12/8/2009
1) Is the oppression of Muslim women (i.e. honor killings, etc.) a problem that occurs in all Islamic countries, or is this an issue that surfaces only in certain nations? After hearing differing viewpoints regarding this topic, I tend to believe this issue should be thought of in terms of nationality, rather than religion. 2) Who is right: the Israelis or the Palestinians? As an American, I have always assumed the Israelis were the people I should side with, but I did not take into consideration both sides of the story. After putting the issue into perspective, I'm not so sure I agree with the Jews (that is not to say I do agree with the Arabs). I know that "Americans" killed and displaced Native Americans when they settled in the United States, and if the Native Americans one day decided to take back the land that once belonged to them, I probably wouldn't be very happy about giving up my land. Is the Israeli/Palestinian conflict much different? 3) An article I recently read said that with the amount of money the United States has spent fighting the war in the Middle East, we could afford to every Afghan person into a Ph.D. I'm not saying we should stop war efforts to fund Afghan schools, but I do believe that peace begins with education. So much of the world's violence (along with several other issues, like poverty) stems from ignorance, which is a direct result of lack of education. So, how do we go about solving this massive problem?
Posted at 10:34 PM by Katie Harris