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| Be honest: were you aware of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo? |
| Yes |
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76% |
[ 10 ] |
| I think I might have heard about it once or twice |
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7% |
[ 1 ] |
| No |
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15% |
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| Total Votes : 13 |
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HAL
Please don't shout at me - I can't help it.
Joined: 17 Mar 2003
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| That's good information. |
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Jezza 
2023 PREMIERS!
Joined: 06 Sep 2010
Location: Ponsford End
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| pietillidie wrote: | | Jezza wrote: | Yes I'm aware of the conflict and war in Congo but my knowledge on the conflict itself is very limited compared to what's going on in the Middle East at the moment. It's been a conflict that has been prevalent for nearly two decades now.
There's no doubt that events in Africa don't receive much attention from the Western media as other parts of the world do. I've noticed an increase in media attention of Nigeria and Boko Haram and more recently there was quite extensive coverage on the Ebola crisis in West Africa so it's not like media attention to Africa is non-existent. |
There's nothing wrong with your specialisation, Jezza. Keep it up. Your learning and diligence are clearly motivated by a genuine intellectual interest.
Of course, the obsession with the Middle East for many folk, though, is a reactionary, emotive nationalism which leads to a much darker racist obsession. For many, the inability to "control" the region is a stress, and they try to resolve the stress of "the bastards always causing us trouble" through a dehumanisation which condones the extermination of the stressors.
Africa and Latin America don't cause trouble and don't strike back, so they can be ignored�even to the point that, say, massive problems in Mexico are swatted away with a scoff.
In contrast, Asia can fight back and has to be genuinely negotiated with. That thought is uncomfortable because it makes us feel powerless, so the region is best kept out of mind in favour of the terrorism obsession. Good-over-evil cartoon victories are always much more satisfying than the stress of needing to negotiate with others.
Putin falls somewhere in between. You can push Russia around a bit, and Putin provides plenty of fodder for abuse. But, in the end, you can't push Russia too far because the last thing you want is another war front, which equates to yet another stress and an even greater sense that the world is out of control.
Geopolitical psychiatry is just as interesting as the geopolitics itself. |
Cheers PTID!
You've definitely made valid points about the concept of geopolitical psychiatry. It's not something I ever thought about but you are right to question why people have such an interest in a particular part of the world such as the Middle East for example but show absolutely little to no interest in another part of the world such as Africa for example.
My interest in the Middle East at the moment is born out of the fact that I was born in a generation when the Middle East has been the forefront of discussion in international politics in many Western countries. I was only a young kid when 9/11 happened which I do remember and when the deployment of forces into Afghanistan and Iraq occurred soon after. However these events and actions were not something I really started to think about and take seriously up until the latter stages of my teenage years and I entered the university system and I started pursuing subjects related or connected to these events.
I think the same principle of having a keen interest in a particular area of the world could be applied to those who remember the Vietnam conflict and the ongoing Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union a generation ago which I assume would have been the most extensive talking points in international politics for the majority of people in that period of time in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
In regards to Russia, I think their interests are far more directed towards Ukraine and the surrounding areas rather than what the Western world is doing. However if the likes of the US or the UK start meddling in these affairs relations between these countries will deteriorate further. After all relations between the US-Russia have declined substantially and are probably at their worst since the end of the Cold War after years of building gradual relations between the two countries during the Yeltsin years, under Putin's first stint as president of the Russian Federation and later the Medvedev years (2008-2012).
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watt price tully 
Joined: 15 May 2007
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Yes. Ever since I lived with Johnny Weissmuller in the jungle I've taken a keen interest in matters of darkest Africa including the Belgian Congo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bc7KDyLV80
In 1982 when I lived In Goldberg's Green in London in a share house, one of the guys living there was doing his PhD in the history of Guinea -Bissau of West Africa - which for me seemed WTF at the time ( still seems WTF now).
The wars of Nigeria / Biafra were part of my formative years in developing opinions about the exploitation by the powerful over the powerless.
The wars of independence in some countries in Africa in the 1960's was part of my generation.
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“I even went as far as becoming a Southern Baptist until I realised they didn’t keep ‘em under long enough” Kinky Friedman |
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pietillidie
Joined: 07 Jan 2005
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| watt price tully wrote: | Yes. Ever since I lived with Johnny Weissmuller in the jungle I've taken a keen interest in matters of darkest Africa including the Belgian Congo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bc7KDyLV80
In 1982 when I lived In Goldberg's Green in London in a share house, one of the guys living there was doing his PhD in the history of Guinea -Bissau of West Africa - which for me seemed WTF at the time ( still seems WTF now).
The wars of Nigeria / Biafra were part of my formative years in developing opinions about the exploitation by the powerful over the powerless.
The wars of independence in some countries in Africa in the 1960's was part of my generation. |
Back in my day...the US in Latin America got a lot of the headlines.
It's a good point you make about generation shift, though. That no doubt accounts for a lot of the perspective differences, because we grew up when the US was training Saddam Hussein and mocking the failure of the Soviets in Afghanistan. Fast forward five minutes....
The nonsense becomes more evident over time because you've seen the movie before. Abbott has already forgotten the 00s, although the 1950s are somehow vivid in his mind!
On a different note, I suspect Goldberg's Green was renamed Golders Green once Whoopi's star lost its shine  
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watt price tully
Joined: 15 May 2007
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| pietillidie wrote: | | watt price tully wrote: | Yes. Ever since I lived with Johnny Weissmuller in the jungle I've taken a keen interest in matters of darkest Africa including the Belgian Congo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bc7KDyLV80
In 1982 when I lived In Goldberg's Green in London in a share house, one of the guys living there was doing his PhD in the history of Guinea -Bissau of West Africa - which for me seemed WTF at the time ( still seems WTF now).
The wars of Nigeria / Biafra were part of my formative years in developing opinions about the exploitation by the powerful over the powerless.
The wars of independence in some countries in Africa in the 1960's was part of my generation. |
Back in my day...the US in Latin America got a lot of the headlines.
It's a good point you make about generation shift, though. That no doubt accounts for a lot of the perspective differences, because we grew up when the US was training Saddam Hussein and mocking the failure of the Soviets in Afghanistan. Fast forward five minutes....
The nonsense becomes more evident over time because you've seen the movie before. Abbott has already forgotten the 00s, although the 1950s are somehow vivid in his mind!
On a different note, I suspect Goldberg's Green was renamed Golders Green once Whoopi's star lost its shine |
I was between 11-14 for the time of the Nigerian / Biafran war. In our household sex, drugs , religion, war was all discussed at the kitchen table. (At my wife's English background family none of sex, drugs religion or politics was ever discussed) I had an older brother & a father where this was all discussed etc. The same held true for the Vietnam war. A synagogue in Caulfield split from another. .One was termed Katanga after the Establishment in the Belgian Congo. This was after my parents became rich enough to vote liberal when shifting from Brunswick to Caulfield in 1970.
Latin America was the cause celebre also in my student days. I knew of students going to do coffee picking to assist the Sandanistas in Nicaragua.
I believe both Golders Green & Goldbergs Green share the same code: NW11 if I'm not mistaken
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“I even went as far as becoming a Southern Baptist until I realised they didn’t keep ‘em under long enough” Kinky Friedman |
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