” It is hard to believe that one so educated and accomplished could have said something so inane and worse yet, without the permission of the government. When one represents a country as an ambassador, the tendency to go off the reservation is extremely limited. It would take about five seconds on a Google search to find out that terrorists’ attacks on Israel predate the “occupation.” Indeed, it does not seem to take too much for the Palestinian terrorists and Hamas to launch attacks on civilians.
I should state my affiliation. I’m a Jew but as a history teacher, I’m not blind to the controversies surrounding the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Arabs. However, Israel also deals with something that Norway could not comprehend and indeed, in their actions, have chosen to ignore – Israel is surrounded by people who want to destroy them. The intimation that Israel has it coming because they control the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, while at the same time being the largest donator of supplies and relief (more so than any Arab country), is as absurd as some of Norway’s anti-Semitic policies. Alan Dershowitz, in an article for the Jerusalem Post, wrote of Norway’s attempt to recognize Palestinian statehood while circumventing the peace process as well as outlawing sacrificial Jewish practices while allowing similar Muslim practices. Norway is dangerously flirting with a policy that aligns itself with a terrorist organization such as Hamas. That is awful bad company for such a liberal, civilized country.
On a lighter note but no less bizarre are the actions taken by a pre-school in Sweden. At the Egalia Preschool in Stockholm, the staff has decided to cease using any word that would denote gender. If you’ve always had a problem with personal pronouns, your salvation is here. The children are now referred to as “friends.” Toys, books and even the colors on the wall have been chosen carefully to allow the children to be as gender ambiguous as possible. In a rather draconian measure, the Swedish education system is no longer attempting to teach people to value every person, despite their gender but rather to teach them that gender does not exist. It does make one wonder what will happen when little Sven and Elsa figure out that their parts don’t match.
A friend once told me that nature is ambivalent to fairness and equality. It is blind to the inequities it creates – it merely sets the groundwork and people are tasked with dealing with the difference. To act as if the differences don’t exist seems childish. According to articles on the school, parents are also concerned that the school has left its pedagogical turf and entered the world of engineered asexuality. While the school officials preach that they are teaching their children not to see gender, sexual preference or society-mandated roles or occupations, others consider it a form of brainwashing. All of this is being done to reverse the inequity of nature. Being careful here, it seems almost Aryan – the idea of trying to create the socially perfect person. In doing so, an educator is trying to wipe out all unfavorable characteristics as determined by the state. It sounds a bit suspicious in motive and catastrophic in design.
What is a Sweden without extolling the womanhood of such Swedes as Ingrid Bergman, Lena Olin and Inger Stevens? Perhaps, not as interesting.
The Norwegian ambassador to Israel, Svein Sevje, said in an interview, “We Norwegians consider the occupation (of Palestine) to be the cause of the terror against Israel…In the case of the terror attack in Norway, the murderer had an ideology that says that Norway, particularly the Labor Party, is forgoing Norwegian culture.” It is hard to believe that one so educated and accomplished could have said something so inane and worse yet, without the permission of the government. When one represents a country as an ambassador, the tendency to go off the reservation is extremely limited. It would take about five seconds on a Google search to find out that terrorists’ attacks on Israel predate the “occupation.” Indeed, it does not seem to take too much for the Palestinian terrorists and Hamas to launch attacks on civilians.
I should state my affiliation. I’m a Jew but as a history teacher, I’m not blind to the controversies surrounding the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Arabs. However, Israel also deals with something that Norway could not comprehend and indeed, in their actions, have chosen to ignore – Israel is surrounded by people who want to destroy them. The intimation that Israel has it coming because they control the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, while at the same time being the largest donator of supplies and relief (more so than any Arab country), is as absurd as some of Norway’s anti-Semitic policies. Alan Dershowitz, in an article for the Jerusalem Post, wrote of Norway’s attempt to recognize Palestinian statehood while circumventing the peace process as well as outlawing sacrificial Jewish practices while allowing similar Muslim practices. Norway is dangerously flirting with a policy that aligns itself with a terrorist organization such as Hamas. That is awful bad company for such a liberal, civilized country.
On a lighter note but no less bizarre are the actions taken by a pre-school in Sweden. At the Egalia Preschool in Stockholm, the staff has decided to cease using any word that would denote gender. If you’ve always had a problem with personal pronouns, your salvation is here. The children are now referred to as “friends.” Toys, books and even the colors on the wall have been chosen carefully to allow the children to be as gender ambiguous as possible. In a rather draconian measure, the Swedish education system is no longer attempting to teach people to value every person, despite their gender but rather to teach them that gender does not exist. It does make one wonder what will happen when little Sven and Elsa figure out that their parts don’t match.
A friend once told me that nature is ambivalent to fairness and equality. It is blind to the inequities it creates – it merely sets the groundwork and people are tasked with dealing with the difference. To act as if the differences don’t exist seems childish. According to articles on the school, parents are also concerned that the school has left its pedagogical turf and entered the world of engineered asexuality. While the school officials preach that they are teaching their children not to see gender, sexual preference or society-mandated roles or occupations, others consider it a form of brainwashing. All of this is being done to reverse the inequity of nature. Being careful here, it seems almost Aryan – the idea of trying to create the socially perfect person. In doing so, an educator is trying to wipe out all unfavorable characteristics as determined by the state. It sounds a bit suspicious in motive and catastrophic in design.
