Wow. Three months since coming back from London I still miss it and think about my time there everyday. It really did change who I am and what I want with my academic career. Even though sometimes I might not act like and sometimes I might doubt myself, I really do want to end up in academia. But I never finished my last few days. I'm going do as best as I can with it. I have notes but they're at home.
Tuesday. I watched another one of the presentations and was again underwhelmed. These are supposed to be breakneck students and I still think that I can compete with any of them, and when I mean compete I mean beat them in every aspect. Since I had to do my presentation, I used the evening to study. During the afternoon we visited Westminster and the London Bridge and the Monument and Platform 9 3/4. The Platform 9 3/4 was very, very underwhelming but we still had a good time. I'm glad we went. At Westminster I had a conversation about my dad at with one of the guards. It was really neat. I was eating at the local pub down the corner and I had a British man come up and ask me if I was American. I said, and he and I started to talk about Barak Obama. We were able to have a very good conversation, and said that I was helping to reshape his view of American young adults. He also said he wished that he had been as aware as I was at my age of 21. Finished my powerpoint.
Wednesday: Class. I did my presentation and it went so freaking well. I was really, really happy. The Hizb has actually become a large research topic for myself. Me, Johnny, Melissa, and Kristin all went to the Sherlock Holmes pub. We then went out to a place where I got fish and chips.
Thursday: The very last presentation was Thursday. The middle eastern girl presented and I was SHOCKED as to her outlook on a lot of things. She said she honestly believed 9/11 was staged. Some of the other things that she said also shocked me. It's hard to believe that simply based on geographic locations people can have such radically different ideologies, but that also happens here in America. Someone in New York can have a radically different outlook than me. It's shocking. The party on the boat was awesome. By the end everyone was dancing and everything. It was really a ton of fun. Took a lot of pictures and some video and was thankful for that opportunity.
Friday: Waking up and doing a little bit of last minute shopping. Got some gifts for my mom. We had our last breakfast together at a place that we'd fallen in love with. I had my last english breakfast. I miss them, man. I really do. I went back and started to pack. Took pictures of my dorm, took pictures of the room, bathroom, the freaking grocery store I couldn't find. Walking out of the door and walking down the the hill for the last time. It was tough to realize I'll probably never see that again even though it was part of the best three weeks of my life. My suitcase weighed so much. I found out the next day it weighed 65 pounds. I was going through the tube with my luggage and at I also had my backpack. One of the escalators weren't working in one of the stations so I had to carry it down probably 200 steps. I thought I was going to fall with my luggage and really hurt people. Thankfully nothing happened. It took all of my strength though. By the time I got to Wigram I was absolutely disgusting and sweaty. We then went to the Lion King where I had an absolute blast. We had to stand but it was okay. It was totally worth it. Staying in Wigram. seeing Johnny in the elevator for the last time. Seeing Melissa. Having Beatrice wait on me to get back with Johnny. June and Robyn coming to see me and Kristin for the last time. It was really tough to leave these guys cause they had become huge for me. We joked that it wasn't really that big of a deal since it was only three weeks and that we'd never see each other again, but it was actually really hard.
Waking up at four in the morning. Getting there at the airport only to find out my suitcase weighed to much. Sleeping on the plane. Being back in Atlanta. Jet lagged. Coming back.
Man, I miss it. I miss it a lot. I think that the group that we ended up having was really special. It was such an awesome time and I know that each of us think about the time we had there often. It's something is really special, London is. I know that I'm probably never going to have 3 weeks like that. I got my scores back and scored an A+. I was really happy with my scores. I spent a lot of time on that presentation. God I want to go back. The city was so much better than being here in Emory, Virginia. While Emory is a very, very special place, London was so much more amazing. I still think in my mind as if I'm there. I still see walking down "the hill" everyday. I still see myself walking into my room every day. I still see taking the escalator down to the tube everyday. I still see walking to class... getting to class every day... my classroom. I still remember all those times as if they were yesterday. Man, what a special special time I had there. It's something I'm never going to forget, and I hope that one day I get to go back.
Wow. I miss it. I really, really do.
Ryan
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Thursday through Monday! Sorry guys!
This is going to be a super long post. I have to do last Thursday through yesterday (Sunday).
Thursday was really a fascinating day. The morning was relatively boring as I just did some research into Hizb ut-Tahrir… the Islamist organization I am doing my London research on. After that we met up and ate, and then it was off to the Mosque for me… which was an awesome experience.
I was surprised, honestly. As much as I have studied everything about the religion, as I stepped on the holy grounds, I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with a feeling of apprehension. I was honestly shocked. I didn’t expect to feel that way. And I’ve been to a mosque before, but in Johnson City, Tennessee. Here was one of the largest mosques in one of the most internationally influenced cities in the world. I couldn’t help but have all the images of 7/7, 9/11 run through my head. It showed me a lot… it showed me that I can understand everything about something, that I can read all about something, but not truly understand it until I experience it. I think that it was a metaphor, really, for how I experience a lot of things in life. I know I’m smart. But I’m book smart. There are a lot of things I’ve read about, a lot of things I’ve studied… a lot of things I believe I just “know.” But this “experience” showed me that however much I know about something, there is still something very real and enlightening about experiencing the thing itself.
Inside the mosque itself, we sat in the prayer room. We had to take off our shoes, but due to the intimacy of the Islamic prayer ritual, I completely understood it. It simply keeps the place clean. It was neat to watch the prayer. There were a lot of people just laying down… other’s reading the Qur’an… other’s with family. It’s truly a community gathering place. We sat down and talked for almost 45 minutes. I learned a couple things here and there. We then went up to the library. I’ve criticized the hugeness of the pre-Renaissance European chapels/churches/abbeys due to the size and gawkiness and how it represents power. While the Islamic Mosque (at least this one in London) is just as large, it serves an entirely different purpose. It serves as an Islamic library, with collections of books in over 50 languages. There was also a place for lectures (mosques tend to bring in a lot of imams and scholars to come in and talk and give lessons… much like a Sunday school).
