Don't Tweet Your Brains Out by John Ramsay

John Ramsay, in his speech, shows that while Twitter has been able to ensure that there is the advancement of social good, it also has the potential to ruin the lives of those individuals who use it. This is especially the case where Ramsay makes reference to Jofi Joseph, a White House official who ended up losing his job because he lived a double life on Twitter where he made confidential and at times snide remarks, concerning his bosses, available on the network. The result was that he ended up being fired from his job despite having been among the most promising individuals at the White House who, just before being fired, had been slotted for promotion. Ramsay notes that even his bosses could not believe that such a brilliant man could descend so far from his position as to essentially bring down his career through the temptations brought about by a social network that did no really add any quality to his life. Therefore, the major lesson of the speech is that individuals have to be careful concerning what they choose to make public through social networks because they have the risk of jeopardizing their own lives and careers.

Coincidence?

Amazing coincidences, while extremely rare, happen in the real world. This is mainly because they help to bring about a situation where the individuals involved end up questioning the events that are taking place around them and wondering whether or not they were destined to take place. The lives of individuals all over the world are in one way or another connected and this is the reason why the actions of individuals in one part of the world might end up affecting the lives of others in another part. Such instances can be seen in The Garden of Forking Paths, which is a story that promotes the idea that amazing coincidences actually take place. The lives of Yu Tsun and Stephen Albert, despite their not knowing it, are connected as seen through the manner in which Albert seems to be attracted to the work of Tsui Pen, and ancestor of Yu Tsun. Albert’s admiration for the work of Tsui Pen is an amazing coincidence because in the process, he does not realize that his life is going to be ended by a descendant of the person that he admires. Additionally, when Yu Tsun decides to go on a mission to kill Albert in order to send a message to his German masters, he ends up being surprised that the individual that he wants to kill is one who may have removed the should of mystery concerning his own past. However, despite the realization of the coincidence revolving between these two individuals, Yu Tsun ends up putting duty first by killing Albert.

Plato’s view of amazing coincidence can be considered to be one that is extremely complex. This is seen through the advancement of the belief that it is extremely rare to find a coincidence between interest and duty among individuals. This is a highly significant observation because it shows that individuals in society tend to choose between one and the other. Those individuals who are able to maintain a balance between their duties and interests are extremely rare and this is the reason why it is difficult for such coincidences to happen. Therefore, Plato suggests that in order to find a coincidence, individuals have to dismiss the common notions concerning interest and duty and consider them to be essentially mistaken. The dismissal of these ideas makes all the difference because those individuals who do so come to the conclusion that catering for either their obligations or interests lead to a situation where it is nearly impossible to find a situation where they are not causing harm. Plato seems to push for a definition of coincidence which involves those actions or incidents that take place in society according to their natural order rather than being promoted by the illusive definitions that human beings have placed on them. Thus, if all the illusive definition of terms that are used in society were dispelled, it would be possible to come to the realization that those aspects of life that are called coincidences tend to happen more often than is realized.

Descartes seems to promote the idea that coincidence comes about as a result of the familiarity of individuals with sensory objects. This is especially considering that this familiarity makes it extremely difficult for individuals to notice the diverse incidents that take place in their lives. In those times that they really do notice, they term these incidents as coincidences and do not realize that all of the actions that seem coincidental actually take place on a daily basis. The result is that human beings often seek to rationalize the incidents that happen around them to such an extent that they come to give material attributes to those aspects of life that are immaterial. Based on this view, amazing coincidences are common things that take place on a daily basis and it is as a result of the loss of communion with spiritual realities that human beings have experienced that when they encounter these realities, they end up seeking the refuge of their bodies. It is through being used to observing events from a physical level that individuals are hardly aware of the world around them and when they witness glimpses of the manner through which they are all connected, they are termed coincidences and interpreted as random events. Consequentially, it is essential for individuals to ensure that they attain a greater understanding of the events taking place in their lives, especially coincidences, by withdrawing from the sensory experiences that they have on a daily basis.

Disarming Iran: A First Step by Barack Obama

Barack Obama’s speech seeking to address the Iranian nuclear program is one that promotes the idea that the United States is ready for negotiations. This is especially the case considering that at the time the speech was being made, Iran had just elected a new president who was more open to negotiations with the West and this speech was a means of showing the world that the United States had also chosen to follow suit. However, Obama also offers a warning to the Iranians that if they do not cooperate fully with the United States, they will face further isolation from the international community through the imposition of sanctions. It is also essential that Obama also made comments concerning the steps that have been taken by the United States and its allies to ensure that the Iranian nuclear program is brought to a halt including the imposition of a broad array of sanctions. Additionally, Obama’s statements, especially concerning the willingness to engage with Iran, contain a message of hope that the United States and Iran will be able to reach a deal that will promote the interests of both nations while containing the nuclear ambitions of the latter.

