Soldier shot bound Palestinian with rubber bullet

Living in an area or being in an area is totally different than 'heart surgery'



Many people who live in an area are totally clueless to what is going on in politics, just because someone goes there as a tourist does not make them any more knowledgeable than someone who knows absolutely nothing about a given area.

You are the one with no argument, it's almost like you're trying to say 'hey I was there' so you should listen to me above all else, nobody knows nothing compared to me simply because I was there.

When in fact it's pretty obvious that most who regularly discuss politics in this forum know far more than you, which kind of defeats your point right there.

With your 'cough' logic, walking by a room where open heart surgery is taking place would make that person more knowledgeable than a person who is actively going to school to become an open heart surgeon 'but' has not been in the same building where an open heart surgery was taking place.

 

NPT I must be coming off wrong with my post. I was not trying to say that people in the west or Europe can't make assessments. But what is the truth? gauharjk, Lemon and Imad, I think know a little more about what the real truth is. An Arab knows what they see and feel about the discrimination they receive and how the soldiers and police treat them. The Jews know how they are discriminated against as well. If you have not experienced those hardships or witnessed it firsthand how do you know what is real. The newscasts slant the broadcast depending on which border they broadcast from. How informed of a decision can a person make? To travel and be embedded in the Middle East will change a persons views on the Political issues.

I still find it amusing that people that have never set foot in the Middle East throw out solutions without ever having been there.

The issues in the Middle East are real.

 

Personally, I think Grim's point is apt - that being in the thick of turmoil may actually hinder investigation, rather than help it. At the end of the day, everyone relies on something other than themselves to get information - even those in the thick of things (see Rashomon synopsis).

By the way, Gauharjk is from India, and he is Muslim (Gauharjk, please correct me if I am wrong). While I fully understand his concerns here, he, too, is drawing from outside himself to derive information. I know Lemon is Israeli, and I don't actually know where Imad hails from.

 

The way of life is completly different in the Middle East. Posting in forums does not give any insight to what is going on over there. Being in the Middle east gives a much better understanding to what is going on than hanging out in a coffee shop or at a job at kinkos discussing whats happening.

I think Imad is from Jordan, Gauharjk is from India and Lemon is from Israeli and I think all 3 of their views are important and they have more insights into what's going on more than an average US citizen that has never been to the Middle East.

 

In lots of ways, yes, it is.

Posting in forums is a neutral thing - it may, or may not give insight, depending on whether the poster has some useful information, and insight, or not. To presume authority, or idiocy, without investigating the posted thought, yields little - doesn't it?

Undoubtedly true. But then, in terms of providing useful insights, many different things would likely improve on hanging out in a coffee shop, or at a job in Kinko's.

A keen Interest and diligent research, for instance. I can tell you that I found my time at college (Berkeley) quite enjoyable in this respect - while developing a theory of the political economics of nationalism, I took a side foray into the middle east, and researched a fair measure on Syrian, Egyptian, Iranian, and Saudi Arabian development. Which goes to my earlier point - one can learn, without having to be in situ, some useful things.