After that a bunch of us met up and went to a Jamaican bar… but after I went back to my place and showered and stuff. It was a hot day in the mosque. Kristin and Melissa ended up coming by and hanging out for a bit.
The Jamaican bar was a lot of fun. I ended up playing the bongo’s with one of the guys. He wouldn’t let me do it by myself because he didn’t know I played. I think he figured it out quickly and we started playing some more complicated stuff… so that was fun. Then he decided that he thought it would be a good idea to talk about life with me. All he kept saying (at least what I could understand… he had a very thick accent) was “one love! One Love!” I just laughed. But Johnny really appreciated it because he is an African studies major. So he was totally into it.
On to Friday… Friday I woke up and met everyone for breakfast. Another English breakfast. I’ve found a particular little place that I’ve fallen in love with that serves great breakfast at a relatively cheap price. (Everything is somewhat expensive here… I stopped trying to convert the money to American dollars. J) We then went to an aquarium. I wasn’t able to take very good pictures but I was able to take a lot of fairly good video. They should come out really well. At least I hope so! I took a bunch for Ethan. It was a great aquarium. I saw some actual sharks… which I was surprised about. We then went to a store called Lilly Whites… a SIX story sports store. It was freaking awesome! I couldn’t believe it. That was honestly about it… came back and hung out with June, Beatrice, and our other Romanian friend Ana for a bit… then went to bet getting ready for the FOURTH OF JULY!
Saturday: July 4th. Wow. What an awkward day. We started out in a park, until we figured out we couldn’t grill out. We then went to Wigram, where we also discovered that we couldn’t grill out. So we ended up each buying separate food and chilling in the park and watching Wimbolden. There were a couple of drunk Americans that were screaming anti-British stuff on the tube station and pro American. It was funny. But it was honestly just like any other day. A couple of firecrackers here and there, but nothing like the celebration in the states. Which, I mean… you can’t really blame them. In all of British military history, that’s probably one of the most embarrassing defeats. And rightfully so… there is no way we should have won. We were a bunch of ragtag mililtia men fighting a bunch of well trained European battled tested fighters. So I mean, that was almost entirely it. Hahaha.
Sunday: What a great day! Woke up early because it was our STONEHENGE and BATH day. I absolutely loved Stonehenge. To think that while scholars have theories as to why and how the stones got there, no one honestly really knows… and that’s fascinating. It’s one of those moments that made this trip that much more amazing. I would have loved to touch one of the stones, but only on the Summer Solstice are people allowed to actually get in the stones. Which is cool. Would love to come back. Because that’s one of the major theories. That it was used on the solstice as a ritual based ceremony with the stones representing the fact that there is something more than this life… something eternal like the stones. So it was totally an awesome experience to be there. I took a lot of pictures. It totally took a ton of time to go around. It is really large and the stones are just overwhelming. It’s awesome. Then it was on to Bath. We started with another Abbey that I was able to take pictures in so you can see some of things I’ve been talking about in regards to these abbeys and chapels and churches. Then it was onto the Jane Austen center. Now Amanda and Mom are both big Jane Austen fans, so I wanted to go up there, and I was honestly a little disappointed. There was nothing really neat in the gift shop except some really old editions of some of her books, but otherwise nothing worth looking. Didn’t go in the museum simply because of the time. Finally, we went to the Roman Baths. I was really impressed. It was a central facet of society for a lot of places in Europe around the time that they were created. Plus these are supposed to have magical healing powers. So it was interesting to see some of the history that has been there and be a part of it. But Stonehenge was definitely my most favorite part of the trip. It was simply amazing. Then we came back, I ate two helpings of Sweat and Sour Chicken, and then that was it!
Monday: Class was boring… we’ve kinda stalled in class which I’m disappointed about. I think Sadiki is a great scholar but not necessarily the best teacher… but then again this is summer school and probably far different than what he is used to… as well as us. After class I worked in the library on the presentation, then went over to Wigram… ate with my friends and worked some more and then came back here. Today was more of a “I gotta get some stuff done otherwise I’m never going to get it done” day… which was good.
Anyway, it’s almost midnight over here so I’ve going to bed!
Ryan
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Tuesday and Wednesday
Yesterday was a blast.
Started out with class again, which is turning relatively boring although I'm learning a lot. After class we went to a travelling exhibit that is in London right now called The Body Museum. Essentially what happens is these scientists use people's bodies that they have donated towards science to learn from them. Some of them they use for this exhibit to teach people about the human body. There were a lot of interesting exhibits, but the overwhelming sense that I got of how short life is, how quickly it passes, and the absolute need for the body to be in great shape to give someone the best chance possible at living a long, healthy, disease free life. It was one of those type of deals that struck me rather hard. It was totally an awesome exhibit and something that was definitely worth seeing. Weird, but worth seeing.
After that we went to another park and just relaxed until we went to the London Eye, which was sweet. It's a 435 foot Ferris wheel that goes around oen time and you can see tons of things from all over Westminster. We got a pretty cool group photo, and I got one with Big Ben in the background that I absolutely love. It gave London a whole new perspective.
After that we went on a SANCTIONED BY THE UNIVERSITY SOCIAL PROGRAMME COMPLETE WITH UNIVERSITY TOUR GUIDE pub walk. I sat there and got to watch all of my friends get drunk. We went to four different pubs (many stopped going after they got a little drunk and kept at the same pub). We made it to all pubs and I learned some history on the way. Got to go back tomorrow probably and get some other pictures that I've been wanting. I got to help carry a drunk Mexican guy up the hill this time.
Yesterday I also realized that I was halfway done. I don't want it to be over. There is still so much in this city that I've haven't seen yet! But it's life.
Wednesday:
So class today was boring. We tried for an hour to get the projector to work. But in the meantime we talked about our topics. My topic is going to be somewhat difficult... especially to pull off in a week. Even though it's a rudimentary presentation, I feel like I really want to do well. Tomorrow he told us we are going to a mosque so that should be very interesting.
He's obsessed with the United States and our viewpoints. He keeps asking us about various things. While he was talking today, he said that he had a job offer at Georgetown University, but had been banned from entering the United States. He didn't give us many details, but I would imagine it has to do with some of his political viewpoints, although I'm struggling to understand what those are becuase he specializes in Arab Democraticization. So I'm going to look into that.
