[lit-ideas] Re: UN Internet Power Grab (Technology Equivalent Of Kyoto)
- From: Eternitytime1@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 8 Oct 2005 18:15:19 EDT
In a message dated 10/8/2005 9:14:47 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
macampesq@xxxxxxxxx writes:
There are still dozens of unanswered questions but all the answers are
pointing the same way: international governments deciding the internet's
future.
The internet will never be the same again.
HI,
I understand both the concern as well as the frustration that seemed
inherent within Andreas' comments--which I am sure were not meant to convey
anything
but frustration towards those who do not understand that we live, more and
more in a *world* community...([?] please correct me if I'm mistaken...]
I just came back from being the MC at an American Cultures merit badge
workshop. (a bit different from the World Citizenship merit badge workshop last
weekend...) This one was co-sponsored by Longview Community College and the
South KC Multicultural Festival (which was today).
I brought in the speakers--one of the key ones was the fellow who has been a
past president of the UNA (United Nations Association) here in KC.
He had these boys on the edge of their seats (very good speaker). Former
dean of economics at Rockhurst University here in KC and retired professor
from
somewhere else in Illinois...and so aware of what the common attitude is
here in the US towards the UN. He was involved in different parts of the US
involvement of various aspects of the UN. Mostly--the best aspect, though,
was
that he could talk about being a patriotic American and show that you could
be that as well as a World Citizen--and that making the world a better place
for ALL was not mutually exclusive (which many people seem to think--and they
go either one side or the other--and do not realize that one can be both)
He made several key points much better articulated than anything I could
write, but I will still try to state...
1) was that the UN's Constitution begins much like that of the USA--We the
People...
and, who ARE the people? He talked about how if the USA is on its way to
become 'a more perfect' union--and was still a work in progress, that if it
was
not yet perfect--it was up to each one of us who call this nation "Home" to
make it so. If it not becoming perfect, then it is *not* because the USA has
failed us, but that we have failed it.
In the same way--if the UN is supposed to be on its way to fulfill its
mission, then it is up to each one of us to do what we can to was that it
happens.
He stated (and talked about) how if the UN is not perfect and we decide to
scrap it--is it because of the UN's failings or if it is because we have failed
it.
Have each one of us done all we each could to do in order to ensure that the
principles of the UN succeed to make the world a better and safer place?
If not--that we have failed the UN--it has not failed us.
If the USA does not do all it can do for the UN--then it is failing the UN,
the UN is not failing it.
To put the becoming a world citizen in perspective--he did talk about how
Switzerland was one of the holdouts for the longest periods of time because of
how serious that nation takes its sovereignty--and that aspect to consider is
obviously one that many nations have had to consider and then, finally, to
comprehend.
2) He addressed the issue of how the US has become so comfortable to being
'no 1' for so long in so many arenas, that we, as citizens of both the USA and
as citizens of the world community, are going to have to deal with the issue
of 'change' as so many many other nations are expanding faster than we are in
many arenas of life.
and he discussed how difficult that change in our perception is--and yet--we
need to understand that if the USA is to have a role and protect its
citizens in this world community--we have to learn to (my words here <g>)
'play well
with others'.
The point, I think, was that the USA needs to begin to set itself up as a
'team player', a major part of the world community. That would be very
different for the US to do--but it does *not* mean that the US is any 'less' of
a
nation--it just means that we need to begin to react and view decisions being
made in a new sort of way.
3) The huge successes that the UN has made that actually affect our every
day lives so much was talked about--things like having airplanes/jets follow a
UN standard of flight (not recalling the correct terms here), how if any of us
travel overseas, we do not have to get a smallpox vaccination, that if any
of us get mail from overseas [most of the kids in the group had at some point
or another in their lives]--that is because of the UN's work. He went on and
on in terms of some of the very practical accomplishments of the UN. Most
of them were things that most people (at least most that I know <wry look>)
take for granted--
The UN turns 60 this year.
How many of us are going to have a party to honor it?
Anyone care to share a possible menu or speech?
What are the aspects of the UN that strike you as having been very
beneficial?
What are the positive aspects of *not* having the USA be in control of the
internet? I could see and understand the negative--thanks to MA Camp--but
surely, even for those of us in the USA, there are some positives? (Speak,
Andreas!) Are there any? What could I answer some of those who I might meet
who are upset about this? (Marketing these days always wants you to answer
the
'what's in it for me'--so is there something in it for the regular American
consumer? What about the USA in general? Surely it is not all negative and
is not going to require an 'us against them', is it? For that is what one
might interpret, otherwise...)
We learned from a Mexican-America (she's a pioneer in deaf education from
the Univ. of Kansas a long time ago and one of the founders of a suburban MO
community's not-for-profit which calls itself "Books for Peace" as she went to
El Salvador many years ago to see what she could do for that nation-and this
is what she came up with), we had the executive director of the Italian
Cultural Center [a retired judge] talk about what they do [my son and I now
know
where we can go for the Italian lessons I have dreamed of taking since I was a
little girl! <g>], and an Indian-American who fascinated the boys by both
dispelling myths of India as well as discussing the contributions of India to
those of us in the USA today...
We ended the day by talking about how each individual culture and nation has
contributed both the world at large and the these United States of America
in so many different ways (I made them get very specific...)
Part of the USA and part of the World Community and learning that I don't
have to be one or the other--I can be both,
Marlena in Missouri
Other related posts:
