It would have been interesting to write this reflection right after class on Friday… but I didn’t. At 11:20 on Friday, I would have gone on a rant about how frustrating it was to be isolated. Since our wonderful blog group was refused the speaking-baseball in class, it took serious self-restraint to not blurt out my opinion. I think we all deserve a little credit for that, after all what was stopping us from disregarding the rules of the baseball? Nothing! Except our respect for the simulation... In all honesty, I think the simulation did a perfect job of accurately portraying the complexity of world issues. We all fit right into our roles based on the situation and no matter how we got to the places we were sitting at with whatever resources we had I think we all would have had the same debates. Perhaps all of us would have been given the opportunity to speak had the situation been more fair… it’s interesting how that worked. At first I couldn’t really relate our position as the “richest” country to the real world… when has the United States ever been isolated to such an extent? When have the countries around the world rallied against us or other powerful countries besides in war? I’m no history buff… maybe one of you readers will have an example. All that I can come up with for a real life scenario is rebellion within countries… like the lower class population of the French Revolution rebelling against the bourgeoisie. So can our simulation on Friday also represent the dynamics of national politics? Does that change how we look at some of the events of Friday’s class? Hmm…
I don’t know about anyone else but I’m kinda getting frustrated that we don’t get to discuss our readings… in high school I feel like we read articles and then discussed them for way too long but it’s the opposite here! I find it very interesting how many political theories there are out there… realism, liberalism, marxism, neomarxist dependency theory, constructivism, etc… it gets me thinking, what is the point of having all these theories? Do they better help us understand history? It seems kinda useless to even argue which one I agree with most because why is it relevant unless it actually happens in reality? I guess it is interesting… of course I found myself agreeing with the concept of liberalism but Stephen Walt mostly dismisses this theory in One World, Many Theories as impractical next to realism. Does our country have the capability to change political ideals away from a power-centered mind frame and toward a peace-loving standard of ethics? Why theorize if we can’t change? So that makes me think that we can evolve to a better, more effective political style through studying theories of change.
Oh and one more thing… I forget who, but someone made a comment about how we, as humans, ONLY ever think of and look out for ourselves. That’s just the way it is, we can’t do anything about our nature. Sure we may be selfish creatures, but I wholeheartedly disagree with that statement. Maybe we’re not mature enough to realize it at our age (and I’m not saying that I am beyond inherent selfishness) but there is something to be said for love. In particular parental love is something that can be (notice I didn’t say “is” because I like to avoid generalizations) completely unselfish. Other loving relationships may produce similar feelings, but I most sincerely admire the strength of parental love. Yes you might think this has nothing to do with world politics, but it does, because we all are people and hopefully at some point or another will experience love. Love can affect world politics just as much, if not more, than war. Do you disagree?
That’s all for now,
Hippy Emily
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3 comments:
I probably made that selfishness comment, so I'm gonna try to go down fighting and explain away love. :)
Love is selfishness at it's pinnacle. And this is not a bad thing at all. Why do parents feed, clothe and provide for their children? Because they love them, and want them to be happy and successful. If they didn't do this, the child would be ill or unhappy, which no parent wants to see. You love your family, so to act in their interests is to act in your own self-interest. Thus parental love in itself is a selfish act. As is any kind of love, really. Why would a man take a bullet for his lover? Because he couldn't live with himself if she died in his place.
Basically, love feels good, we all want love. So actively facilitating and maintaining such loving relationships is ultimately selfish. Not the most romantic of ideas, but hey. :)
Jasmine basically beat me to the punch, but I'd add two things.
First, when we discuss selfishness, we're not necessarily discussing materialism and gluttony. Self-interest includes meeting physical needs, but also psychological needs: feeling secure, which includes believing that one has a strong social network to help protect oneself, and feeling self-assured, which includes believing that one is basically morally good and justified. In the case of parental love, parents have a particularly vested economic interest in protecting their children, who serve as a source of labor and security in parents' old age.
Second, acting in self-interest doesn't necessarily (or usually) mean hurting someone else. Our self-interests are rarely diametrically opposed. Love, whether romantic, platonic, or parental, is a perfect example of this. It can be uncomfortable to realize that love is rooted in self-interest, and it can take a while to accept: it took me about a year and a half to fully embrace moral relativism and self-interest. But rationally explaining love, while difficult, doesn't cheapen love itself.
Second, acting out of self-interest is nothing to be ashamed of.
Haha okay guys, I see your point. I suppose that is one way of looking at it while I prefer another way. I won't argue that love can't be selfish, I just hate the negative connotation that the word selfish has on love. We could argue about this forever because there just is no right answer to describing love, what it comes down to is our own personal beliefs... and I would rather be idealistic than cynical/realistic just because it makes me happier at the end of the day! haha
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