After class my group went to Windsor castle. Which is where the King lives. The first thing that we did was go into the Church. While almost everyone was marvelling at the various beauties such as the gold plated chairs, the jewels, the stained glass windows, I was disgusted and felt that it represented everything that was wrong with organized religion. Those types of cathedrals miss the entire point of the religion they profess. The realm could have used 3/4 of the money used, made a moderately less amazing chapel, and then used the rest of the money to give to the poor or something... do something Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Ghandi, the Buddha, etc. would have done. Rather, chapels like these, and other places of worship all over the world represent the bastardization of religion and the struggle for wealth and power all over the world manifested through religion. It's sad.
The rest of the castle was much the same. There were entire rooms in the castle that could have fit my entire house. One room could have fit 3 or 4 of my houses. While it was amazing, awesome to see since it represents "England" for a lot of people, it was nonetheless astonishingly materialistic. And I know she's the Queen of England and Great Britain was once the most powerful nation/empire/figurehead in the entire world, but honestly... does a Queen need a closet that's the size of my house? I honestly don't think so. And the other thing was it took us about 45 minutes to walk through less than 5% of her entire castle... we just went through what was open to the public.
After the castle, I just came back and have been doing some research for my presentation/research assignment. Since I came in with a knowledgeable background in the topic, I don't I've learned as much as the other students in the class... but I know exactly what I need to study next in order to really get a full grasp on this topic. I think I can do it. I also think I know exactly what I want my honor's thesis to be on. We'll see how the rest of the class shapes up in that regards.
I've also found a new favorite food. English Breakfast. Because it's amazing. And because they serve baked beans with breakfast. Who would've thought? But it's amazing.
Now to some research and uploading photos!
I'm out!
Ryan
Started out with class again, which is turning relatively boring although I'm learning a lot. After class we went to a travelling exhibit that is in London right now called The Body Museum. Essentially what happens is these scientists use people's bodies that they have donated towards science to learn from them. Some of them they use for this exhibit to teach people about the human body. There were a lot of interesting exhibits, but the overwhelming sense that I got of how short life is, how quickly it passes, and the absolute need for the body to be in great shape to give someone the best chance possible at living a long, healthy, disease free life. It was one of those type of deals that struck me rather hard. It was totally an awesome exhibit and something that was definitely worth seeing. Weird, but worth seeing.
After that we went to another park and just relaxed until we went to the London Eye, which was sweet. It's a 435 foot Ferris wheel that goes around oen time and you can see tons of things from all over Westminster. We got a pretty cool group photo, and I got one with Big Ben in the background that I absolutely love. It gave London a whole new perspective.
After that we went on a SANCTIONED BY THE UNIVERSITY SOCIAL PROGRAMME COMPLETE WITH UNIVERSITY TOUR GUIDE pub walk. I sat there and got to watch all of my friends get drunk. We went to four different pubs (many stopped going after they got a little drunk and kept at the same pub). We made it to all pubs and I learned some history on the way. Got to go back tomorrow probably and get some other pictures that I've been wanting. I got to help carry a drunk Mexican guy up the hill this time.
Yesterday I also realized that I was halfway done. I don't want it to be over. There is still so much in this city that I've haven't seen yet! But it's life.
Wednesday:
So class today was boring. We tried for an hour to get the projector to work. But in the meantime we talked about our topics. My topic is going to be somewhat difficult... especially to pull off in a week. Even though it's a rudimentary presentation, I feel like I really want to do well. Tomorrow he told us we are going to a mosque so that should be very interesting.
He's obsessed with the United States and our viewpoints. He keeps asking us about various things. While he was talking today, he said that he had a job offer at Georgetown University, but had been banned from entering the United States. He didn't give us many details, but I would imagine it has to do with some of his political viewpoints, although I'm struggling to understand what those are becuase he specializes in Arab Democraticization. So I'm going to look into that.
After class my group went to Windsor castle. Which is where the King lives. The first thing that we did was go into the Church. While almost everyone was marvelling at the various beauties such as the gold plated chairs, the jewels, the stained glass windows, I was disgusted and felt that it represented everything that was wrong with organized religion. Those types of cathedrals miss the entire point of the religion they profess. The realm could have used 3/4 of the money used, made a moderately less amazing chapel, and then used the rest of the money to give to the poor or something... do something Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Ghandi, the Buddha, etc. would have done. Rather, chapels like these, and other places of worship all over the world represent the bastardization of religion and the struggle for wealth and power all over the world manifested through religion. It's sad.
The rest of the castle was much the same. There were entire rooms in the castle that could have fit my entire house. One room could have fit 3 or 4 of my houses. While it was amazing, awesome to see since it represents "England" for a lot of people, it was nonetheless astonishingly materialistic. And I know she's the Queen of England and Great Britain was once the most powerful nation/empire/figurehead in the entire world, but honestly... does a Queen need a closet that's the size of my house? I honestly don't think so. And the other thing was it took us about 45 minutes to walk through less than 5% of her entire castle... we just went through what was open to the public.
After the castle, I just came back and have been doing some research for my presentation/research assignment. Since I came in with a knowledgeable background in the topic, I don't I've learned as much as the other students in the class... but I know exactly what I need to study next in order to really get a full grasp on this topic. I think I can do it. I also think I know exactly what I want my honor's thesis to be on. We'll see how the rest of the class shapes up in that regards.
I've also found a new favorite food. English Breakfast. Because it's amazing. And because they serve baked beans with breakfast. Who would've thought? But it's amazing.
Now to some research and uploading photos!
I'm out!
Ryan
Monday, June 29, 2009
Monday. Day 10
Wow. Day 5 of classes.
Today's class was relatively uneventful. Nothing really to talk about. Almost boring. The only relatively neat thing that I learned today was about this other ideologue. He was an Islamist in that he was pushing for the establishment of an Islamic State. Except his Islamic State was run through democracy with Muslims and non-Muslims both running the state based on a system of merit. I'm definitely going to read his book. Should be awesome.
