tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3564064.post1077025782228668479..comments2023-07-16T07:03:20.896-04:00Comments on GedankenTravelExperiment: Class last weekkarlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13511491414073382506noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3564064.post-86971784880019017102007-05-11T13:53:00.000-04:002007-05-11T13:53:00.000-04:00Your students' reactions are damn dpressing as are...Your students' reactions are damn dpressing as are Martin's insightful commetns.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3564064.post-32543711843004261522007-05-07T02:36:00.000-04:002007-05-07T02:36:00.000-04:00Let me tell you a story: I was dating this Russian...Let me tell you a story: <BR/><BR/>I was dating this Russian dude once in Tel-Aviv and it was time to choose classes for teh next semester. He said to me this: <BR/><BR/>The problem with all this democracy crap is that you constantly have to make decisions and making decisions is hard. Back in Russia, they told you what you were taking and when and that was it. It was much easier. <BR/><BR/>This just goes to underscore what one finds on page 1 of the Walter Kaufman translation of "I and Thou" by Martin Buber - "Man's world is manifold, and his attitudes are manifold. What is manifold is often frightening because it is not neat and simple. Men prefer to forget how many possibilities are open to them...<I>A wealth of possibilities breeds dread.</I>" <BR/><BR/>I would add that in many countries (especially places like the Middle East and to an extent perhaps also Africa), democracy is seen as ultimately foreign baggage imposed upon them by colonialist overlords(with all their racism and economic exploitation). From my study of non-Western history in college and sort-of grad school, I got the impression that throwing off the colonialist yoke includes getting rid of things like democracy, human rights and feminism in the minds of many people (especially Islamic Fundamentalists - this might be particularly teh case in places like Algeria but I am not 100% sure). Being authentically X [insert nationality] means turning back the clock to before the Europeans came and imposed their culture upon them - which would include the effects of the Enlightenment. Being X means not only rejecting European political power and economic exploitation, but rejecting European culture and philosophy as well. <BR/><BR/>And some people don't really care if it makes individual people unhappy because well, individual rights and happiness are European innovations anyway and need to be discarded. <BR/><BR/>I think this was teh case with Iran under Khomeini. Things like polygamy and "temporary marriages", unique to Shi'ite Islam, were outlawed under the Shah. Women were forced to wear the chador (black robed and a sort of hood covering the hair) when previously, Iranian women dressed in Western clothing and often without a hijab or any head covering. The minute Khomeini came into power in 1979, he restored polygamy and temporary marriage and imposed the chador on all women as a way of flipping off the Shah and his Western backers and returning to being "authentically" Persian and Shi'ite. <BR/><BR/>Lastly, some say (and I am not sure I agree with this) that some peoples are not culturally suited for democracy. For instance, another Russian dude I dated in Tel-Aviv said that the Russian people are not suited for democracy, that they have always had and need a sort of Big Daddy Strongman to run teh state/empire. Forst it was the Tzar and then it was the Soviet state, especially Stalin. He suggested that teh root was teh fact that the vast majority of Russians were impoverished serfs in a feudal system up intil the late 19th/early 20th century. Other Russians I have quoted this to have agreed. <BR/><BR/>Similar things have been said about Arabs, that the Arabs are peopel who need a strong state led by a strong leader and that this is teh influence of Islam. Many question whether a state can be Isalmic and Democratic at the same time. According to my understanding of Islamic law and belief it is believed by many that if a state is run according to Islamic Law and principles it will be an ideal state and democracy will be sort of "unnecessary". There is a word I forgot (starts with an S I think) that describes the way in which Muhammed and/or the Rashidun (1st 5 Caliphs) ran the early Islamic empire that is considered ideal, where they all consulted with each other so it was not a dictatorship either. <BR/><BR/>Lastly, as for immigration, sure they came because the US was a better deal. But that better deal is probably more purely economic than cultural in their eyes. <BR/><BR/>Just so you know, I have started a new personal blog, La Petite Shabbabnikit. Follow the link to check it out. I might show up as Shabbabnikit instead of M. Martin from now on.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3564064.post-11754611232657329792007-05-05T05:26:00.000-04:002007-05-05T05:26:00.000-04:00I had considered that they might be arguing with m...I had considered that they might be arguing with me. I was really not taking any stance though. I did not get the impression that anyone was disagreeing with me. Perhaps it was the fact that they lived in the US. <BR/><BR/>--KCAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3564064.post-14224571213545053842007-05-05T03:23:00.000-04:002007-05-05T03:23:00.000-04:00I wouldn’t read too much into it. It’s all mostly ...I wouldn’t read too much into it. It’s all mostly role play. You are the authority in the class. You are asking them about a system of government that has authority over them. Their natural response is to argue the opposite of what you propose in this situation. I bet if they were taking a class in some other country, maybe the one they came from, where the government and the professor were anti democracy; their response would be very different. They would most likely feel like they had to defend democracy and find arguments in its favor. Many opinions that people give are situation-specific. And this may be one of them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com