Everyone has seen the disturbing scenes of the "boat people" crossing the Mediterranean to try to find a new life in Europe. Hundreds of thousands have crossed from Africa and the Middle East and hundreds of thousands more are on the way.
I agree with Matteo Renzi that Europe must respond in a united way and that all countries of the EU should play their part by accepting a fair share of asylum speakers. He has also proposed that economic migrants should be repatriated and unfortunately for those who are not regarded as candidates for asylum this is a harsh reality. The world is organised by nation states and all states regulate who is allowed to settle and who is not. A nation state also must also regulate the activities of people who have not entered the state "legally". The scenes at Calais yesterday were disturbing.
The situation regarding the boat people will only get worse. The UN estimates that there are sixty million displaced people in the world as the result of wars, famine and poverty. Western Europe has a responsibility to help these people and treat them humanely. For centuries, Western European nations including the UK, France, Germany, Belgium and Spain have colonised Africa and the Middle East. Our nations have destabilised and in some cases enslaved the local population. We have organised the mass movement of people as economic migrants.
We have imposed ourselves upon the indigenous people of Africa and the Middle East as economic migrants ourselves. We have also imposed wars upon the people that we have colonised. The First and Second World Wars were classic examples from the twentieth century. In the twenty first century we have invaded Iraq and Libya without thinking what would happen in the future.
We have quite possibly organised adverse climate change by pouring industrial quantities of carbon di-oxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The consequences of climate change could be worse for the people of Africa and the Middle East than war.
Western Europe has a responsibility to help and it is little wonder that millions of people are on the move towards Europe. The migrants believe that they should be helped and they also believe that we have a moral duty to help them; their case is strong.
We are rich enough as a European society to allow a good number of economic migrants settle. We must be realistic about this however. Eventually the number could become so great that it threatens the economic viability of Europe itself; but this will not happen for a long time. A seriously weakened and disorganised Europe will not be able to provide the aid necessary to help potential migrants stay in their own country. Europe will not be able to meet its moral obligation to offset the effects of climate change and war.
Britain must play its full part to assist the EU to solve the problems of mass migration. We are not being forced to do anything by the European Commission and we are exercising our right not to accept the migrants despite the pleas of the European Commission. This is a rather ironic position as many "euro sceptics " aver that the European Commission tells us what to do - they don't. Britain should act because it has a moral obligation to do so. All Europeans have an obligation because we have benefited, most certainly, from the past subjugation of African and Middle Eastern states.
It is not good enough to say that it is someone else's problem.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/23/mediterranean-migrant-crisis-not-italy-but-europe
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/15/we-will-hurt-eu-if-migrant-crisis-is-not-fixed-says-italian-pm-matteo-renzi
Thursday, 25 June 2015
Monday, 15 June 2015
Mount Kinabalu and Rationality
Sholto Byrnes wrote a brilliant article about the Mount Kinabalu tourists who stripped off on reaching the summit of the mountain in a fit of exuberance and then filmed themselves doing it and transmitted the scene across the world in a fit of exhibitionism. They were warned not to do this by their local guide. They were arrogant to ignore him. He could have saved them from time in jail if they had had the brains to listen to him.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/malaysia-tourist-arrests-ive-witnessed-the-method-in-the-countrys-superstitious-madness-10316229.html
Many would claim that it is irrational to believe in god and animists beliefs or a mixture of the two. I am one of them. However, who I am to criticise those that do. Like Sholto Byrnes I too have travelled to Malaysia and Indonesia. My wife and I have friends there. One of our Indonesian friends leads Muslims groups to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage, she also believes in ghosts. She holds on to her beliefs with good grace and humour even when I tease her that apparitions should show their appearance without clothes on, because clothes have no soul and they cannot survive a trip to the after world. I wonder what happened to the souls of the Mountain's Western tourists?
Malaysian and Indonesian animists do not have a monopoly on irrationalism as it is rife across the world. Westerners may live in a "post- Christian rational society" but despite the efforts of Newton, Darwin, Einstein and Heisenberg most of western thinking is dominated by irrationalism; most of our beliefs and decisions are not based on reason or evidence.
If we were all to think rationally racism, sexism, nuclear bombs, chemical weapons, the divine right to rule, fashion houses and cosmetics and hi-fi shops etc. would not exist. If we thought rationally we would take action on climate change.
Perhaps the worst form of irrationality is racism. It has been proven by science that there is only one race of Human Beings - homo sapiens sapiens - The Neanderthals and the Denisovans who were fellow members of our species, and who could be claimed to be separate races, died out thousands of years ago. However, we still persist in defining humans by race in defiance of all the evidence. Westerners cannot claim to be the rational "race" as it is condescending and arrogant to think that we are better than the animists.
The Kinabalu tourists cannot be condemned for acting emotionally as emotions drive the human race to survive, multiply, love, create art, architecture and engineering works. Without emotion our species could not exist. Emotion dominates our character. However, if the emotional side of our character uses rational thinking to make weapons of war, pollute the planet and deny other people their right to have alternative opinions then we get ourselves into trouble.
Tourists would do well to recognise and follow the wisdom of the locals; you could avoid doing a stretch in jail or worse - being lynched. You could be saved from drowning by swimming in the wrong river or against the wrong tide. Whenever there is rational advice offered in goodwill please take it.