After class today we went to the Natural History Museum. Talk about awesome and cool! Saw a bunch of dinosaur bones which was neat. Went through this crazy exhibit all about the evolution of the human body, mind, nervous system, etc. There was a lot of the exhibit that we didn't see but we were there for almost all of the afternoon, so that was a blast.
We ate dinner at the nice little resturent. It was pretty cool. Got me a huge hamburger and a Cherry Lemonade.
Finally Johnny and I went to this pub where I got to watch this crazy dude juggle in the middle of the square. He was into it. Everyone went up and gave him money afterward.
Really, that was my day. Nothing to super note.
Peace out.
Today's class was relatively uneventful. Nothing really to talk about. Almost boring. The only relatively neat thing that I learned today was about this other ideologue. He was an Islamist in that he was pushing for the establishment of an Islamic State. Except his Islamic State was run through democracy with Muslims and non-Muslims both running the state based on a system of merit. I'm definitely going to read his book. Should be awesome.
After class today we went to the Natural History Museum. Talk about awesome and cool! Saw a bunch of dinosaur bones which was neat. Went through this crazy exhibit all about the evolution of the human body, mind, nervous system, etc. There was a lot of the exhibit that we didn't see but we were there for almost all of the afternoon, so that was a blast.
We ate dinner at the nice little resturent. It was pretty cool. Got me a huge hamburger and a Cherry Lemonade.
Finally Johnny and I went to this pub where I got to watch this crazy dude juggle in the middle of the square. He was into it. Everyone went up and gave him money afterward.
Really, that was my day. Nothing to super note.
Peace out.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Weekend 1. Day's 8 and 9. AND WALES!
Wow. What a country. All I can say is that I've had one of the best weekends in a long time this weekend.
We started by waking up at 6:00 AM and trying to make it to the bus by 7:30. Beatrice and I ended up making it around 7:15ish, so that was good. We had quite the tube trip.
We take the 3.5 hour drive to Wales. I took tons and tons of pictures and a lot of video too. Hopefully they'll get up on facebook soon. I'm exhausted tonight so this post is going to be the extent of my activities tonight.
I responded to my uncle on the question I was asked on Thursday. I'll post that at the end of this, too.
So the first time I step foot in Wales I'm on an old Roman military establishment. There were some awesome remains of a series of baracks and other necessary living quarter rooms. There was also a very neat old Amphitheater that we got to go in and out of. It's one of the most well preserved in Europe. Wales actually has quite a few awesome "one of the black in London" tid bits.
After that we went to a nearby Castle called Caerphilly Castle. It was the first time I've ever been that up close and personal with a castle. We toured the castle, I took tons of pictures, and generally had a great time. Learned a little bit of history about how to storm a castle, how they were defended, etc. Was very interesting.
After that we went to an open air museum dedicated to the lives of the Welsh. We essentially saw how the Welsh lived from the early modern period to basically present day. Was very interesting, although I liked the second castle we saw at the same place called St. Fagans castle much better. The castle had beautiful gardens, a full interior (this was a modern-period castle) and it was generally well preserved and cool to go through. Saw the biggest birdhouse ever. Took a picture of it for Mom.
Following that we went to our hotel, which was one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed at. We ate, and then spent some time on the beach at wales. I took some photos and some video. It was a great time.
This morning we started at 8:45. We went to what was my second favorite part of the entire weekend. And that was a museum dedicated to the Coal Mining industry. Except this museum is a coal mine. We got to go down into the mine and everything. I couldn't believe how small it was, how much you had to duck to get around, how heavy the equipmen was (yes, we wore it all) and finally how dark it was when you cut off the lights. There is simply no way I could ever have done it, especially as a child at the age of five working in the mines in complete darkness. Our guide had us take off lamps and just sit in the darkness for a minute. It was literally one of the longest minutes of my life. That children and men would sit for hours like that at a time was hard to believe. It was cold, wet, and dreary downstairs.
One of the interesting things our tour guide said was how amazing the fellowship was down there. He said that in the capitalist world it's all about getting where you want to go by any means necessary. And he's right. He thought it was barbaric, while I just see it as competition. But he said the best co-workers you could ever ask for were those down in the mines with you. And I imagine he would be correct. There's no chance for advancement. There's nothing worth looking forward to and not really anything worth trying to achieve down there. There's no back stabbing... nothing. But he also said the people that ran and owned the mines were horrible people. He said that they were exploited more than we could know right now. He had two stories. The first was that a group of them that were working in the mines when it closed down still go to the man's grave who then owned the mine and piss on his grave every anniversary of his death. And their kids will do it too. And their kids. He said a miner never forgets. He also said that about 10 years back a man came who was boasting that his family used to own this mine in front of his friends that he was with. They wouldn't let the descendant go down in the mines. They never forget.
Finally, we went to an old abbey. In the 1100's... medieval Europe style. It was amazing to learn about how Monks used to live. Definitely my favorite part of the trip. I took a lot of pictures and video here too, so those should be up soon!
Here was my answer to the question my professor posed. Tomorrow I finish up Thursday and Friday blogs. :-)
A little more context to the question I was asked though... Essentially, the video stated that the United States had made the problem in the Middle East today. Which I also agree with. But something that I think a lot of people are forgetting is why we have made the actions in the second half of the 20th century that we did. So this was essentially my reply...
In Iraq, between 80-88, we supported Hussein. Because they were fighting Iran, which in turn (after the Islamic Revolution in 1979) had turned Pro-Communist. We gave billions of dollars worth of weapons, training, etc because we fighting the Soviet Union, which was the largest threat at the time. We made al-Qaeda in that we supported the Taliban between 1979 and 1989 when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Finally, we were very involved with Egypt during the 1960's because of President Nasser, who was essentially an Arab Socialist and very marxist-oriented in regards to ideology.
*This little part is a some context that the movie provided*
The name that is essentially given credit for the ideology that started Islamic fundamentalism was a man named Sayyid Qutb. He was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1960's at their most active and most radical time. They are a non-violent Islamic group, but with aims to see the establishment of an Islamic state. Qutb was writing in response to a lot of things, but a central one was that of the United States involvement in the life of Muslims. It would only get worse, from their context, as the United States would come into countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan and manipulate the politics and regimes their to our own benefit. Again, I agree with everything that we did and I'll tell you why... so we have the United States essentially giving the now-Islamists all the ideological weaponry that they need.
