Showing posts with label realpolitik. Show all posts
Showing posts with label realpolitik. Show all posts

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Real Politik Revisited

A peer, who will remain anonymous,
recently clarified the definition of Real Politik for me:

"The meaning of Real Politik is that where your power limitations prevent you from accomplishing your goal, aim for a lesser goal or work toward that eventual end goal in practical realistic ways. Accomplishing that which can actually be accomplished."

While I appreciate the clarification, and my animosity toward this technique is somewhat lessened, it does not change the fact that this tactic, while attempting to accomplish good, is still riding on immoral lines. It negates the fact of intention, and allows power to overcome morality, which I still contest is unacceptable.

Allow me to restate my opinion:

There is absolutley nothing good or morally just in the
Chinese government's decision to censor its citizens.
And by not taking a stand and compromising with a negatively-intentioned government,
due to fear of retaliation,
either armed or financial,
we are inadvertantly supporting their decision
to blind its citizens from the truth.

The thing to keep in mind, my knowledgable classmate, is that this is only going to get worse before it gets better. And with our inadvertant support, the Chinese govenment is going to continue to stretch their power and continue to censor its citizens until we have another Holocaust on our hands.

Let me ask you this,
How many must suffer before we take a stand?
In my opinion,
There should never be a maximum on societal oppression.
There should never be degrees of govenment-induced censorship.


Perhaps you should remember why we, in the United States, seriously attempt to have Freedom of Press:

"A press that is free to investigate and criticize the government is absolutely essential in a nation that practices self-government and is therefore dependent on an educated and enlightened citizenry." -http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1600.htm


Or, put more simply, in the words of Thomas Jefferson:

"The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure." --Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 1823. ME 15:491

and:

"Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it." --Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 1786.


And here's the real question, what do YOU think, blogees?
Can there ever be justification
for the utilization of Real Politik tactics?

**Continue to raise these questions and discuss these issues,
taking from all sides of the arguement,
in order to make an educated decision.**

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The Value of Self-Education and Awareness

SELF EDUCATION: Learning without Boundaries
http://www.motivation-tools.com/youth/website_concepts.htm

A) Familiarize Yourself with Important Terms

Any of these terms can be looked up at Wikipedia.com or another preferred search engine (ASK.COM, GOOGLE, DOGPILE.COM):

Misanthropy: the general dislike, distrust, or hatred of the human species or a disposition to dislike and/or distrust other people’s silent consensus about reality. A misanthrope is a person who dislikes or distrusts humanity as e general rule.

Realpolitik: (German: real “realistic”, “practical” or “actual”; and Politik “politics”) refers to politics or diplomacy based primarily on practical considerations, rather than ideological notions. The term realpolitik is often used pejoratively to imply politics that are coercive, amoral, or Machiavellian. Realpolitik is a theory of politics that focuses on considerations of power, not ideals, morals, or principles.
• MUSICAL INTERPRETATION BY Kevin Rogers and Kristian Ring

Genocide: the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.

Power Politics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_politics
Power politics, or Machtpolitik (borrowed from German), is a state of international relations in which sovereigns protect their own interests by threatening one another with military, economic, or political aggression. The term was coined in Martin Wright's 1979 book of the same name, which the Times Literary Supplement dubbed the 18th most influential book since World War II.

Extreme Individualism: The promotion of the individual above the community
• http://www.uaw892.org/news/march_2002/Extreme%20Individualism.htm
• http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Individualism

Green Living: To live in harmony with one’s environment through the utilization of modest, energy efficient methods
• http://www.thegreenguide.com/
• http://www.green-living.com/
• http://greenlivingideas.com/
• http://www.greenlivingtips.com/


B) Build Your Cultural Awareness

Cultural Awareness is the key to a brighter future.
We must educate ourselves and build awareness of international affairs in order to better understand the world around us.
What to do? Research ALL POSSIBLE aspects of media, follow your moral/ethical code and make your own educated decisions:


Inspiring Sites:
• http://www.peace.org/
• http://www.sgi-usa.org/
• http://www.peacecorps.gov/
• http://www.preventgenocide.org/prevent/

• Mongolian Culture: The Weeping Camel
• John Cage on Silence
• John Cage's 27 Sounds Manufactured in a Kitchen
• Mahatma Gandhi
• Martin Luther King, Junior's I Have a Dream speech


THE INFORMATION LISTED BELOW IS MEANT TO EDUCATE ONLY.
THIS IS NOT MEANT TO CAUSE DEPRESSION and/or ANGER.
PLEASE RETAIN HOPE.
PEACEABLE CHANGE IS OURS TO IMPLEMENT.


TIBET:
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VRneGYpaXc
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnBkD_1N1QE&feature=related
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r58Jtg8GY2o&feature=related

o SHOCKING FOOTAGE: http://www.freetibet.org/newsmedia/200309
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtvcppN67Nw&feature=PlayList&p=2EDBE596CF1731DA&index=0&playnext=1
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7NUNwq2MGc&feature=PlayList&p=2EDBE596CF1731DA&index=1

• The Tiananmen Square Story: Who is the Unknown Rebel, you ask?
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDKVEprC948
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-nXT8lSnPQ&feature=related

ROWANDA:
o http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/04/200947181917774331.html

DARFUR:
o http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darfur
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwrxPXvvaCs&feature=related

o DARFUR IN 10 MINUTES:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USLDoIiFzzg&feature=related

o http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/04/200947181917774331.html
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqOJgfOdmtQ&feature=channel
o http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Darfur
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXdWDM4fmRY