Readings Flashcards
Samuel P. Huntington
Clash of civilizations
Juan de Mariana
Whether it is right to kill a tyrant
What is clash of civilizations about
Cultural Differences will be the main source of conflict post-Cold-War rather than the past imperial ideological issues.
Differences between civilizations are BASIC AND REAL
Progression of Conflicts:
War of Princes/Emperors → Conflict of Nation States/War of people → Conflict of Ideologies
What is the Velvet Curtain?
Final takeaway: The West needs to learn and understand other cultures to learn to 1. Tolerate them and 2. Avoid conflict.
The 8 Civilizations to shape the future
-Western -Slavic-Orthodox
-Hindu -Latin American
-Confucious - African
-Japanese -Islamic
What is the Velvet curtain
The Velvet curtain is the new dividing line in Europe, similar to but not as solid as the prior Iron Curtain. Essentially causing a division between civilizations due to the increase in the Kin-Country Syndrome
Ideological split in Europe.
What is the Manliest way to remove a tyrant
By a sword
What is whether it is right to destroy a tyrant about
Killing a tyrant is justified
Only as much power to remove a tyrant can be used as was used by the tyrant to seize/maintain power in the first place
For example, if he did not kill then you cannot kill to remove him
Hereditary power is acceptable so long as the holder doesn’t exceed the bounds of law and decency (be good if you hold it)
Steps for removal
Classifying a leader as a ‘tyrant’ comes through the voice of the people and discussion amongst educated men
Those revolting can legally “[break] into his palace or [start] a civil disturbance”
The manliest way to remove a tyrant is ‘by the sword’ (through violence) in public
Poisoning would be unethical as it can constitute suicide, and driving someone to (technical) suicide is not as ‘valiant’ (manly) as physical violence
Leaders should be just and fear the
Steps to remove a tyrant
1.Warn a tyrant of intentions to remove and invite them to lead more sensibly
2.Ignore civic duty to the Tyrant in order to non-violently strip them of their power (ex. don’t pay taxes, etc.)
3.Revolt
Leaders should be just and fear the power of the people. This translates into collaborative leadership where both the leader and the people are held accountable.
Juan de Mariana
Why I quit the CBC?
Journalistic integrity is in jeopardy
News/media platforms begin to monetize outrage and emotion instead of significant issues
As a result, non-polarizing ideas and/or ideas that don’t fit the demand are met in with hostility
Productive, intellectual dialogue becomes denounced
Good, authentic journalism becomes difficult to achieve when conflicting opinions are not permitted intelligent discourse and menial ideas meant to stoke emotion is given a larger platform
David Dyment
Doing the continental
The purpose of doing the continental
lts about the debate surrounding Canada and the influence America has on it
Do we adopt more American laws/ideals and become ““stronger”” or do we push our Canadian identity and stay “”weaker””
LEFT-nationalists vs RIGHT- continentalists
The pro/anti american debate
Dyment sees that one doesn’t integrate with the US but INTO the us
The CBC was created to fight the assimilation of Canadians into American media
Strictly canadian news broadcaster
Hockey Nights in Canada
“Serious indignation” and “serious purpose”
Indignation = Way to show anger, from either injustice or annoyance
Serious purpose = Reason, intent, goals
Dyment’s solution to the issue is to stop looking for one
KEEP THE STATUS QUO
Maude Barlow and Thomas d’Aquino:
Maude Barlow believes we should “avoid the US”
Thomas d’Aquino believes we should “join our economies”
Even to the extent of sharing a currency
Both lead to total assimilation into the United States
A Canada that pulls away from the US will become weaker, leading to easier assimilation later on
A Canada that pulls closer is in process of assimilation
We as Canadians should learn more about Americans to better use them
Americans don’t care about Canadians, and that should be used to “tame a natural phenomenon (The US)”
the best solution to American hegemony in north America is to keep the status quo and to understand our neighbour better than they understand us
Joel Bakan
How pharmaceuticals take advantage of medical professionals to make more money
The expansion of the DSM (mental illness pokedex) to include childhood mental disorders
These illnesses come with treatment drugs
These prescriptions were given too hastily, leading to the overdose and death of pediatric patients (children)
The payment of doctors to use and prescribe certain a corporation’s drugs
Paying them to endorse drugs as safe to the public
Bayh-Dole + DSM = More kids made to take mental health drugs
HOW CORPORATIONS LACK THE CARE FOR THE HEALTH OF CONSUMERS, AND EXIST TO MAKE MONEY ONLY
Bayh-Dole:
allows scientists and institutions ownership over the discoveries they make, and the ability to profit off them
Volotairs Bastards
The arms trade was born out of the cold war
$900 billion is what the arms industry was worth every year in 1992
$312 billion was the US defense spending in 1922
Bigger numbers are hard to grasp so the public will care more about smaller monetary losses than bigger ones (Paragraph on Irangate, page 145)
If a government official uses $13 for an orange juice out of taxpayer money then people freak out but if they say that they lost 1 billion dollars then no ones really does because they can’t comprehend it
Both the right and left push for more arms trade because it helps the economy
Military spending is disastrous for economies (e.g. Japan)
Military goods aren’t capital and can’t be circulated but only used once
They are not good for pushing changes in other countries international policies (page 162)
Obama & Gitmo (modern analogy)
High secure facility with the highest risk of terrorists (in Cuba, why?)
Different country, different laws
Obama couldn’t close it… same for arms trade; the economy needs it and impossible to get rid of