But here is why the problem would be so much worse had we NOT intervened in the politics of the Middle East. Afghanistan would have fallen to the Communists if not for the U.S., and probably Iraq too. Egypt was already on the path towards National Socialism with Nasser. Sayyid Qutb had already written his influential book "Milestones" by the time any of this happened. Therefore, the seeds of Islamism was already there. Therefore, Islamic Radicalism would be an issue today even if the United States hadn't stopped the Middle East from going communist.
But it would be a bigger issue. And this is because at it's central Islam is NOT a violent religion. Communism, on the other hand, is exactly the definition of an ideology in which violence is a central and integral part of the rhetoric. When Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto, he was responding to the revolutions of 1848 that had broken out all of Europe. Therefore, he saw that the ONLY way to stop the capitalist, greedy "bourgeoisie" was for the working class... the "proletariat"... to revolt against the established higher classes. And by revolt, he means war. The working class must recognize itself as a class, gain the class consciousness necessary for everyone to feel as one, and the overthrow the bourgeoisie. The end result is a classless society and the abolishment of private property.
So imagine the problem that we currently have. But add in an ideology that is essentially violent at it's core. Then we have a much larger problem. There are many Muslim organizations that call for greater Islamic rights (and there are certainly quite convincing arguments, statistics, and data out there to support their claims that they are sociologically discriminated against in a variety of ways) without seeking violence. In fact, there is only a small majority of people... and we're talking a VERY small majority, that support violence in the forms of terrorism as a means of getting those rights. So that's why I think that everything we did in the Middle East has turned out right. Because we wouldn't want Radical organizations that were also Marxist in nature. That'd be even worse.
So that was answer. But I also come from the realist perspective in regards to International Relations ideology. There are four other schools, and he made it clear that it wasn't his own perspective.
Then he asked me what I thought about nuclear weapons. And coming again from the realistic perspective I told him that I thought that as more and more countries develop the capability to develop and deploy nukes, the safer the world becomes.
Imagine World War II when the United States dropped the nukes. We were the ONLY country in the world that had the ability to do that. And we're lucky. Because that's the only time in the history of the world that a nuke of that power has been released. And we were damn lucky that we got them first because imagine if Hitler had first developed nukes and dropped one... or the Japanese and we didn't have them. The world would be a much different place.
But also imagine if there had been an Axis power that had the capability to drop a nuke. We wouldn't have dropped it. Because we would have been assured of a retaliation. And that's my perspective. There will NEVER be another nuke dropped on the planet because of the countries that have nukes, not all of them are allies. If a nuke is dropped, there WILL be a retaliation, and then we get into a principle called Mutually Assured Destruction. If one drops, another will drop, and another will drop, etc. Now if only one country, or a group of allied countries, all have nukes they can do whatever they want. But if countries are afraid of retaliation, simply due to the sheer power of nuclear capability, they will not drop it. So as more and more countries gain nuclear capability, the safer the world becomes.
If you have any questions, feel free to facebook me. I love talking about this stuff.
Goodnight,
Ryan Bowyer
We started by waking up at 6:00 AM and trying to make it to the bus by 7:30. Beatrice and I ended up making it around 7:15ish, so that was good. We had quite the tube trip.
We take the 3.5 hour drive to Wales. I took tons and tons of pictures and a lot of video too. Hopefully they'll get up on facebook soon. I'm exhausted tonight so this post is going to be the extent of my activities tonight.
I responded to my uncle on the question I was asked on Thursday. I'll post that at the end of this, too.
So the first time I step foot in Wales I'm on an old Roman military establishment. There were some awesome remains of a series of baracks and other necessary living quarter rooms. There was also a very neat old Amphitheater that we got to go in and out of. It's one of the most well preserved in Europe. Wales actually has quite a few awesome "one of the black in London" tid bits.
After that we went to a nearby Castle called Caerphilly Castle. It was the first time I've ever been that up close and personal with a castle. We toured the castle, I took tons of pictures, and generally had a great time. Learned a little bit of history about how to storm a castle, how they were defended, etc. Was very interesting.
After that we went to an open air museum dedicated to the lives of the Welsh. We essentially saw how the Welsh lived from the early modern period to basically present day. Was very interesting, although I liked the second castle we saw at the same place called St. Fagans castle much better. The castle had beautiful gardens, a full interior (this was a modern-period castle) and it was generally well preserved and cool to go through. Saw the biggest birdhouse ever. Took a picture of it for Mom.
Following that we went to our hotel, which was one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed at. We ate, and then spent some time on the beach at wales. I took some photos and some video. It was a great time.
This morning we started at 8:45. We went to what was my second favorite part of the entire weekend. And that was a museum dedicated to the Coal Mining industry. Except this museum is a coal mine. We got to go down into the mine and everything. I couldn't believe how small it was, how much you had to duck to get around, how heavy the equipmen was (yes, we wore it all) and finally how dark it was when you cut off the lights. There is simply no way I could ever have done it, especially as a child at the age of five working in the mines in complete darkness. Our guide had us take off lamps and just sit in the darkness for a minute. It was literally one of the longest minutes of my life. That children and men would sit for hours like that at a time was hard to believe. It was cold, wet, and dreary downstairs.
One of the interesting things our tour guide said was how amazing the fellowship was down there. He said that in the capitalist world it's all about getting where you want to go by any means necessary. And he's right. He thought it was barbaric, while I just see it as competition. But he said the best co-workers you could ever ask for were those down in the mines with you. And I imagine he would be correct. There's no chance for advancement. There's nothing worth looking forward to and not really anything worth trying to achieve down there. There's no back stabbing... nothing. But he also said the people that ran and owned the mines were horrible people. He said that they were exploited more than we could know right now. He had two stories. The first was that a group of them that were working in the mines when it closed down still go to the man's grave who then owned the mine and piss on his grave every anniversary of his death. And their kids will do it too. And their kids. He said a miner never forgets. He also said that about 10 years back a man came who was boasting that his family used to own this mine in front of his friends that he was with. They wouldn't let the descendant go down in the mines. They never forget.
