re: Bah, I say! Bah!

Response to television and global unity:

"bah! i get knocked down for referencing television yet you believe it can save the world! you are not being a very good student of philosophy- the principle of charity is essential.

but more seriously, to use television in that fashion would most likely mean control of its use on a level close to fascism. otherwise how do you insure that its sending the "correct" message?"

You referenced the content of a fictional television series as an example of a real world situation.

I believe that the spread of media from different cultures helps in the peace process by exposing more people to positive images of the rest of the world. I mentioned nothing about controlling the content of the media, only encouraging diversity.

A good example of this can be seen in the show Heroes. Heroes, in my opinion, is groundbreaking in that it features characters of different ethnicities and languages prominently in their episodes. The message just happens to be very progressive, encouraging others to be heroes and even promoting the one laptop per child campaign amongst their fans.

Its not about passing legislation to make these things happen, but to build a demand for programs like this in the market and reward those who take these kinds of initiatives. The exposure is what I’m talking about, not the content.

There are other progressive American programs like The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour and Aliens in America.

Notice, I will never EVER list Mind of Mencia in this category.

Television, the answer to the world's problems, sort of

To help me kick start this little blog, I entreated some of my friends to send me questions to answer, and then me, like the nerdiest amateur version of Ann Landers, would answer them.



This is the very first question I received.

"One thing that has consumed the back of my mind since i was a collegiate freshman. how do you create a globally-appealing identity to unify humanity. the eco-freak in me wants it to be based on that. however the innate competitiveness of nationalist sentiment is an issue albeit the EU seems to be overcoming that it seems to be am atter of maturing nations. blah blah blah the eeiu is an interesting organiztion. i believe at www.eeiu.org. im not going to bother checking that right now. but yes so answer me that and you will have a thousand wishes granted efendi."
 
Television can solve the world's problems, if its used properly.


The EU as far as I see, isn't a replacement of national sentiment, but rather a very brilliant trade network. With all the increased migration and trade, and given the geography of Europe, it makes perfect sense. Flow of goods and information is absolutely essential to its success.

On a grass roots level, I think the best way to drum up these ideas is for more societies around the world to be more inclusive. Diversity should be celebrated, not repressed.


More and more people are migrating around the world, and these people need to be fully accepted into their new home lands. International trade is booming, Japanese cartoons, video games, are all spreading around the globe. Bollywood is becoming more and more internationally recognized.

None of this would be possible without new advances in technology.

There's a theory out there, I can't remember who first put it out, that the more contact societies have with each other, the least likely they are to fight. Sometimes, that's proven not to be the case, but in my view, it just means those societies weren't communicating effectively. So what is my simple answer to all this: Tele-communications.

Big thanks to Nick for the question, and to answer his other question: I got over it. =-)