Check Time For Critical Thinking

[OETKB]

I am increasingly pained by how to examine my thoughts so I do not become what I detest. Sometimes this takes review of what shapes our thinking. Here's an article by Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish novelist, who seems to have articulated the dilemma.

<http://www.nybooks.com/articles/14763>

Reactions please. Mr. Pamuk will be speaking at the Kennedy School of Government tomorrow at 5pm. My wife(since I am working) plans to attend. I will report back after she returns.

[IrateCitizen]

1. Wow. That's a helluva screed.

On a similar note, my wife (who is a teacher and taught for 2 years in a public school in the Bronx) and I were discussing a book I read recently, Savage Inequalities in Our Public Schools by Jonathan Kozol. Kozol argues a point of view that holds its roots in the solutions to poverty advocated by John Kenneth Galbraith. Basically, Kozol says that in order for schools in our poorest areas to offer an education equal to that of rich, suburban districts, we need to invest MORE money in the poorer districts than the richer ones.

This will never happen in the US we live in today. Not because everybody is so completely insensitive, but rather because it will result in those on the top end of the scale having to give up some of their perks and luxuries -- something they are largely loathe to do.

This analogy works on a global scale as well. For all their rhetoric, the rich nations of the world will never be willing to give up what they see as their divine right to luxury and a disproportionate amount of the world's natural resources. But that is what it will take if we ever truly want to get rid of this problem of "terrorism". The military responses currently underway are only exacerbating the problem.

[OETKB]

2. Thanks

Glad you liked the article. Wonder why it didn't get too much response from other DUers.

[IrateCitizen]

3. You should post it in "Editorials and Other Articles"

Stuff that goes beyond the soundbite range, or that deals with somewhat intricate subjects, tends to get lost in GDF.

[OETKB]

4. Thanks again

I'll give it a try.