Finally, we went to an old abbey. In the 1100's... medieval Europe style. It was amazing to learn about how Monks used to live. Definitely my favorite part of the trip. I took a lot of pictures and video here too, so those should be up soon!
Here was my answer to the question my professor posed. Tomorrow I finish up Thursday and Friday blogs. :-)
A little more context to the question I was asked though... Essentially, the video stated that the United States had made the problem in the Middle East today. Which I also agree with. But something that I think a lot of people are forgetting is why we have made the actions in the second half of the 20th century that we did. So this was essentially my reply...
In Iraq, between 80-88, we supported Hussein. Because they were fighting Iran, which in turn (after the Islamic Revolution in 1979) had turned Pro-Communist. We gave billions of dollars worth of weapons, training, etc because we fighting the Soviet Union, which was the largest threat at the time. We made al-Qaeda in that we supported the Taliban between 1979 and 1989 when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Finally, we were very involved with Egypt during the 1960's because of President Nasser, who was essentially an Arab Socialist and very marxist-oriented in regards to ideology.
*This little part is a some context that the movie provided*
The name that is essentially given credit for the ideology that started Islamic fundamentalism was a man named Sayyid Qutb. He was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1960's at their most active and most radical time. They are a non-violent Islamic group, but with aims to see the establishment of an Islamic state. Qutb was writing in response to a lot of things, but a central one was that of the United States involvement in the life of Muslims. It would only get worse, from their context, as the United States would come into countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan and manipulate the politics and regimes their to our own benefit. Again, I agree with everything that we did and I'll tell you why... so we have the United States essentially giving the now-Islamists all the ideological weaponry that they need.
But here is why the problem would be so much worse had we NOT intervened in the politics of the Middle East. Afghanistan would have fallen to the Communists if not for the U.S., and probably Iraq too. Egypt was already on the path towards National Socialism with Nasser. Sayyid Qutb had already written his influential book "Milestones" by the time any of this happened. Therefore, the seeds of Islamism was already there. Therefore, Islamic Radicalism would be an issue today even if the United States hadn't stopped the Middle East from going communist.
But it would be a bigger issue. And this is because at it's central Islam is NOT a violent religion. Communism, on the other hand, is exactly the definition of an ideology in which violence is a central and integral part of the rhetoric. When Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto, he was responding to the revolutions of 1848 that had broken out all of Europe. Therefore, he saw that the ONLY way to stop the capitalist, greedy "bourgeoisie" was for the working class... the "proletariat"... to revolt against the established higher classes. And by revolt, he means war. The working class must recognize itself as a class, gain the class consciousness necessary for everyone to feel as one, and the overthrow the bourgeoisie. The end result is a classless society and the abolishment of private property.
So imagine the problem that we currently have. But add in an ideology that is essentially violent at it's core. Then we have a much larger problem. There are many Muslim organizations that call for greater Islamic rights (and there are certainly quite convincing arguments, statistics, and data out there to support their claims that they are sociologically discriminated against in a variety of ways) without seeking violence. In fact, there is only a small majority of people... and we're talking a VERY small majority, that support violence in the forms of terrorism as a means of getting those rights. So that's why I think that everything we did in the Middle East has turned out right. Because we wouldn't want Radical organizations that were also Marxist in nature. That'd be even worse.
So that was answer. But I also come from the realist perspective in regards to International Relations ideology. There are four other schools, and he made it clear that it wasn't his own perspective.
Then he asked me what I thought about nuclear weapons. And coming again from the realistic perspective I told him that I thought that as more and more countries develop the capability to develop and deploy nukes, the safer the world becomes.
Imagine World War II when the United States dropped the nukes. We were the ONLY country in the world that had the ability to do that. And we're lucky. Because that's the only time in the history of the world that a nuke of that power has been released. And we were damn lucky that we got them first because imagine if Hitler had first developed nukes and dropped one... or the Japanese and we didn't have them. The world would be a much different place.
But also imagine if there had been an Axis power that had the capability to drop a nuke. We wouldn't have dropped it. Because we would have been assured of a retaliation. And that's my perspective. There will NEVER be another nuke dropped on the planet because of the countries that have nukes, not all of them are allies. If a nuke is dropped, there WILL be a retaliation, and then we get into a principle called Mutually Assured Destruction. If one drops, another will drop, and another will drop, etc. Now if only one country, or a group of allied countries, all have nukes they can do whatever they want. But if countries are afraid of retaliation, simply due to the sheer power of nuclear capability, they will not drop it. So as more and more countries gain nuclear capability, the safer the world becomes.
If you have any questions, feel free to facebook me. I love talking about this stuff.
Goodnight,
Ryan Bowyer
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Day's 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Hey!
Sorry it's been four days since I've had a substantial post. Lots to talk about though! :-)
So day two of classes is where I'll begin. I had talked about how I would enjoy the class. Well we started talking and immediately I knew more than any of the other students in the class. We started talking about Edward Said and Michele Foucoult and I had a jump start on them. Then we briefly discussed Marxist ideology and Post-Modernist thought in the "Structures" and I just had to appreciate my education I've gotten at Emory & Henry. I have really begun to see just how good my professors are. So that was a very refreshing moment... seeing just how good my education has been while at Emory. It's nice. All of the reading and hard work has put me at least a little ahead. I love that. So essentially class was setting up what political Islam is for us and setting up some of the background that goes with it. So the second day of class/first real learning day was good. Oh- also I picked my topic for my paper/research. I'm going to be talking about the political group Hizb ut-Tahrir. Should be something that will be a lot of fun.
I wanted to touch base on the middle eastern girl from Qatar in the class. I had mentioned Monday that there a clear divide between the western half of the room and the eastern half. I think it was something everyone noticed but didn't acknowledge on Monday. Well on Tuesday everyone kind of shifted. The girl from Qatar was a little bit closer to us and we were a lot closer to her. I think we all then let everyone else in the room know that we all noticed it the day before and we all attempted to fix it. Which was good. That's how it should be for the rest of the class. And it's stayed like that for the last two days this past week.