What is a Sweden without extolling the womanhood of such Swedes as Ingrid Bergman, Lena Olin and Inger Stevens? Perhaps, not as interesting.
Has the Arab Spring Sprung? Don’t Tell the Syrians
Over the last couple of weeks, there have been articles and analysis on the waning of the Arab Spring. The feeling among the writers is that those who succeeded are disenchanted with the results or the results have been hijacked by other elements. Of those who have not succeeded, the feeling, according to the writers, is that without outside help, their particular dictators will not acquiesce. I believe that history has shown that revolutions have ebbs and flows like any movement or campaign. However, there is one place where the Arab Spring is as turbulent and contentious as ever – in the country of Syria.
Over the last couple of months, the Syrian government, under the leadership (?) of President Bashar Assad, has been picking off its own citizens while declaring them at various times as either Israeli insurgents, Israeli-supported insurgents, gangsters or Muslim extremists. The Syrian government has tried all of these labels in hopes that something would resonate with those yet to protest to support the government. The Israeli story was concocted in hopes of diverting its population’s attention from the actions of their government. To date, not only has the uprising not abated but it has intensified, even into the formerly sacrosanct Damascus, the capital. In response, the Syrian government has initiated a near all-out assault on these “gangsters” or “extremists,” particularly in the city of Hama. An Economist article quoted one diplomat, upon seeing the chaos and the drummed up, government-mandated support for the regime, muttering about, “the last days of the Raj” (www.economist.com/node/21524855 - “Syria’s Turmoil: Reaching the Capital”). The Syrian people are not aware of a wane in the Arab Spring. They have ascended, has Henry V said, “once more into the breach.”
President Obama has not commented on the uprising or the uptick in violence perpetrated by the Syrian government on its own people. Granted, the president has been knee-deep in talks about the debt ceiling but he also needs to focus on the rest of his multifarious job. It is not easy being the president and President Obama has his hands full but it seems, he does not understand one component of his job. As the sole world power and the most powerful democracy in the world, it seems peculiar that the U.S. would be silent as people struggle and die for the right to have a say in their government.
Compounding the odd silence from the White House is likely the idea that many Syrians are not depending upon the U.S. While some may see that as a positive sign, in fact, it is quite troubling. Throughout our history, we have sided with the underdogs. We’ve not always come out on the right side of things or done the right thing. On balance, however, the U.S. has sought the greater good for others. It no longer appears to be true. In the last two years, we have seemed reluctant to enter the fray, even diplomatically. The administration was nearly silent as Iran gunned down its own citizens, remained on the sidelines for far too long in Egypt, “lead from behind” in Libya and outside the occasional remarks from Secretary Clinton, Washington has been quite taciturn on the situation in Syria.
The U.S. is fearful of a Syria allied with Iran and so, they take a hands off approach. Yet, we could have a helpful and guiding hand in the situation in Syria. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. and other European democracies flooded Eastern Europe with consultants and experts on democratic elections and governance. The more we are out of touch and out of tune with the ordinary Syrians, the less role we will play in its reconstruction. If we don’t help, more nefarious powers might.
Over the last couple of months, the Syrian government, under the leadership (?) of President Bashar Assad, has been picking off its own citizens while declaring them at various times as either Israeli insurgents, Israeli-supported insurgents, gangsters or Muslim extremists. The Syrian government has tried all of these labels in hopes that something would resonate with those yet to protest to support the government. The Israeli story was concocted in hopes of diverting its population’s attention from the actions of their government. To date, not only has the uprising not abated but it has intensified, even into the formerly sacrosanct Damascus, the capital. In response, the Syrian government has initiated a near all-out assault on these “gangsters” or “extremists,” particularly in the city of Hama. An Economist article quoted one diplomat, upon seeing the chaos and the drummed up, government-mandated support for the regime, muttering about, “the last days of the Raj” (www.economist.com/node/21524855 - “Syria’s Turmoil: Reaching the Capital”). The Syrian people are not aware of a wane in the Arab Spring. They have ascended, has Henry V said, “once more into the breach.”
President Obama has not commented on the uprising or the uptick in violence perpetrated by the Syrian government on its own people. Granted, the president has been knee-deep in talks about the debt ceiling but he also needs to focus on the rest of his multifarious job. It is not easy being the president and President Obama has his hands full but it seems, he does not understand one component of his job. As the sole world power and the most powerful democracy in the world, it seems peculiar that the U.S. would be silent as people struggle and die for the right to have a say in their government.
Compounding the odd silence from the White House is likely the idea that many Syrians are not depending upon the U.S. While some may see that as a positive sign, in fact, it is quite troubling. Throughout our history, we have sided with the underdogs. We’ve not always come out on the right side of things or done the right thing. On balance, however, the U.S. has sought the greater good for others. It no longer appears to be true. In the last two years, we have seemed reluctant to enter the fray, even diplomatically. The administration was nearly silent as Iran gunned down its own citizens, remained on the sidelines for far too long in Egypt, “lead from behind” in Libya and outside the occasional remarks from Secretary Clinton, Washington has been quite taciturn on the situation in Syria.
The U.S. is fearful of a Syria allied with Iran and so, they take a hands off approach. Yet, we could have a helpful and guiding hand in the situation in Syria. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. and other European democracies flooded Eastern Europe with consultants and experts on democratic elections and governance. The more we are out of touch and out of tune with the ordinary Syrians, the less role we will play in its reconstruction. If we don’t help, more nefarious powers might.
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