cooper dot se.

this page is called cooper.se because it represents much of my thought since studying for a semester in sweden in the spring of 2005. this thought process has continued on down to the beginnings of my real adult life....what comes next? let's talk about it....and many other things of course.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Do You Want a Revolution?

Both Canada and Palestine have gone to the polls this week, both elections with implications for the United States and both elections I was following. In fact, I was surprised that the American media did not follow the Canadian elections a bit more. I did read a really good piece by a Canadian who claimed that the seemingly uneventful election in Canada this week was actually the beginning of a dismantlement of Canada's political status quo. It will be interesting to see just how much the Canadians like their more conservative government. Canadians reading this, I appreciate any and all input.

As far as Palestinians voting Hamas into power, I do think that there is some cause for concern. Any political party with a military wing that is bent on the destruction of their neighbor is some cause for concern, especially when they are winning an election in a possible landslide. Here is my take however:

I do think Israel and the US should be concerned about Hamas' rise to power and influence in Palestine. I think it is encouraging that the elections went off with no violence and were declared free and fair. I also think that the goal with any radical group like Hamas should be to move it into the political mainstream. While they may be making wild claims about destroying Israel and raising the Islamic flag above Jerusalem, what is going to happen when one of their constituents calls up to report that his trash hasn't been collected? Perhaps mundane things like trash collection and infrastructure will serve to moderate Hamas.

I won't even touch on Google and China. I am pretty freaked out that they are doing what they are, especially since I have always sworn by gmail. I thought this piece was a good summary of the implications of Google's decision. What a world we live in that jumping in to an enormous emerging market is more important than being able to blog your political thoughts, like I am right here.

Oh and if you're not too freaked out, I can send you a gmail invite anyway....what a world.

Currently Reading
Chaos: Making a New Science
By James Gleick
see related

2 Comments:

  • At Sunday, January 29, 2006 1:17:00 AM, Blogger Doubting Thomas 65 said…

    Hello Cooper,
    Yes, I'm from Tucson, basically forever with a few interruptions. Ah, Chicago, the Midwest, real weather. I lived in rogers park briefly when you were in grade school. I badly miss the Midwest. Snow...

    I'm sorry to say Hamas will not "moderate" from picking up the trash. They already do far more for the poor than Fatah ever did. A religious movement such as theirs will only get worse with an unexpected victory, this always has an effect on the true believer as a sign from their Friend.

    physics and journalism, you could consider science journalism...it's not done very well by many. Perhaps you would enjoy A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

     
  • At Monday, August 28, 2006 10:15:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi Cooper,
    I read this whole post, and the links, with great interest and concern. What yahoo did in betraying this Chinese guy, is really disgusting.
    The Chinese are a brilliant people, and I imagine that there are ways, even with so much overt opression, of saying what you want in such a way that you cannot get into trouble. In Eastern Europe,(BEFORE THE COMMUNISTS LEFT) there was a whole culture, of saying one thing but allegorically meaning 'leave us the f*** alone, and give us freedom'. In fact after democracy returned to these countries, these was a falling of in artistic inspiration and theater attenance, where there was no longer the same need to express oposition in code. I just hope there are a few few decent people working with IT outside China that come up with means for local people to come up with ways to overcome the censors. Hopfully not everyone wants to KOW TOW TO THE ALMIGHTY RAMIMBI, or am i just whistling in the wind.

    peace-lover

     

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