Hi everyone
To start I should say that I have never been an outspoken person, but I have always had some critical point of view about my surroundings. You might say, well every human being probably have some view about his/her world. Do not get me wrong, my view is different from the view of many others in the sense that it hurts me. It hurts me to see the pain of the people to an extent that it paralyzes me from living my everyday life. It hurts me to see how hypocrite we become to grieve one death and celebrate the other. It hurts me that our politicians's appetite for profit is endless to the extent that it "justifies" killing thousands of innocents everyday.It hurts me that many of our celebrities and intellectuals are far from caring for human beings. And this is why I just sensed the need for writing and sharing my views of key issues in our world.
I think We -sometimes unconsciously and sometimes deliberately- do little to use our reasoning abilities while interpreting the outside realities. This "we" does not include only the ordinary individuals devoid of higher education but encompasses a range of academics, politicians, intellectuals, etc. We do little to battle the prejudice and bias. We even sometimes kill the reality to conform it to our moral standards. Yes; we are far from perfect, but we can still handle the facts if we want to and if we have the necessary tools. By the facts I do not mean whatever we hear or see from other sources, but I mean a critically appraised objective reality that has been assessed with little bias. And yes we all have negative and positive emotions, but when assessing something, we must learn the ability to minimize the effect of emotion on our judgement.
But you may ask why it is necessary for an ordinary person (or even a university professor who is focused on his research) to care about these every day political and sociocultural issues? For several reasons:
1. It affects our life in some way. Consider this remote example: When a Chinese worker working in an Apple assembly factory die of suicide due to hard work, I as an Iranian student who bought the iPhone am not responsible for his death, but somehow related to it. My appetite for buying a new technology is an incentive for the corporation to put higher pressure on its workers to meet a deadline. This is not an issue that can be solved right away, but it is a real issue that exists, whether you like it or not.
Another example: when US government invades Iraq for some reason, it definitely will affect many people. Some Americans will have a soldier there. Some others are affected by their tax being diverted to use for military reasons. A surge of hatred is created in those people who are being invaded. It will destabilize the whole region....
2. It leads to mutual understanding between the people. Actions of the "other" might not be acceptable, but they are sometimes understandable if you have enough access to the objective facts. Consider this: When in 1979 revolution Iranians took American embassy employees as hostages this was repeatedly showed on several American channels as an example of Iranian "savageness". But how many Americans know that US together with UK backed Shah and Muslim clergies to overthrow the only Iranian democratic government ever existed. Now compare the pong-standing consequences of this blow to a country with attacking the embassy of another country. How many Americans know for example that Shah backed by CIA, jailed, tortured and killed many Iranian political activists? . Now It is still not acceptable to attack an embassy, but it is understandable that it was a response to massive suffering caused by direct intervention of US in Iran.
3. It becomes a way of life. When we become involved in sociopolitical issues constantly, and begin to critically assess the evidence, it can be of use in other areas of life as well. It can help us become better parents who teach their children how to think not what to think. It helps us make better decision that affect others in a positive way, keeping in mind that others decision also affect us. Last but not least, it lead to some form of thought independence when you do not accept -even- what an intellectual says unless you critically think about it.
4. It leads to a better world: when we become mutually understanding, when we care about the way we affect the other, when we throw away our prejudices, the world will become a more pleasant space to stay.
What is my contribution to this intricate complex society? I am not going to depoliticize myself. I am not a person who is concerned only by himself, only does his job, and accept whatever media tells him. I am not going to believe whatever I see or hear. I am not going to accept everything everyone says be it in the name of religion, reason, democracy, freedom,... I am going to critically appraise it with critical thinking.
Welcome to Humanity
To start I should say that I have never been an outspoken person, but I have always had some critical point of view about my surroundings. You might say, well every human being probably have some view about his/her world. Do not get me wrong, my view is different from the view of many others in the sense that it hurts me. It hurts me to see the pain of the people to an extent that it paralyzes me from living my everyday life. It hurts me to see how hypocrite we become to grieve one death and celebrate the other. It hurts me that our politicians's appetite for profit is endless to the extent that it "justifies" killing thousands of innocents everyday.It hurts me that many of our celebrities and intellectuals are far from caring for human beings. And this is why I just sensed the need for writing and sharing my views of key issues in our world.
I think We -sometimes unconsciously and sometimes deliberately- do little to use our reasoning abilities while interpreting the outside realities. This "we" does not include only the ordinary individuals devoid of higher education but encompasses a range of academics, politicians, intellectuals, etc. We do little to battle the prejudice and bias. We even sometimes kill the reality to conform it to our moral standards. Yes; we are far from perfect, but we can still handle the facts if we want to and if we have the necessary tools. By the facts I do not mean whatever we hear or see from other sources, but I mean a critically appraised objective reality that has been assessed with little bias. And yes we all have negative and positive emotions, but when assessing something, we must learn the ability to minimize the effect of emotion on our judgement.
But you may ask why it is necessary for an ordinary person (or even a university professor who is focused on his research) to care about these every day political and sociocultural issues? For several reasons:
1. It affects our life in some way. Consider this remote example: When a Chinese worker working in an Apple assembly factory die of suicide due to hard work, I as an Iranian student who bought the iPhone am not responsible for his death, but somehow related to it. My appetite for buying a new technology is an incentive for the corporation to put higher pressure on its workers to meet a deadline. This is not an issue that can be solved right away, but it is a real issue that exists, whether you like it or not.
Another example: when US government invades Iraq for some reason, it definitely will affect many people. Some Americans will have a soldier there. Some others are affected by their tax being diverted to use for military reasons. A surge of hatred is created in those people who are being invaded. It will destabilize the whole region....
2. It leads to mutual understanding between the people. Actions of the "other" might not be acceptable, but they are sometimes understandable if you have enough access to the objective facts. Consider this: When in 1979 revolution Iranians took American embassy employees as hostages this was repeatedly showed on several American channels as an example of Iranian "savageness". But how many Americans know that US together with UK backed Shah and Muslim clergies to overthrow the only Iranian democratic government ever existed. Now compare the pong-standing consequences of this blow to a country with attacking the embassy of another country. How many Americans know for example that Shah backed by CIA, jailed, tortured and killed many Iranian political activists? . Now It is still not acceptable to attack an embassy, but it is understandable that it was a response to massive suffering caused by direct intervention of US in Iran.
3. It becomes a way of life. When we become involved in sociopolitical issues constantly, and begin to critically assess the evidence, it can be of use in other areas of life as well. It can help us become better parents who teach their children how to think not what to think. It helps us make better decision that affect others in a positive way, keeping in mind that others decision also affect us. Last but not least, it lead to some form of thought independence when you do not accept -even- what an intellectual says unless you critically think about it.
4. It leads to a better world: when we become mutually understanding, when we care about the way we affect the other, when we throw away our prejudices, the world will become a more pleasant space to stay.
What is my contribution to this intricate complex society? I am not going to depoliticize myself. I am not a person who is concerned only by himself, only does his job, and accept whatever media tells him. I am not going to believe whatever I see or hear. I am not going to accept everything everyone says be it in the name of religion, reason, democracy, freedom,... I am going to critically appraise it with critical thinking.
Welcome to Humanity
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