Thursday, April 7, 2011

My Political Review: The Political Crisis in the Arab Countries Since the Cold War

Western ideology has a great of influence on the cultural, the social, and the political institutions in these Arab countries.  Most Western governments are trying to impose their own system of values such as human rights, democracy, and freedom of expression on these countries. Most Western governments do not realise that the Arabs established their own system of political and cultural institutions in their countries for a long time. Most Western governments provided money and military equipment to these dictators in North Africa and the Middle East. These Arab dictators control the wealth and the power in their countries. These dictatorship governments are key allies to the Western powers since the cold war. There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor in these Arab countries.  Most young adults are educated but unemployed in their society. Most young adults live in absolute poverty in their countries. A small minority of Arabs share the wealth with these dictators who usually work for them. Some of these dictatorship governments are permanent allies with Israel today.

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The Movie Review: Rambo III

Sylvester Stallone is considered to be one of the most famous male actors for action movies since the 1980s.  He is famous for his action movies such as Rambo and Rocky Balboa. Sylvester Stallone plays the character by the name of John Rambo in his action movie. John Rambo is a former American soldier who serves in the Vietnam War.  He is living in the city of Bangkok at the beginning of the movie.  Rambo was making a living in underground fighting in Bangkok.  He recognises two American officials who are looking for him at the fighting ring. Colonel Trautman is the friend and the former military commander of John Rambo’s unit in Vietnam. Robert Griggs is a CIA operative stationed at the United States Embassy in Bangkok.  Colonel Trautman and Griggs try to enlist Rambo for a mission in Afghanistan but he refuses their offer. The American government was providing military weapons to the Mujahidden rebels during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.  Rambo III is a propaganda movie produced by the Hollywood movie industries to support the American intervention in Afghanistan during the cold war.  

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The Third Critical Reflection: The Consequences of Power in Our Society

What is the motivation of a person to accumulate power in our society today?  The ideology of power has a great deal of influence on the social, the political, and the cultural establishments of our civilisation. The ideology of power has several different meanings as a word in the human vocabulary. Power has the ability to have positive or negative influences on social change in the establishments of our society.  There are paradoxes regarding the ideology of power in our culture. It is up to the individual to decide what do with his or her power in society. Certain individuals will use their power for good by creating organisations to provide financial assistance or medical aid to the poorest people on the planet. Some individuals will abuse their power in our society by oppressing the free will of individuals in a country. Anthonio Gramsci was an Italian philosopher in the 20th century.  This philosopher lived under the brutal regime of Mussolini during World War II.  Anthonio Gramsci opposed the ideology of fascism in his country so he was sentenced to death by the government of Mussolini in 1937 (Darryl Leroux, 2011).

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My first critical reflection: The Orient

The metaphor for the "The Middle East" is defined by most Western historians as a place of wonder, danger, beauty, legend, and myth. In this particular region of the world, the Middle East played a fundamental role in the developpment of the first human civilisation called "The Sumerian". The Middle East also gave rise to the two most important religions in our society today, namely Christianity and Islam. The ideology from both religions would come into conflict several times in the course of human history. Christianity would become the dominant religion in the Western world. Islam would become the dominant religion in the Middle East. Not only did these 2 religions come into conflict in the course of history, but also the respective societies themselves. Western society would clash with the Middle East regarding their political institutions and their religious beliefs (Edward Saïd, 2005).

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Saturday, February 26, 2011

My second critical reflection: The ideology of Racism

What is the motivation for a person to be racist? A person will join a common group that shares the same racial ideology as them in our society. Racism disrupts the social norms of culture around the world. Racism creates a social structure within our society that defines the superiority and inferiority of a particular race in the world The ideology of racism is defined on the physical and the psycholgical characteristics of a particular race in our culture. Most Western people do not realise that their values create a social conflict within their community, society or country. Racism disrupts the political and the cultural institutions of a country. The history of racism could be dated back to the era of colonisation around the world by the European countries (Étienne Balibar, 1998).

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