Why not read another brilliant article.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/12/kinabalu-naked-backpacker-las-vegas-rome-malaysia-tourists
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/malaysia-tourist-arrests-ive-witnessed-the-method-in-the-countrys-superstitious-madness-10316229.html
Many would claim that it is irrational to believe in god and animists beliefs or a mixture of the two. I am one of them. However, who I am to criticise those that do. Like Sholto Byrnes I too have travelled to Malaysia and Indonesia. My wife and I have friends there. One of our Indonesian friends leads Muslims groups to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage, she also believes in ghosts. She holds on to her beliefs with good grace and humour even when I tease her that apparitions should show their appearance without clothes on, because clothes have no soul and they cannot survive a trip to the after world. I wonder what happened to the souls of the Mountain's Western tourists?
Malaysian and Indonesian animists do not have a monopoly on irrationalism as it is rife across the world. Westerners may live in a "post- Christian rational society" but despite the efforts of Newton, Darwin, Einstein and Heisenberg most of western thinking is dominated by irrationalism; most of our beliefs and decisions are not based on reason or evidence.
If we were all to think rationally racism, sexism, nuclear bombs, chemical weapons, the divine right to rule, fashion houses and cosmetics and hi-fi shops etc. would not exist. If we thought rationally we would take action on climate change.
Perhaps the worst form of irrationality is racism. It has been proven by science that there is only one race of Human Beings - homo sapiens sapiens - The Neanderthals and the Denisovans who were fellow members of our species, and who could be claimed to be separate races, died out thousands of years ago. However, we still persist in defining humans by race in defiance of all the evidence. Westerners cannot claim to be the rational "race" as it is condescending and arrogant to think that we are better than the animists.
The Kinabalu tourists cannot be condemned for acting emotionally as emotions drive the human race to survive, multiply, love, create art, architecture and engineering works. Without emotion our species could not exist. Emotion dominates our character. However, if the emotional side of our character uses rational thinking to make weapons of war, pollute the planet and deny other people their right to have alternative opinions then we get ourselves into trouble.
Tourists would do well to recognise and follow the wisdom of the locals; you could avoid doing a stretch in jail or worse - being lynched. You could be saved from drowning by swimming in the wrong river or against the wrong tide. Whenever there is rational advice offered in goodwill please take it.
Why not read another brilliant article.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/12/kinabalu-naked-backpacker-las-vegas-rome-malaysia-tourists
Friday, 12 June 2015
Sir Tim Hunt the Nobel Laureate
Sir Tim Hunt should be asked to rescind his resignation from the Royal Society forthwith; he has apologised for his remarks which were a bit crass. I expect you have already read about it but just in case.
http://www.inquisitr.com/2162909/tim-hunt-resigns-nobel-laureate-steps-down-as-honorary-professor-after-sexist-remarks-cause-backlash/
Recently a French satirical magazine , Charlie Hebo, deliberately set out to provoke Muslims and to offend their prophet; and when the magazine was attacked Western Liberals quite rightly turned out to show their solidarity with the magazine and promote free speech. Tim Hunt's silly remarks pale into insignificance in the offensive stakes. So leave him alone. A serious scientist has the right to make mistakes does he not?
Similarly young people have the right to express themselves by stripping off their clothes, if they want to, in the liberal West but surely not on a sacred Malaysian mountain. The young people concerned were lucky that they were released from gaol by a reasonable judge after 3 days in detention under remand. It is a pity that the people shouting abuse at Tim Hunt cannot show the same tolerance as the judge.
http://www.castanet.net/news/Canada/142058/Naked-mountaineers-freed
I am all in favour of women's rights including their right to call me a wimp when I sneeze with "Man 'Flu" ; I don't shout out that they are being sexist and offensive. I show some tolerance for their stupidity and it is a pity that the same tolerance is not shown in the other direction.
The Royal Society will not have the courage to ask Tim Hunt to rethink his resignation. The world his now full of cowards who are afraid of shrieking voices. You are now what you say not what you do and the world is a worse place because of this.
http://www.inquisitr.com/2162909/tim-hunt-resigns-nobel-laureate-steps-down-as-honorary-professor-after-sexist-remarks-cause-backlash/
Recently a French satirical magazine , Charlie Hebo, deliberately set out to provoke Muslims and to offend their prophet; and when the magazine was attacked Western Liberals quite rightly turned out to show their solidarity with the magazine and promote free speech. Tim Hunt's silly remarks pale into insignificance in the offensive stakes. So leave him alone. A serious scientist has the right to make mistakes does he not?
Similarly young people have the right to express themselves by stripping off their clothes, if they want to, in the liberal West but surely not on a sacred Malaysian mountain. The young people concerned were lucky that they were released from gaol by a reasonable judge after 3 days in detention under remand. It is a pity that the people shouting abuse at Tim Hunt cannot show the same tolerance as the judge.
http://www.castanet.net/news/Canada/142058/Naked-mountaineers-freed
I am all in favour of women's rights including their right to call me a wimp when I sneeze with "Man 'Flu" ; I don't shout out that they are being sexist and offensive. I show some tolerance for their stupidity and it is a pity that the same tolerance is not shown in the other direction.
The Royal Society will not have the courage to ask Tim Hunt to rethink his resignation. The world his now full of cowards who are afraid of shrieking voices. You are now what you say not what you do and the world is a worse place because of this.
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