A Most Masculine State: Gender, Politics and Religion in Saudi Arabia

The issue of women’s rights and their contribution to society is one of the most pertinent debates that are taking place in the contemporary world. This is because a significant number of individuals have come to believe that women have been oppressed by male dominance for a long time and that it is time to ensure that their rights as individuals are respected. The achievement of this goal has the potential of making sure that there is the advancement of means through which women can become active participants in society while at the same time promoting gender equality. An important case concerning the rights of women in the contemporary world is that of Saudi Arabia; a country that has been vilified for years for denying women even the most basic of rights that are enjoyed by women elsewhere in the world. Madawi Al-Rasheed’s book A Most Masculine State: Gender, Politics, and Religion in Saudi Arabia is an extremely important addition to the scholarship concerning the manner through which women are treated in this country. This is because it provides an important contribution to the manner through which the relationship between the state and religion can end up leading to the denial of rights to women in their societies. It also creates the advancement of a situation where there is a conversation concerning the status of women in Saudi Arabia and what can be done to ensure that there is the achievement of a larger debate concerning the association between gender and religion.

While Al-Rasheed does not dispute the central position that is played by religion, she suggests that gender stratification in Saudi Arabia has developed because of a complexity of factors not necessarily related to religion. The result has been that there has been considerable gender stratification in the country to such an extent that women are essentially seen as not equal to their male counterparts. She draws on her research concerning the history of Saudi Arabia to come to the conclusion that because the country was essentially a new state that lacked a unifying national narrative, its leadership turned to the Wahhabi religious revival as a means of fostering religious nationalism. A consequence of this situation was that rather than growing towards the achievement of social cohesion through the use of a nationalist narrative, the new political establishment sought to achieve legitimacy through the use of religious nationalism. This created a situation where religious nationalism ended up becoming distinct from religion because it enforced those characteristics that may have been considered too radical even from a religious standpoint. The religious nationalism of Saudi Arabia developed on a path identical to secular nationalism and this in such a way that promoted the creation of an environment where the state got involved in almost every aspect of life. Through this analysis, Al-Rasheed is able to develop a strong insight into the relationship between gender, politics, the state, and religion through a diversity of contexts. She shows the manner through which gender stratification in the country was legitimized through the association between these aspects of social life.

The religious nationalism present in Saudi Arabia is unique because it is one that has been combined with the intense modernization of the state since the beginning. A result of this situation is that modernization, which has been at the center of state formation since its earliest days, has worked hand in hand with religion in order to affect the gender system in a diversity of ways. One of the arguments that this author makes is that there have been considerable fluctuations to the manner through which the gender gap has been affected over the last fifty years. This gender gap has been maintained through state sponsored interventions rather than by religion. The trend has been legitimized through the manner in which the state has taken what appear to be contradictory stances on a diversity of issues concerning gender. One of the most prominent of these has been widespread encouragement of the education of women yet these individuals have ended up being restricted one they have completed their education. Furthermore, state sanctioned religious fatwas have been common in undermining the gains made by women in society because there has been a failure to consider the impact that that they might have on women who have been empowered by education. Moreover, the state has taken initiatives aimed at bolstering its international image through the promotion of a situation where there is an increase in the public presence of some women. Most of the latter have been those who support the status quo and are unlikely to challenge it, with other being kept in the background. Therefore, Al-Rasheed concluded that the abundant oil wealth of Saudi Arabia has been both an obstacle and facilitator of the participation of women in public life.

From the beginning of her book, Al-Rasheed issues a challenge against the simplistic and often contradictory image of women in Saudi Arabia. She challenges the assumption that the women in this country are either the veiled victims of an extremely patriarchal society or glamorous cosmopolitan entrepreneurs. These stereotypical representations have for the most part thrived because of a scarcity of literature of high quality concerning gender relations in Saudi Arabia and the actual lives of the women in this country. The second part of the book is instrumental in showing the manner through which the women in this country have reflected on the gender system and in some cases even ended up challenging it. Al-Rasheed makes an extremely sensitive and sophisticated analysis of interviews, literary texts, and personal exchanges with the women of Saudi Arabia in a bid to show that these individuals are not as homogenous as they seem. Instead, they are individuals of varying backgrounds and different convictions who live their own lives as independently as they would like. This statement poses a direct challenge to those individuals who believe that the women of Saudi Arabia are all victims of the religious nationalism that has dominated the country for decades. It shows that the women of this country are as independent of thought and as aware of the social circumstances around them as other women in the rest of the world. Al-Rasheed seeks to show that women in Saudi Arabia are free thinking beings who, because of their diversity in backgrounds, have different ways of thinking. She also advances the conviction that the women of this country are all independent in their thought, and are not all victims, as is often represented in Western media when it comes to its depiction of these women.

