Inconvenient truth about liberal democracies

Switzerland, one of the most democratic and well-off countries, have passed a referendum banning the Muslim minaret. It seems Huntington was right, or wasn’t he?

Fear of Islam is rife in Europe, not only after 9/11. Muslims came to Europe because they were colonized, and also, there has been a demand for labor force. But Europe has never been as open to the immigrants as the United States. Considering the anti-immigration sentiment in America, it is understandable that immigrants are not welcome in Europe, especially those we don’t speak the European languages very well.

But what about culture? Is it really the clash of civilization? 9/11, Madrid and London bombings of course worsened the situation. This gave some politicians excuses to shut the door for Muslims. But we all know there are Christian extremists and there were many more in the past. The cause is not the religion per se, and it will certainly improve in the future. But prejudice, animosity and discrimination will only delay the moderation of Islam.

Can democracy help? It’s hard. I do believe liberal democracy is the best type of political system mankind has ever made, but everybody recognizes it’s far from perfect. The political diversity is good for the society, and people are always easy to be influenced and incited by some demagogues or warmongers. Whenever there is a crisis, hatred and fear will dominate and be taken advantage of by politicians.

Even there were no Islam, they would still use the differences among people (there are always some, because everyone is unique), in terms of their religion, culture, language, race, gender, wealth, etc., to pursue their hidden agenda. There will always be some.

But are those politicians to blame? No. They exist because of the system. You cannot expect everybody to be Philosophy King. People do what they do because of the system they are in. It is really an inconvenient truth. I would expect this kind of story will exist forever in the world. What I can do is to finger-cross and hope it will become rarer.

European Standard

This took place three years ago, but it was so funny that I want to share with you guys. It shows how Lukashenka, dubbed “Last Dictator in Europe”, is ruling Belarus. (Radio Free Europe)

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, accused of inflating his vote tally to win reelection in March, says he actually reduced the number of votes he received to make the result more acceptable to the West.

Lukashenka made the remark to journalists in Minsk on November 23.

"Yes, we falsified the latest elections," Lukashenka said. "I have already told the Westerners about this. As many as 93.5 percent of voters voted for President Lukashenka. But they said this was not a 'European' figure. And we reduced it to 86 [percent]. That's indeed what happened."

Finally, he recognized the fact that his government has rigged the election, but just the opposite direction. How modest he is. It really shows his commitment to rejoin Europe and reestablish good relations with neighbors, or does it?

The only thing is he actually only got 83% in the official tally. It turns out his subordinates have done a better job than he expected.

There are so many fake or heavily-rigged elections in the world. Are they a good step forward or they are even worse than no election at all?

New Energy Source: Bunnies

Nordic countries, in my impression, are the most heaven-like places in the world. Comfort lives with beautiful land, and even more nice-looking people.

They are also leading in the campaign to tackle climate change. But their way to find new energy sources is debatable.

Thousands of stray rabbits in Sweden are being shot, frozen and burned for heat. (Der Spiegel)

I can’t imagine the brutality in this wonderland, which is even worse than the atrocity committed by Viking Pirates. I doubt the efficiency of this energy source and more importantly, it seems the carbon emission from this is also significant.

I hope the fellow Swedes will think twice.

Education in Spain: Learning how to use your hands -- to do job

Spain is still more religious than most other Western European countries as the Catholicism faith is still influential in the daily life for majority of the population. Most people go to church on Sundays, and they pray before meals, which is no longer the case in many other nominally Christian countries. On social issues, Spain is also more conservative. I remember Maria told me about the prohibition of oral sex, which sounds nothing but ridiculous in a non-Muslim country in 21th century.

But recently, Extremadura government launched a campaign to educate children about masturbation, based around the slogan "pleasure as in your own hands". Leaflets will be distributed, and workshops will be hold for students from 14 to 17 years old. This is no wonder hugely controversial. Social conservatives were extremely angered. (BBC)

I'm not sure about the benefit of this education, though not from a religious perspective. Probably most of the students have already become experts and the education would only reduce their level of enjoyment compares with the self-exploration process. But this is an interesting idea and I would love to know how it's implemented and the reaction of the students.

New Berlin Wall erected

U2 is holding a concert celebrating the 20th anniversary of fall of Berlin Wall. But the authorities decided to erect a 2-meter wall around the concert. (The Times)

Setting up a wall to ensure the safety of the performer is understandable in most cases, but probably you should think twice before setting up a wall in Berlin.

It's Rio! It's real!

Olympics will finally go to South America. I feel a bit sorry for Tokyo and Madrid. They are both well-prepared, and I believe they can hold the best Olympics. But Brazil's development really deserves this recognition. Nowadays, sports is inextricaby connected with politics. Rotation of continents make sense, and giving it to a rising power who hasn't held any should never be a bad idea.

Chicago doesn't deserve this Olympics, for none of the candidate cities would have this kind of opposition from their citizens. It's funny to hear the CNN's anchor screaming "what" when he heard the name of Chicago as the first one to be eliminated. For Obama, it's pretty tricky. Republicans are now attacking him leaving when there is such an important debate. But if he didn't go and Chicago lost anyway, he would be criticized of not supporting the city enough. According to game theory, going is a dominant strategy, isn't it?

It's great to see a city, even a country, celebrating every two years for their success in getting the privilege to hold a global sports event. But the way of deciding which city to host it should be more transparent.

Another big news is Irish voters finally support the Lisbon Treaty. Now, no one could be to blame for any failure of further integration. Who can become the new President of European Council as well as the High Representative of Foreign Affairs would be a very interesting topic, and I believe there will be some very fierce discussion on that.

Election watch:

In this month, no important elections will be held. The elections in Greece and Uruguay could be the focal points because of their intensity. The Greek government is expected to lose according to the polls.

October 4, Greece, Parliament
October 16, Botswana, Parliament
October 20, Niger, Parliament
October 25, Tunisia, President and Parliament
October 25, Uruguay, President and Parliament
October 28, Mozambique, President and Parliament

Fairy tale = One night stand?

Still have 200 more pages to read for tomorrow's class, but I really wanna leave something here for today. I didn't have the time to read through today's headlines, but yesterday, a video shocked me. I really wanna share it with you guys.

Remember, this "mother" actually is an actress, making an ad in a desperate attempt to boost tourism in Denmark during difficult time. Of course, one night stand is always attractive to men, and women. I believe it will definitely work. Besides lifting the tourist avenue, it can also help resolve the problem of low fertility rate. Wow, it sounds more intriguing than Anderson's fairy tales.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-SSHxGGpjM

The Result of Attending an 18-year-old Girl's Birthday Party

Italian economy is in deep turmoil. But thanks to their ridiculous prime minister, his latest scandal probably can distract people's anxiety a little bit. His wife demanded divorce after he openly flirted with young ladies and "attended one 18-year-old girl's birthday party" while he didn't even attend her daughter's 18-year-old birthday party. Now he hit back, demanded apology from his wife and believed their marriage was dead. (BBC) It turns out that Italian politics is even more ridiculous than we previously thought.

The 72-year-old billionaire, who owned AC Milan, is still popular, though anyone outside Italy can't understand why. His frequent gaffes and absurd personal behavior has earned him worldwide notoriety. Now, he claims to be hurt by his wife's words. Interesting. He will certainly feel more pain if the voters finally dump him for the sake of their country.