Buzzing in your ears

Drones seem to be a hot topic these days.  Are they a legitimate form of technology for use in a war?  Is the comparison that the author makes to Big Brother apt?  It is obvious that they negatively affect the countries over which they fly, but what are the disadvantages for the country that sends them?

Can being competitive result from being equal?

 

There are some surprising things in this article about what makes a successful school system.  No standardized tests, no accountability in terms of teacher performance, no private schools or competition between schools.  Could this work anywhere besides Finland, as this article claims?  What would need to change in Slovakia for us to even consider a program like this?

Could you turn down your sociometer, please?

 Lots of interesting stuff to talk about in this article, so you can skim some parts and carefully read others.  What do you think about this writers explanation of insulting in terms of evolutionary biology?  Is it true that our sociometers are more sensitive to insults than to compliments?  Is it true that most insults originate in envy?  If it is part of our biology, should we embrace it or combat it?  Do you believe that willpower can fight this sort of thing, as the writer seems to think?  How do you combat feelings like the desire to insult or to boast?

Do we really need saints like this?

 

Here is an Indian perspective on a very critical book about Mother Teresa.  What do you think about saints and our attitudes toward them?  Do people tend to be sceptical of people that are “too good”, or do they tend to be overly protective of them?  Does personal charisma play a big role, even if this person might not be as saintly as their reputation? Is charity a bad short-term solution when it is really the system that needs to be changed?  Was Mother Teresia justified in taking donations from dictators?

Why don’t they learn the language? (Or have they already?)

 

I usually choose newspaper articles for these entries, but in this case it is another blog.  How do you feel about people coming to, or staying in a country, when they don’t speak the language well.  Many claim that this is a sign that they don’t want to integrate, but can they really know what others want based on this?  Why would newspapers inflate the numbers of those who do not speak well?  Can any parallels be drawn in terms of the attitude of some Slovaks towards the Hungarian minority here?  Feel free to follow the links that the author provides in his post to get more information.

Why the third Reich is still popular in Austria

This is the last post you can comment on for March.

Here are some disturbing results of a recent survey conducted in the country across the river.  Are people often anti-democratic because democracy is messy and they would like a strong leader who could cut through the red tape instead?  Or is banning any political party anti-democratic in and of itself, and perhaps even counter-productive?  Do people have a tendency to whitewash darker periods of their nation’s history?  If your country has done something really bad, when have you atoned enough for it?  Would results be similar if Slovaks were polled about the Tiso regime?