11. February 2011 by admin.

Isn’t it wonderful, living in such historic times?  Well, there are good elements of history and then there are bad.  The downfall of Hosni Mubarak is a good element.  It shows promise and hope for a future in this world, something momentous and affirming.  The Egyptian people have taken back their lives and presented a statement to the region that power is granted by the people, not taken by a few chosen ones.  Not a bad start to the year.

Call me an idealist, but for me things began changing as the Soviet Union began to collapse.  This was followed by the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of the two Germanies.  Imagine, in a few years’ time there will be people who will have never known a divided Germany. 

We’ve seen relative peace break out in North Africa and the Middle East and while our focus has shifted toward central and eastern Asia, things have trended toward a common theme: knowledge begets power.  The knowledge of an incident of corruption and violence in Egypt has ultimately led to the downfall of an autocrat.  Facebook was the rallying point around which hundreds of thousands of Egyptians could coalesce to bring about (relatively) peaceful revolution.

How powerful is this knowledge?  Let’s say that the fear of spreading knowledge has led several countries to restrict the access of its citizens to information in a vain hope of avoiding a similar fate.  But let’s face it, the tide has turned already.  Even in the most impoverished of nations, people have their cell phones and their internet and are able to communicate without the knowledge or consent of their governments.  And even in places like North Korea where the people in power have the populace firmly under their boot, information trickles in.

Information becomes knowledge, knowledge is shared, and soon you have people who view knowledge (and access to information) as a right, not a privilege.  What is even funnier about this scenario is that even the most enlightened countries will have to face their own little revolutions as more people use the information that’s available to develop knowledge and then, to act on it.

Look at what has happened with the whole Wikileaks situation.  We all knew that the United States had its own share of secrets but the sheer volume of information that became available is staggering.  The big concern is that humanity is not yet mature enough to know how to handle this overload of information.  Or that we know how to determine what is fact from hyperbole from fiction.  For me, this means that we, as a world, need to ensure that everyone has full and complete access to unfettered and unbiased education.

I don’t just mean schools.  I mean that every human being has the right to learn how to learn.  This is distinct from learning information since anyone can learn stuff, but learning how to learn is the building block on which the future is built.  Sure, parents want their children to be just like them, believe just like them, but the reality is that every child has the right to choose for themselves.  More and more these days we hear about children diverging from the philosophies and beliefs of their parents, often to a diametrical opposite.  And that is good.  Because I firmly believe that while we all may disagree on how we get there, we all have the same set of goals in mind: peace, prosperity, and security.  And while some of us still think this is a zero sum game where someone has to lose for them to gain, I believe that we will discover that we can all succeed equally, if we choose to work at it.

So the changes in the Middle East are beginning and my heart is singing the possibilities of the future.  Where are we heading?  When will we get there?  I just hope that I am alive to see some of the major events unfold toward a bright and glorious future for all of humanity.  I can’t wait!

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25. June 2010 by admin.

I have a particular political bent and I don’t often espouse it but a recent comment by commentary moron Glenn Beck has pissed me off too much.  On a recent episode of O’Reilly’s show, Glenn Beck basically said that soccer (football to the rest of the world) is something that is being stuffed down the throats of Americans and that the world should leave us alone.Excuse me?  His comments basically said curling is better than soccer because at least we can see ourselves playing at curling and we beat Canada every year.  So, Glenn, because the United States has never won a World Cup, the sport cannot mean what, say, baseball or “football” mean to Americans?  Because the United States cannot (yet) compete on the world stage against, oh, the Brazilians or Germans, it means that the game is flawed? 

Typical Beck and typically arrogant US-centric thought and behavior.  At least Bill O’Reilly had it right, the United States is only 350 million of 6 billion people in the world and the rest of the world had made soccer the international sport.But I become emotional.  You see, I have always loved soccer; comes from growing up in Europe and seeing the game from birth.  I was in Germany in 1974 when Germany played Holland for the championship in Germany and won.  That may be the best example of why the United States has so many problems.  Has there ever been a time when the entire nation has been behind a single team?  Even with the Olympic “miracle” when the US beat the Soviet Union in hockey, it was not a celebration in the entire country.  For every World Cup, entire nations come together behind their teams.  When has the United States EVER been behind a team?  For anything?And that doesn’t even begin to challenge Beck’s view on the sport.  He compared it to curling.  Obviously, Beck has the attention span of a flea and suffers from the typical American penchant for bathroom breaks and commercials.  I mean, really, what other sports allow the television networks to pause the game for commercials?  Um…baseball, basketball, football…the “American” sports. 