In her analysis, Al-Rasheed considers the diversity of viewpoints of women such as Raja al-Sani and Bariyya al-Bishr. The latter, who is a sociologist, has raised considerable objections concerning the negative manner though which women are treated in the country based on the restrictions that have been placed on them when it comes to becoming active participants in politics and economics. Al-Sani, on the other hand, is a woman that is well known for being a member of the second generation of Saudi women writers as seen through the success of her novel, Girls of Riyadh, which performed very well at a commercial level. Al-Rasheed therefore makes use of the opinions of these women to show that the women of Saudi Arabia are not as homogenous as is often thought and are instead independent individuals who also have very strong opinions concerning their society. In addition, she also considers the contributions that have been made by numerous other women in Saudi society, including those women who are strictly committed to the Islamic tradition and believe that it is essential to apply Islamic solutions to everyday problems. A result of this analysis is that Al-Rasheed comes up with a means through which to show the diversity of opinion that can be found among Saudi women, and this to such an extent that shows that they are extremely complex and sophisticated individuals rather than the oppressed and restricted individuals of Western narrative. The achievement of this goal cannot be underestimated because it promotes the idea that women in Saudi Arabia are mistresses of their own lives and have actually taken an active part in challenging the negative narrative concerning them.

The Grimm Fairy Tales

When on reads the Grimm Fairy Tales, one comes to the conclusion that Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are attempting to express their feelings about the world and the contradictions that exist within it. This collection of stories reveal the irony of living the human life as well as those of other creatures, some being happy with their lot in life while others remain sad due to their poverty as well as the tragic events that happen in their lives. The Grimm brothers use their stories to display the true nature of human beings; that nothing is ever permanent and that changes occur once in a while. Throughout their stories, one comes to the realization that there is the extensive use of imagery, symbolism, figurative language, style and tone in relation to the development of the themes involved.

The use of imagery is very extensive in throughout the Grimm Fairy Tales especially when making contrasts between the beauty of the world and the ugliness which is contained within it. This can be seen when, in Tom Thumb, the two men, not caring that their offer to buy Tom from his father would end up separating them. In fact, their only concern seems to be able to make a lot of money using Tom and they do not care at all concerning the feeling of alienation that they would be subjecting him to. The image of Tom as a tiny individual is used to show just how much individuals look down upon the less privileged individuals in society and how they make every attempt to exploit these people. It can be said that the image of Tom Thumb as a little fellow shows that despite his size, he is able to survive in a world that is hostile to his existence as Tom uses his wits to ensure that he is able to survive within it. This image may also be used to show the price which human beings have to pay because of their greed as well as their unthinking ambitions, and this instance can also be perceived in Hans in Luck. The image that is presented of Hans attempting to make his life better as well as to have something useful shows how human ambitions can at times be detrimental instead of helpful because he ends up losing all of his wages as well as all that he attained through barter. While this is the case, in most of the Grimm Fairy Tales, the image of happiness is continuously displayed with very few instances where there is any form of sadness, showing that most of these stories were written for the purpose of entertaining children.

Symbolism is a major style used in the development of the theme of the Grimm Fairy Tales and an excellent example of this, is in The Fisherman and His Wife, where the wife, despite having everything wants more; a symbol of her greed. The fact that she continues to demand more from her husband despite having everything that she needs can be considered to be symbolic of human nature, where we are never satisfied with what we have but continue to aspire for more. In addition, in the story Old Sultan, Sultan the dog can be considered to symbolize unwavering loyalty because despite the favor which the wolf did him in saving his life, Sultan decided to bark at the wolf whenever he comes to steal his master’s sheep. Furthermore, the fight between domestic animals and wild animals in this story shows that despite the poor treatment that the former receive from their masters, they are extremely loyal, while the latter are very cowardly creatures.

The Grimm brothers use figurative language to depict the contrasting characteristics of the characters that they depict in their stories, and a good example of this is that of the talking wolf in Tom Thumb which is an oxymoron used to depict the possible unique ability of Tom to communicate with animals. It is well known that wolves do not have human speech and the Grimm brothers depicting it as talking clearly shows the contrast in a situation where it would normally be impossible for normal conversation to take place. Figurative language can be seen all over the Grimm Fairy Tales and it is used to express the points or instances which can be considered to be the most important in the stories.

The tone of the stories can be considered to range from either being neutral to ironical. This is because of the contrast which the Grimm brothers attempt to make between the different characters in their stories, often depicting extreme good and extreme evil. The tone of the stories can be said to show that the world is a very beautiful place to be born into if one does not mind there not being any happiness all the time. The tone in these stories can be said to bring about quite a number of ironical scenarios, where an environment which is described as being beautiful is infested with evil people such as the thieves in Tom Thumb. In addition, the tone of the stories, such as that of The Elves and the Shoemaker, displays the advantages of doing good because eventually, these good acts are going to be rewarded. It can further be said that the tone of the stories depict the true feelings of their writers about the world and how the situation within it affects the different people living in it. The irony in the stories, such as The Fisherman and his Wife, helps to deliver the writers’ message to the reader as well as fostering an understanding of the subject matter involved.

In conclusion, the use of imagery, symbolism and figurative language in these stories greatly contributes to a greater understanding of the stories. They create situations which are familiar to the reader and they allow him to decipher the true meaning of what the stories is saying. Despite what many people who read it may think, they are not the kind of stories to be taken lightly because they are full of lessons. Instead, they have many lessons to give about the reality of human life in the world and the main message which can be made out of it is that there is not guarantee of happiness in the world and that we should live in it as best as we can.