Politics/Economics (13)

Before me, on public TV, is unfolding live the fire of the Egyptian Parliament's building.

The Nile News channel is filming the building on fire. Here's what I learn:

10:30pm (Egypt time, GMT+3)

• the fire started at 5:45pm.
• it is now 10:30pm and the fire is still going strong inside the building.
• the explanation for the rapid spread is that the strong wind and the wooden structure did it.

I've read so many endless threads of political discussions on forums and blogs that I'm nauseated. Here's an open letter to netizens who take sides.

"Your economic theory makes no sense".

You thought you knew the world map? Think again :-)

Here is a map where countries are resized according to their GDP. Now all we need is a little prick to blow the whole thing up.

Found on Worldmapper, thanks to Omar.

I know, I'm guilty, I've been watching TV every night, looking for decent movies on MBC2 and One TV. ("Sucker!" I can hear you laugh). One thing I've noticed lately, before my mind goes dim, is that we're being fed American war movies every day!! What can it possibly mean?

There's a perverse relationship going on between Western media and the Arab world, and I wonder what it's causing to the Arab psyche. One of my firm beliefs is that mass media, predominantly TV, causes a feedback loop from a society onto itself directly, much like a lecture delivered to an audience, except that the media feed directly affects the whole of society, by imprinting ideas onto the individual bypassing his critical judgement. The result is society moving in the direction of the media, in a self-fulfilling prophecy sort of way.

Some sites try to serve me targeted ads based on my geographical location. Because I live in the Middle East, most ads I get on American sites are the two reproduced below. For non-Arabic speakers, the campaign encourages people to apply for a working visa to the US.

and

Click the attachment to see the full thing.

Globalization from the point of view of the globalizee.

Egypt is launching a nuclear energy program with the US ambassador's blessing. I don't think much more needs to be said. It's sending a chill down my spine.

I found this question at Madrid11.net, an interesting attempt at a rational inter-cultural dialog based on the values of democracy.

And it's a good question! With mineral water being forbidden as carry-on, it is urgent that we go beyond knee-jerk reactions towards real cures for our problems. Looking for root causes is a good start.

So what would I say the root causes of terrorism are?

Let's start with the obvious: human behaviour is guided by ideas that are implanted in one's brain and that seem to make sense. The less self-aware a person is, the more he will be prone to accept ideas without question. So young, poor, badly-educated people living in dire conditions will be more ready to act as terrorists than others.