We ended up all going to the British museum on Tuesday. Talk about amazing. The very first major thing that we notice as we walk in is that the Rosetta Stone (the stone that helped us decode Egyptian hierglyphics... SP?). Wow. There were a lot of neat exhibits. I got a booklit as a little take away.
Another neat British custom is that when in a place that serves food, they don't have eat-in and to-go. Instead it's either sit-in or take-away. It's neat.
Finally on Tuesday... the ticket issue. So they ended up not having enough tickets for everyone in the social program. Essentially what happened is that there are two types of students that are here. There are those that come through programs (like Butlet, ISA, etc) and those like me that apply directly through the university. Those that applied through programs had the same play. Those that didn't were told to go to another area. When Johnny and I tried to find out where to go, we saw that had an e-mail sent out in the afternoon telling us that the meeting place was a half hour earlier. We couldn't make it in time and then realized that our only chance of going was to go to the originally scheduled one. Well, we got there and thought we'd probably get in, but people had been crossing off other people's names... so even some people that were supposed to be in that one got screwed. I was a little upset just because I wanted to see the play and thought it was a little off that they sent us the e-mail telling it was a half hour earlier than we expected in the Middle of the Day when we were all off doing fun things... exploring the city, etc. So I was a little bummed. But the director of the social program felt so bad that she took the group of us out and bought everyone drinks.
While we were in the museum someone came up and asked us an interesting question. Essentially the British museum is a museum of Great Britain's colonial power/colonialism. It has artifacts from everywhere in the world. And so the person who was doing a project for her class asked us if we thought that the artifacts should be returned to their original home.
And it took me a while to think about what I honestly thought on the issue. On the one hand, I think that these countries deserve their national legacies. On the other hand, if western powers give artifacts back to countries which are still in the modernizing phase, we have to question whether or not these countries will be able to correctly store and take care of these artifacts. For example, the Iraqi museum was devestated during Hussein's rein. Had the British given the artifacts back to the Iraqi's, it would now be destroyed. So I think in regards to developing countries or war-torn countries, it's completely legitimate for the British/French/US to keep many of these artifacts. There is also so much history stored in one place. As a tourist/student I can see so much history in one place. It would somewhat stink for tourists and students to not be able to see the history that the British have accumulated over the centuries. Because while these artifacts are the specific countries legacies, they are also British legacy in that the British were once the most powerful country/empire in the world. These artifacts show that. So I think I came up with a compromise... at least for me. I think that if these countries, like Egypt, was their national artifacts they first have to prove that they have the capacity to maintain such artifacts. This is the first step. If it is sufficiently proven, then there should be a trade off because both countries deserve something out of it. The more famous artifacts should go to the original country while the British/French/US/other countries of imperialist history should get less famous ones, but still ones that are historically significant and meaningful to the history of the more colonialistic countries... eh. Perhaps I'm wrong. But I think it's a start.
That's it for Tuesday. On to Wednesday!
Alright... Wednesday!
So wednesday was another good class. We started delving into a little Islamic history... most of it I knew. I learned a couple of things.
That afternoon we went back to the museum to finish up. I was exhausted, but got to see Islamic history section and the mummies of Egypt. It was interesting, but I was ready to go ahead and head on out. It was good to get almost everything in the museum done. Oh! There was one modern exhibit that I wanted to talk about (I'm glad I made notes).
So there was a company that wanted to do a modern art piece. So in the early 2000's they asked two people if they would release their entire life's medical history. And they did. So every single pill the two ever took from a prescription was documented. Every pain pill, every sinuis pill... everything... The did it with a man and a woman. I took pictures of it and posted it on my facebook account. It went for almost 30 yards in little 1 X 1 inch squares. It was huge. Very neat exhibit.
I then went back to my place and took a small nap and ate some dinner. I was exhausted. Then we went out to this awesome place called the ABSOLUT ICEBAR. It was freaking insane. They keep it at something like -5 F. It's really neat. Everything is made out of ice, including the bar, the cups you drink out of... everything. It was one of the most cool experiences I've ever had. I took a lot of pictures inside the bar and everything.
After that we went to a pub. It was really nice and interesting. There are a lot of random pubs all over London! It's fun to just wander into one and see what's going on. Something that I've never experienced. :-) I'm having a blast.
Thursday, now!
So class was very interesting today. We watched a movie on al-Qaeda and I learned a lot of useful information. I am going to type up all of my notes from my classes and print them out. The movie was great and I'm going to try to buy it.
But there was an issue in class. My professor has tended to ask me some of the harder questions in the class because I am well-versed in the literature and everything. So he essentially asked if I thought the United States was justified in somewhat playing the role of international police man.
And that's all for tonight, folks. More to come soon!
Sorry it's been four days since I've had a substantial post. Lots to talk about though! :-)
So day two of classes is where I'll begin. I had talked about how I would enjoy the class. Well we started talking and immediately I knew more than any of the other students in the class. We started talking about Edward Said and Michele Foucoult and I had a jump start on them. Then we briefly discussed Marxist ideology and Post-Modernist thought in the "Structures" and I just had to appreciate my education I've gotten at Emory & Henry. I have really begun to see just how good my professors are. So that was a very refreshing moment... seeing just how good my education has been while at Emory. It's nice. All of the reading and hard work has put me at least a little ahead. I love that. So essentially class was setting up what political Islam is for us and setting up some of the background that goes with it. So the second day of class/first real learning day was good. Oh- also I picked my topic for my paper/research. I'm going to be talking about the political group Hizb ut-Tahrir. Should be something that will be a lot of fun.
I wanted to touch base on the middle eastern girl from Qatar in the class. I had mentioned Monday that there a clear divide between the western half of the room and the eastern half. I think it was something everyone noticed but didn't acknowledge on Monday. Well on Tuesday everyone kind of shifted. The girl from Qatar was a little bit closer to us and we were a lot closer to her. I think we all then let everyone else in the room know that we all noticed it the day before and we all attempted to fix it. Which was good. That's how it should be for the rest of the class. And it's stayed like that for the last two days this past week.
