While economically the world continues to live through the uncertain futures of the Great Recession, it seems that in the political front, there are increasingly optimism and hope that the next few years will offer the sort of global conciliation and peace needed to create the stable environment desired for economic growth. Over in the Middle East, the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq finally seems to be drawing to a close, despite the indefinite presence of myriad local ethnic conflicts. The tension with respect to Syria and Iran, while leading to local bloodshed and show of force, has yet to become seriously disruptive on a global scale.
Over in Asia, the two traditional hot-spots, Taiwan and Korea, are also somewhat "cooling down" vis-a-vis the major powers involved. The presidential election of Taiwan reaffirmed the strength of forces favoring preservation of economics-focused status quo, much to the relief of Washington and Beijing. And the sudden transfer of (hereditary) power in North Korea has yet to produce inflammatory or aggressive stances on any side. State-level actors, and lower level actors constrained by the state, are all playing nice.
And surveying the current sources of conflicts in the world, the vast majority has shifted from governments (whether it be North Korea, Iran, China, or the U.S.) to a much more defused bunch consisting of private individuals with strong radicalized beliefs willing to act upon them even at extremely high cost. Of course, terrorist organizations beginning with a few ideological guys with some extra cash to spend would be the most obvious examples to raise here, but even as the terrorists have repeatedly proven, in the current age of technology and global trade, organizations are not needed for extensive damage.
Any individual with access to a little cash can purchase crude weapons of destruction and transport them to where it is necessary for destruction, while remaining completely undetected. All that is really necessary besides a little cash is a large dose of radicalization, giving an individual the ideational fuel needed to walk straight along a path of destruction. Unfortunately, looking around everyday life, one simply finds a ubiquity of such thoughts permeating daily lives. One can simply drop in to listen and instantly pick up the most violent strand of radical militancy.
Chief among such radicalism is an increased tendency toward black-or-white patriotism, by which one can define as a love of one' country expressed in either (1) complete approval of EVERYTHING done by one's country while tolerating no criticism, or (2) complete disapproval of EVERYTHING done by the national government while tolerating no positive comments of the status quo. While sounding like polar opposites, the two types emerge from exactly the same type of reasoning, grounded not in well-founded academic or factual logic but upon repeated experiences in emotional interactions with others of different views and backgrounds.
And, perhaps ironically, "the others" in such context often represent foreigners with limited knowledge of one's country, the very group one is supposed to educate about one's country and be educated about foreign lands in order to become true global citizens. Yet, instead of responding to the often partial comments of a partially-informed foreign friend with sensitive care and friendly remainders of alternative explanations, the back-or-white patriot often take such comments as a direct assault or complete approval of his or her country.
Responding to the ill-informed comments of foreigners, the patriots then go around emotionally attacking or supporting what they call the foreigners' fundamental bias against his or her great land. Any of his or her fellow citizens daring enough to agree with the criticisms, or contradict the praises uttered by the foreigners, even in the slightest part, would quickly become "traitors" in the eyes of the black-or-white nationalist. Social fractures, both internally within the collective citizenry of a certain country, or externally across different nationalities, would deepen with the presence of these unwanted patriots.
It is not difficult for anyone to join the ranks of such illogical nationalists. The internet and mainstream media, with their so many outlets promoting national greatness to an excess degree, is a great place to start. Isolating oneself to one's compatriots while simply dismissing foreigners as empty-minded is a great way to cement such blatant radicalism. And as small individuals built up such unwanted sentiments in their daily lives, there will be times when words will not be sufficient to keep it in check. The resulting actions will be more damaging than that of any state-owned military...
Over in Asia, the two traditional hot-spots, Taiwan and Korea, are also somewhat "cooling down" vis-a-vis the major powers involved. The presidential election of Taiwan reaffirmed the strength of forces favoring preservation of economics-focused status quo, much to the relief of Washington and Beijing. And the sudden transfer of (hereditary) power in North Korea has yet to produce inflammatory or aggressive stances on any side. State-level actors, and lower level actors constrained by the state, are all playing nice.
And surveying the current sources of conflicts in the world, the vast majority has shifted from governments (whether it be North Korea, Iran, China, or the U.S.) to a much more defused bunch consisting of private individuals with strong radicalized beliefs willing to act upon them even at extremely high cost. Of course, terrorist organizations beginning with a few ideological guys with some extra cash to spend would be the most obvious examples to raise here, but even as the terrorists have repeatedly proven, in the current age of technology and global trade, organizations are not needed for extensive damage.
Any individual with access to a little cash can purchase crude weapons of destruction and transport them to where it is necessary for destruction, while remaining completely undetected. All that is really necessary besides a little cash is a large dose of radicalization, giving an individual the ideational fuel needed to walk straight along a path of destruction. Unfortunately, looking around everyday life, one simply finds a ubiquity of such thoughts permeating daily lives. One can simply drop in to listen and instantly pick up the most violent strand of radical militancy.
Chief among such radicalism is an increased tendency toward black-or-white patriotism, by which one can define as a love of one' country expressed in either (1) complete approval of EVERYTHING done by one's country while tolerating no criticism, or (2) complete disapproval of EVERYTHING done by the national government while tolerating no positive comments of the status quo. While sounding like polar opposites, the two types emerge from exactly the same type of reasoning, grounded not in well-founded academic or factual logic but upon repeated experiences in emotional interactions with others of different views and backgrounds.
And, perhaps ironically, "the others" in such context often represent foreigners with limited knowledge of one's country, the very group one is supposed to educate about one's country and be educated about foreign lands in order to become true global citizens. Yet, instead of responding to the often partial comments of a partially-informed foreign friend with sensitive care and friendly remainders of alternative explanations, the back-or-white patriot often take such comments as a direct assault or complete approval of his or her country.
Responding to the ill-informed comments of foreigners, the patriots then go around emotionally attacking or supporting what they call the foreigners' fundamental bias against his or her great land. Any of his or her fellow citizens daring enough to agree with the criticisms, or contradict the praises uttered by the foreigners, even in the slightest part, would quickly become "traitors" in the eyes of the black-or-white nationalist. Social fractures, both internally within the collective citizenry of a certain country, or externally across different nationalities, would deepen with the presence of these unwanted patriots.
It is not difficult for anyone to join the ranks of such illogical nationalists. The internet and mainstream media, with their so many outlets promoting national greatness to an excess degree, is a great place to start. Isolating oneself to one's compatriots while simply dismissing foreigners as empty-minded is a great way to cement such blatant radicalism. And as small individuals built up such unwanted sentiments in their daily lives, there will be times when words will not be sufficient to keep it in check. The resulting actions will be more damaging than that of any state-owned military...
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