One little signal out of Baghdad had done more to reassure people that normalcy might again be possible
By "normalcy," do you mean the rape rooms, mass graves, dictatorship, civil wars, and invasions of Iran and Kuwait, and repression of free press, assembly, and speech? Just curious.
There will be no revolution that reconciles East and West
Lots of people said the Berlin Wall would never fall, too.
A revolution begins with a thought, that thought is spoken carefully to others, those others spread the thought...
History repeats itself....
When a thought strikes the heart and soul of a person, they become passionate about it, and their passion affects others, and touches their heart and soul...and the revolution has begun...slowly quitely, but unstoppable.
People get a taste of freedom, they want more freedom, they get a taste of free thought and free speech, they want it again.
At this point in time the Islamic Therocracies are in their own dark ages, with repression of individual rights, and thugs controlling the national governments. Similar to the Christian dark ages, when the people struggled to survive.
It is time to drag the thugs out of the dark ages and into the light of freedom for the people.
Dave, since the post was about communication, I think normalcy represents the resumption of communication with Iraqis, about whatever their conditions may be. Seemed rather clear to me.
Great post, Willow, and welcome to Curmudgeon's World! Have you read Habermas, by the way? (Your argument is quite Habermasian, which is a good thing, in my opinion.)
I certainly see the importance of the Conversation aspect of blogging. But it leads me to the thought that perhaps part of the frustration of blogging-critics is the Anti-Conversation perpetuated by the lurkers.
Bloggers by their very nature are people that like data and data-sharing. Often, in the absense of data, people tend to impose their own experience and situation on others. (For example, on my site I "read" one of my regular commenters with a Southern accent like my own. Then I found out she's from NewYork!) And with lurkers you have even less data. Perhaps the critics project their own percieved inability to create immediate and substantial change on others.
I am also fascinated by the concept of Great People impacting history. Meaning that one person in the right place at the right time can change the world in a fundamental way. Admittedly, they're extremely rare. But ... they have to be somewhere. Why not here? Why the assumption that people here are not influential? Why the assumption that they will never be influential in the future?
It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the next Great Person of historical importance is listening to and being shaped by the Conversation.
Resumption? There was no free communication with Iraqis before the war. In 2003-4, hundreds of independent Iraqi media were established, and the bloggers first appeared.
I agree the conversation is important, even paramount; debate has always been the lifeblood of free civilization. But let's remember how we got here.
Oh absolutely, there are far far more independent iraqi media channels today than there were before the war--and the number run by minorities is huge. But for the first year of the war most of the information coming out of Iraq was filtered through the Americans (often via Al Hurra)...I think people were just very relieved to start hearing from Iraqis themselves again.
Yes, when phone and mail is not immediately reliable, when travel is restricted, and when in certain parts of the country everything is disrupted, then people in surrounding countries with friends and relatives in Iraq perceive that normal communications are gone. I think that's all you need to read into this, Dave.
By the way: I disagree that blogging doesn't change minds. It does. I damn well know it does, because I've had my mind changed by it, and furthermore, I've had many people tell me that I've changed their minds about something.
Blogging can also be a terrific tool for charity work, by the way.
What this does is flatten hierarchies and make communications with people you'd never have ever communicated with before possible. That's extremely valuable. Do you know I've never met a single one of my co-bloggers person to person, and haven't even talked with most of them on the phone?
Commenting on Dean's World is a privilege, not a right. Dean is your host, you are his guest, and you should behave in that fashion. Dean is not your babysitter, nor is he your punching bag. Please remember this. In general, you are free to disagree with anyone on any subject you wish, but abusive behavior will not be tolerated.
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.
By "normalcy," do you mean the rape rooms, mass graves, dictatorship, civil wars, and invasions of Iran and Kuwait, and repression of free press, assembly, and speech? Just curious.
There will be no revolution that reconciles East and West
Lots of people said the Berlin Wall would never fall, too.
History repeats itself....
When a thought strikes the heart and soul of a person, they become passionate about it, and their passion affects others, and touches their heart and soul...and the revolution has begun...slowly quitely, but unstoppable.
People get a taste of freedom, they want more freedom, they get a taste of free thought and free speech, they want it again.
At this point in time the Islamic Therocracies are in their own dark ages, with repression of individual rights, and thugs controlling the national governments. Similar to the Christian dark ages, when the people struggled to survive.
It is time to drag the thugs out of the dark ages and into the light of freedom for the people.
Great post, Willow, and welcome to Curmudgeon's World! Have you read Habermas, by the way? (Your argument is quite Habermasian, which is a good thing, in my opinion.)
Yup, you're exactly right.
Bloggers by their very nature are people that like data and data-sharing. Often, in the absense of data, people tend to impose their own experience and situation on others. (For example, on my site I "read" one of my regular commenters with a Southern accent like my own. Then I found out she's from NewYork!) And with lurkers you have even less data. Perhaps the critics project their own percieved inability to create immediate and substantial change on others.
I am also fascinated by the concept of Great People impacting history. Meaning that one person in the right place at the right time can change the world in a fundamental way. Admittedly, they're extremely rare. But ... they have to be somewhere. Why not here? Why the assumption that people here are not influential? Why the assumption that they will never be influential in the future?
It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the next Great Person of historical importance is listening to and being shaped by the Conversation.
Resumption? There was no free communication with Iraqis before the war. In 2003-4, hundreds of independent Iraqi media were established, and the bloggers first appeared.
I agree the conversation is important, even paramount; debate has always been the lifeblood of free civilization. But let's remember how we got here.
By the way: I disagree that blogging doesn't change minds. It does. I damn well know it does, because I've had my mind changed by it, and furthermore, I've had many people tell me that I've changed their minds about something.
Blogging can also be a terrific tool for charity work, by the way.
What this does is flatten hierarchies and make communications with people you'd never have ever communicated with before possible. That's extremely valuable. Do you know I've never met a single one of my co-bloggers person to person, and haven't even talked with most of them on the phone?
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.