The Cosmopolitan Blog

Peace is the antonym of war, right? The word ‘peace’ and the word ‘anti-war’ mean the same right? Because obviously, if you’re anti-war, then you’re pro-peace, right?

WRONG.

Mother Teresa once said “I was once asked why I don’t participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I’ll be there.” My hero Greg Mortenson said “If you fight terrorism, that’s based in fear. But if you promote peace, that’s based in hope”.

If you’re trying to stop wars, then all your doing is focusing on those wars and conflicts, and the more you focus on something, the more it perpetuates. If your focus is peace, however, then your mind and your heart is thinking, feeling, visualizing peace.

That’s all folks. No lengthy drawn-out conclusion, let the giants speak. Have a good weekend!

So it seems i’ve reached an unfortunate milestone in this blog: the first time i can’t remember whether or not i have already blogged about a specific topic :-S  My confusion, I believe is due to the fact that i actually discovered the following quote a few years back, I just don’t think I ever wrote about it before.

I’m a history buff, and i was watching this documentary on the German Nazi Regime. That lead me to read about Hitler’s no2 man: Hermann Goering. Did you know he was quoted saying: Read the rest of this entry »

I watched the movie Passchendaele for the first time today. It was an ok movie, but what struck me the most was the final scene. Not for the overly dramatic “kid on a cross” moment, but for the fighting scene, one man against another.

We’ve seen this a thousand times in movies. One man fights another, and you can’t even distinguish who’s on what side. At the end of the day, both these men are honorable (or not), probably have a wife Read the rest of this entry »

Part of the cosmopolitanism philosophy is the acceptance that no nation, culture or political model is better than another, that there are pros and cons for each, but that they each have a reason for existence. After all, each culture, nation and regime exists because it grew from a need for this ideology. If no one agreed with it, no one would adhere to it. There aren’t enough people in this world that can be mass-coerced to adhere. So should we be looking at the tribal way of life in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq (I mention them because they’re on our daily news, so I figure everyone knows where these countries are) and feel sorry for their backward way of life? I’m not sure.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the world is a better place without Saddam Hussein. I think that the tyrant deserved to be held accountable for his crimes. Should we show social responsibility by sticking around once we remove a dictator to ensure that the country will fall back on its feet? Possibly. But the very least we owe the citizens of that country is to see the world through their eyes. How did they get to this point? What motivated them to remain / accept this regime? Are you telling me that 25K+ Iraqi citizens have been sitting there praying for the brave westerners to rescue them? Really? Convince me, I dare you!

But we’re there now. So let’s see the world through their eyes for one moment. Can we honestly claim that democracy is a better regime that the country should aspire to establish? Why? Because it allows individuals to have their own rights and create their own wealth? Sure, that sounds like a good reason, and apparently, in the West, we believe it is, that’s why most western countries have adopted it. But why would be so arrogant as to believe that it will work best all over the world? Why do we think we’re doing other countries a favor by encouraging democracy?

It’s like criticizing woman in Islamic societies for wearing the hijab. Have you tried speaking to one of them and suggesting that they should be independant and non-submissive? Good luck with that! Yes, there will be a large number of them who will allow themselves to dream for a couple of seconds, and imaging the independant life they could be living, with their own goals and careers. And then they will submissively resign themselves to the current state of things. But! But, there’s a huge number of them will defend their choice and their way of life. They respect it and want it that way… It’s the way they’ve been brought out, to take care of the house and the family, and to think of the community before they think of their individual desires… And this is less noble than a career-minded western woman because….?????

I’m struggling to understand all of this… I should probably not think of the state of the world at 2am… *sigh*