So, I have to ask if an American athlete from baseball, football, or basketball can handle the stamina needed for a game of soccer?  Could they even play football for 45 minutes straight?  Not that football is even designed to be played for anything more than a couple of minutes in a row.And so, we have a game where the United States is not preeminent, where the athletes have to perform for 45 minutes at a stretch, where any player can actually score, and where the scores are usually quite low.  Glenn Beck must pee his pants every four years when the world, and an increasing contingent of the United States, celebrate the international sport that is soccer.

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5. October 2007 by Rob.

I have to say it: this world is dominated by cowards.  Oh, there are occasional heroes out there who stand up for what is right but the majority of the world is dominated by sniveling little cowards.

Take the Chinese.  They want to be a world power but are unable to control their own manufacturing.  Their response to the repression in Myanmar?  To beg for restraint.  Why?  Because they are afraid to face the truth about themselves.  This is inherently the fatal flaw for all tyrants and tyrannical systems.  The only way to ensure that they remain in power is to deny the truth of why they are in power.   By oppressing others, a small group remains in power and controls the resources.

Welcome to the new Millenium, please pick up your reality pill and a sharp dose of truth and move to the back of the line.  The internet and advances in communication mean that you cannot keep things hidden any more.  China found this out during the SARS debacle.  Human beings have a natural urge and desire to communicate and they will share most anything about themselves or their environment.  Don’t believe me?  Just one word for an answer there: YouTube.

What is being peeled away are centuries of layers (or decades of copycat layers)  of secrecy which used to hide atrocities and secret deals.  It also advertises the excesses of those in power who try to benefit but also to hide their wealth.  More and more these days, “scandal” is a daily revelation, not something that has to be researched and pulled out like taffy.  I feel almost sorry for Woodward and Bernstein.  They could have seen Watergate come and go in the span of a week or less these days.

But it also brings to the fore the root cause of so much trouble in the world today: cowardice.  The fear that I will lose something I have leads me to twist things to benefit me.

I know I have an idealistic view of the future, but the fact is that there is enough for all of us.  Some of us want it all but that isn’t because of greed or hate or anything remotely similar.  Once again it is because those who want it all are cowards, afraid to lose it all instead.  Why are we so afraid?  Because we want something to be afraid of.  Our fear is that if we have nothing to fear, we just have to make something up.  Why are we afraid of terrorists?  Because not to be afriad would mark us as ignorant.  Nonsense.  It marks us as brave.  Not the foolhardy bravery of a teenager marching off to war with stories of bravery in his ears.  But the bravery of someone living their life without regard to the inherent danger of life itself.

So I ask you, dear reader, to look into your heart.  Why are you so afraid.  And why can’t you simply face the truth?  Because you were raised to be a coward.  Now, what are you going to do about it?

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25. September 2007 by Rob.

The “him” I refer to is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  And the stories over the past few days have come fast and furious.  From the initial outcry over Columbia University’s hosting him to the comments he made at the United Nations, Americans really haven’t followed the true meaning behind these events.

The fact is that his participation in the event at Columbia University was necessary to prove the true power of democracy.  I was astounded and gratefully amazed at the University President’s comments which challenged President Ahmadinejad views.  And Ahmadinejad’s reaction and subsequent fall was the most perfect example of why this effort had significant value.  The derision he was met with when he stated that there were no gays in Iran is not something he is used to.  But he, and the world, need to see that true democracy allows idiots to spout their lies and fallacies but to also be challenged for them.  He couldn’t defend his views and so he lost, a true victory.

Unfortunately, those people who protested his appearance, while they have the full right to do so, obviously didn’t get it.  They didn’t want him to have the right to speak his piece in a forum where people could choose to be…or not.   If he had been barred from participating, then, remarkably enough, his views would have been validated because we would not be living in a democracy.  If the protesters had been there to challenge his views, then I feel they would have been valid.  But to seek to deny him the opportunity to speak?  I suggest you read the Constitution of the United States again.  And thank your lucky stars that we have not (yet) fallen from that ideal.

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