We ended up all going to the British museum on Tuesday. Talk about amazing. The very first major thing that we notice as we walk in is that the Rosetta Stone (the stone that helped us decode Egyptian hierglyphics... SP?). Wow. There were a lot of neat exhibits. I got a booklit as a little take away.
Another neat British custom is that when in a place that serves food, they don't have eat-in and to-go. Instead it's either sit-in or take-away. It's neat.
Finally on Tuesday... the ticket issue. So they ended up not having enough tickets for everyone in the social program. Essentially what happened is that there are two types of students that are here. There are those that come through programs (like Butlet, ISA, etc) and those like me that apply directly through the university. Those that applied through programs had the same play. Those that didn't were told to go to another area. When Johnny and I tried to find out where to go, we saw that had an e-mail sent out in the afternoon telling us that the meeting place was a half hour earlier. We couldn't make it in time and then realized that our only chance of going was to go to the originally scheduled one. Well, we got there and thought we'd probably get in, but people had been crossing off other people's names... so even some people that were supposed to be in that one got screwed. I was a little upset just because I wanted to see the play and thought it was a little off that they sent us the e-mail telling it was a half hour earlier than we expected in the Middle of the Day when we were all off doing fun things... exploring the city, etc. So I was a little bummed. But the director of the social program felt so bad that she took the group of us out and bought everyone drinks.
While we were in the museum someone came up and asked us an interesting question. Essentially the British museum is a museum of Great Britain's colonial power/colonialism. It has artifacts from everywhere in the world. And so the person who was doing a project for her class asked us if we thought that the artifacts should be returned to their original home.
And it took me a while to think about what I honestly thought on the issue. On the one hand, I think that these countries deserve their national legacies. On the other hand, if western powers give artifacts back to countries which are still in the modernizing phase, we have to question whether or not these countries will be able to correctly store and take care of these artifacts. For example, the Iraqi museum was devestated during Hussein's rein. Had the British given the artifacts back to the Iraqi's, it would now be destroyed. So I think in regards to developing countries or war-torn countries, it's completely legitimate for the British/French/US to keep many of these artifacts. There is also so much history stored in one place. As a tourist/student I can see so much history in one place. It would somewhat stink for tourists and students to not be able to see the history that the British have accumulated over the centuries. Because while these artifacts are the specific countries legacies, they are also British legacy in that the British were once the most powerful country/empire in the world. These artifacts show that. So I think I came up with a compromise... at least for me. I think that if these countries, like Egypt, was their national artifacts they first have to prove that they have the capacity to maintain such artifacts. This is the first step. If it is sufficiently proven, then there should be a trade off because both countries deserve something out of it. The more famous artifacts should go to the original country while the British/French/US/other countries of imperialist history should get less famous ones, but still ones that are historically significant and meaningful to the history of the more colonialistic countries... eh. Perhaps I'm wrong. But I think it's a start.
That's it for Tuesday. On to Wednesday!
Alright... Wednesday!
So wednesday was another good class. We started delving into a little Islamic history... most of it I knew. I learned a couple of things.
That afternoon we went back to the museum to finish up. I was exhausted, but got to see Islamic history section and the mummies of Egypt. It was interesting, but I was ready to go ahead and head on out. It was good to get almost everything in the museum done. Oh! There was one modern exhibit that I wanted to talk about (I'm glad I made notes).
So there was a company that wanted to do a modern art piece. So in the early 2000's they asked two people if they would release their entire life's medical history. And they did. So every single pill the two ever took from a prescription was documented. Every pain pill, every sinuis pill... everything... The did it with a man and a woman. I took pictures of it and posted it on my facebook account. It went for almost 30 yards in little 1 X 1 inch squares. It was huge. Very neat exhibit.
I then went back to my place and took a small nap and ate some dinner. I was exhausted. Then we went out to this awesome place called the ABSOLUT ICEBAR. It was freaking insane. They keep it at something like -5 F. It's really neat. Everything is made out of ice, including the bar, the cups you drink out of... everything. It was one of the most cool experiences I've ever had. I took a lot of pictures inside the bar and everything.
After that we went to a pub. It was really nice and interesting. There are a lot of random pubs all over London! It's fun to just wander into one and see what's going on. Something that I've never experienced. :-) I'm having a blast.
Thursday, now!
So class was very interesting today. We watched a movie on al-Qaeda and I learned a lot of useful information. I am going to type up all of my notes from my classes and print them out. The movie was great and I'm going to try to buy it.
But there was an issue in class. My professor has tended to ask me some of the harder questions in the class because I am well-versed in the literature and everything. So he essentially asked if I thought the United States was justified in somewhat playing the role of international police man.
And that's all for tonight, folks. More to come soon!
Sorry!
Hey guys:
Sorry I didn't write yesterday. I'll have a post tonight with both today's activities and yesterdays.
Here's the quick run down of yesterday.
Had a great class. Then went to the British Museum which was amazing. Had dinner over in the other Wigram house (it actually is much nicer than this house, but I'm still partial to Furnival). There was a little hiccup with the Summer Program getting tickets for everyone, so I actually didn't see the play... I'll explain why later. I ended up coming back to Furnival and passing out early (about 8:00 PM or so my time... 3ish in the afternoon back home). So I'm somewhat rested today and ready to tackle today. I'm not sure what I'll be getting into today, but it should be another great London Day!
Ryan
Sorry I didn't write yesterday. I'll have a post tonight with both today's activities and yesterdays.
Here's the quick run down of yesterday.
Had a great class. Then went to the British Museum which was amazing. Had dinner over in the other Wigram house (it actually is much nicer than this house, but I'm still partial to Furnival). There was a little hiccup with the Summer Program getting tickets for everyone, so I actually didn't see the play... I'll explain why later. I ended up coming back to Furnival and passing out early (about 8:00 PM or so my time... 3ish in the afternoon back home). So I'm somewhat rested today and ready to tackle today. I'm not sure what I'll be getting into today, but it should be another great London Day!
Ryan
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