Exploring Joseph Campbell and cutting the Gordian Knot

Introducing people of all ages to mythology... in pre-college educational curricula, youth orgs, the media, etc. Share your knowledge, stories, unit and lesson plans, techniques, and more.

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Nermin
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Post by Nermin »

Hannah Arendt's Dangers of Obedience
'Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it'

Hannah Arendt, from the Banality of Evil
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Nermin
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Post by Nermin »

Israeli, Turkish and Jordanian armies and US Middle East forces went on the ready Sunday, July 22, in case Syrian chemical weapons move toward Lebanon. Acting in unison, those armies are watching out for the slightest movement, because it would take just two hours to cover the distance from Syria to the Hizballah-controlled Bakaa Valley of Lebanon.
Their arrival there would mean a war.
So the IDF prefers to stop the arsenal it its tracks before it reaches the Lebanese border.
The chemical stockpile is kept at the al-Safira base northwest of Damascus in the care of the president’s personal guard unit which takes orders from Bashar Assad and no one else.
Courtesy of DEBKAfile
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Nermin
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Post by Nermin »

Being a city of business and with a cosmopolitan population, Aleppo was
thought to be the last place to become the centre of skirmishes and the target
of aerial attacks even for this crackpot regime !
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Nermin
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Post by Nermin »

Tehran’s efforts for building a nuclear 'cathedral' and worldwide reactions

Bushehr reactor's impressive architecture
The nuclear program of Iran was launched in the 1950s with the help of the United States as part of the Atoms for Peace program.The participation of the United States and Western European governments in Iran's nuclear program continued until the 1979 Iranian Revolution that toppled the Shah of Iran.

After the 1979 revolution, the clandestine research program was disbanded by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had serious religious reservations about nuclear weapons, which he considered evil in terms of Muslim jurisprudence.Small scale research restarted during the Iran-Iraq War, and underwent significant expansion after the Ayatollah's death in 1989. Iran's nuclear program has included several research sites, two uranium mines, a research reactor, and uranium processing facilities that include three known uranium enrichment plants.

After delays, Iran's first nuclear power plant, Bushehr I reactor was complete with major assistance of Russian government agency Rosatom and officially opened on 12 September 2011.Iran has announced that it is working on a new 360 MW nuclear power plant to be located in Darkhovin. Iran has also indicated that it will seek more medium-sized nuclear power plants and uranium mines in the future.

In November 2011, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors rebuked Iran following an IAEA report detailing how Iran had undertaken research and experiments geared to developing a nuclear weapons capability.For the first time, the IAEA report outlines, in depth, the country’s detonator development, the multiple-point initiation of high explosives, and experiments involving nuclear payload integration into a missile delivery vehicle.Iran rejected the details of the report and accused the IAEA of pro-Western bias and threatened to reduce its cooperation with the IAEA.
Courtesy of Wikipedia
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Nermin
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Post by Nermin »

And let me also add some tabloid coverage without forgetting that people's
ethnic background can be a truly complicated issue in Middle East and practically
no one can claim 100% purity in religious or ethnic matters.
Courtesy of newspaper The Telegraph
Does Iranian prime-minister come from a Jewish family?
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Post by Nermin »

How dictators think and behave? Let me share an Oslo Freedom Forum
talk about it;

The Mind of A Dictator by James Fallon
James Fallon invites us to make tour of a hypothetical dictator's brain.
Since almost no studies have been conducted on the brain chemistry of tyrants,
Fallon uses tests performed on psychopaths, who share many of the same
characteristics, as a foundation for his theories.
Virtually all dictators can be classified as psychopaths—they exhibit malignant
narcissism, lie pathologically, and many are involved in murder.
'Psychopaths only form a small percentage of the population' he says 'but when
one rises to power, the results can be disastrous.'


Courtesy of Oslo Freedom Forum
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Nermin
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Post by Nermin »

Let me share another talk from the series 'Anatomy of A Dictator' of Oslo Freedom Forum.
Here, one can find answers to the problem of dictatorship from a societal angle.

George Ayittey’s talk on how Africa can get rid of dictators

George Ayittey is a Ghanaian economist known for his argument that “Africa is poor because she is not free." He asserts that corruption of autocrats and complacency of citizens are the bedrock problems of many African states.
Dr. Ayittey calls for democratic government, debt reexamination, modernized infrastructure, free market economics, and free trade to promote development.
He cautions, however, that street protests and brave actions are not enough. It is not enough to oust a dictator. Ayittey demands penetrating reform that addresses every aspect of society, that leaves no cronies in place, that ensures that future elections are fair.
Only when this kind of internal reform--sparked by intellectual freedom--is combined with a systematic overhaul of all areas of government can real freedom and democracy be achieved, he thinks
Courtesy of Oslo Freedom Forum
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Andreas
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Post by Andreas »

Unfortunately science used this way acts only as a discrimination tool.

Nermin
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Post by Nermin »

Andreas wrote:Unfortunately science used this way acts only as a discrimination tool.
Andreas, what was wrong with Western dictators?
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Post by Andreas »

Whatever is wrong with all the other dictators I guess...

Nermin
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Post by Nermin »

Andreas wrote:Unfortunately science used this way acts only as a discrimination tool.
People only try to understand and make a difference, Andreas.
And this happens within the limitations of the tools available to Social
Sciences. Everyone's question is more or less the same.
How can-we make this Planet a better place?
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Post by Andreas »

Everyone's question is more or less the same. How can-we make this Planet a better place?
If that was true the planet would be a better place already! :)

Dictators like barbarians and primitive is a word we use so we can justify our wars, all in the name of peace and a better world!

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Post by Neoplato »

Andreas wrote:
Everyone's question is more or less the same. How can-we make this Planet a better place?
If that was true the planet would be a better place already! :)

Dictators like barbarians and primitive is a word we use so we can justify our wars, all in the name of peace and a better world!
Amen, brother...amen!
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Post by Andreas »

8)

And btw just so you know guys, I understand the other point of view also. It is clearly only my opinion I express about this subject.

Nermin
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Post by Nermin »

Position, opposition, composition, folks.
That’s the most effective way I know about developing ideas.
Isn’t feedback far more valuable than affirmation sometimes?
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