Where’s the global outcry for victims of Boko Haram attacks?

rgambs

Here is the context: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."

To me the whole of the quote is a statement on being open to new ideas and remaining elastic mentally. It is a statement, in hard words, on always challenging assumptions and discarding preconceived notions. The transcendentalists were notorious for rambling and approaching ideas from multiple perspectives simultaneously. It makes Walden a tough read for many, and Emerson incomprehensible to some. I'd imagine with the name oftenreading you know what I'm talking about. I don't read anything in it to mean changing on a whim for the sheer sake of change, particularly of deep convictions, but maybe that is exactly what he meant.
When I pull it out of context I think it makes a nice statement on political correctness and today's irritating habit of avoiding taking a strong stance for fear of backlash or offending those with which you disagree.

PJfanwillneverleave1

rgambs wrote: »

With entire networks devoted to news 24/7 you'd think they would report on a wide variety of topics...nope, the same 5 stories (at best) reported to death for 5 hours each

rr165892 wrote: »

brianlux wrote: »

The Waiting Trophy Man wrote: »

I don't think it's necessarily about what intimidates people so much as what interests them more. That part of the world is pretty much out of sight/out of mind. The media is part of the blame. The rest is just us. We kind of live in our own bubble in the west. Safe and sound, working and shopping. I'm as bad as anyone.

Interesting, Trophy Man, and I mostly agree. We certainly do live in a bubble. However, the safe and sound part of it may be an illusion, an illusion that has worked well for some time.

I think we should give ourselves some credit here though on AMT. In my life anyway, there is no other setting where I see more people at least trying to get a grasp on current events/state-of-the-world stuff. I've previously worked at and attended variously colleges and in those environments, these topics were discussed frequently but not so much elsewhere. Maybe to a degree at the bookstore but even there a lot of people who come in are more interested in gossip, vampire romance and movie tie-ins than current events. I'd say we're outside the norm here that way.

In a good way!

These guys aren't that bad. Give them some slack. Look at the kind gesture they just did, geesh, so quick to judge.
http://af.reuters.com/article/nigeriaNews/idAFL6N0V400320150125

oftenreading

rgambs wrote: »

Here is the context: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."

To me the whole of the quote is a statement on being open to new ideas and remaining elastic mentally. It is a statement, in hard words, on always challenging assumptions and discarding preconceived notions. The transcendentalists were notorious for rambling and approaching ideas from multiple perspectives simultaneously. It makes Walden a tough read for many, and Emerson incomprehensible to some. I'd imagine with the name oftenreading you know what I'm talking about. I don't read anything in it to mean changing on a whim for the sheer sake of change, particularly of deep convictions, but maybe that is exactly what he meant.
When I pull it out of context I think it makes a nice statement on political correctness and today's irritating habit of avoiding taking a strong stance for fear of backlash or offending those with which you disagree.

Thanks for this. I'll think more on it.

Edit - I meant also to say that the expanded quote helps. I have no doubt I'm misunderstanding him , as it seems he intended.

rgambs

Slippery bastards Emerson and Thoreau!

rr165892

You people are to smart on these here inter webs.Agree with the convo or not it's always a joy to learn something.thx kids

PJfanwillneverleave1

This is just a copy and paste from a newspaper. What are peoples thoughts - does this have merit or not.

"At the Yaounde meeting, U.S. Ambassador Michael S. Hoza said the United States would help in the fight against Boko Haram, though he did not provide details.

Relations between Washington and Nigeria have been strained because the United States has refused to sell Nigeria helicopter gunships and other military weaponry that U.S. law prohibits from being sold to countries whose militaries are accused of gross human rights abuses. The Nigerian military is accused of killing thousands of civilians under state of emergency powers that were declared to curb Boko Haram’s rebellion."

JWPearl

this is what harmegedon is for to wipe out the multitudes of those sick people

brianlux

JWPearl wrote: »

this is what harmegedon is for to wipe out the multitudes of those sick people

"harmegeddon": hegemony + armageddon. A clever word there, JWP!

FoxyRedLa

I cannot imagine. Cannot imagine anything they're going through. Running, hiding, starving, having to look their kids in the eye and say "I have no food to feed you go beg for some".

https://newrepublic.com/article/143019/one-meal-day-lake-chad-vanishes-seven-million-people-starvation

brianlux

FoxyRedLa said:

I cannot imagine. Cannot imagine anything they're going through. Running, hiding, starving, having to look their kids in the eye and say "I have no food to feed you go beg for some".

https://newrepublic.com/article/143019/one-meal-day-lake-chad-vanishes-seven-million-people-starvation

Same here.  I've been through some hard times but this makes my past hard times look like a picnic.  Very sad.