The Price of Going to Class

For most students where we live, the thoughts that you have when you get up on a Monday and have to go to school are probably not ones of excitement. However, in Afghanistan girls are eager to go to school, to have the opportunity to be educated. Even after being sprayed in the face with acid by Taliban members, they still want to go back to school as soon as possible so they do not miss out on their education, however the fear of attack still remains. When the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in 1996, they banned most sources of entertainment including TV and music. Girls were forbidden to go to school and women were forced to wear burkas. When the Taliban regrouped in 2003 they began targetting schools. The question is, can we consider the Taliban fascist? Lets compare the Taliban to Nazi Germany. A certain extremist group rising up and taking power through manipulation of the general population. Having their ideals enforced through constant fear of punishment. The forcing of women to work at home and girls to not go to school is extremely similar to when the Nazi's made Jews wear the Star of David and did not allow them to own businesses. So can we consider what is going on in Swat Valley to be Fascist? Yes, there is no doubt about it.

Carpoolng to School

In the Taliban run Swat valley, today many girl will not be walking to school. We hear about the courage of the young girls who will walk for hours just to get an education. The barriers of fascism and religion tat have barred women in that part of the world from learning for so many years is finally being threatened. Unfortunately however, the Taliban extremists are jeopardizing all of the work that the brave girls and other people in the community have worked towards. With threats of murder, rape, and kidnapping and with no government to intervene, it is unimaginable what those poor girls have to go through. With no resolution in sight we will have to hold our breath and pray that the determination of some of the bravest girls in the world will succeed.

How to rise to power

The most important way to get power as a politician is to have control of your people. Figure out a way to brainwash them, and you will quickly rise. The most effective way is through teaching the youth, but you have to get there first. First, brainwash your people through propaganda. Hitler did it; he used the very powerful media to make the people believe whatever he wanted them to believe. People have too much trust in the media. People believe a lot of what they see or read. Schools can be another very powerful tool. Manipulate your youth, and you will have years of a brainwashed society. Kids don’t know any better. Most kids are not independent enough to make their own decisions, so it’s a perfect time to further your own agenda. Why do you think the Taliban doesn’t want girls to go to school? Unless you can control the teachings of a school, schooling will backfire. Have a population of dumb, oblivious, overly religious, and poor people and your task becomes even easier. All of this will go to waste if you don’t come in at the right time. No one wants to change when the economy is great or when the country is thriving; however, people do want to change when you have a bad leader or when the economy is doing poorly (like after a war). Hitler rose to power in Germany when inflation was a problem from WW1. He used Jews and communists as their scapegoats. Another useful tool is fear. Fear can be used at many different times. You can use fear to get power, or you can use fear to maintain your power. The Taliban uses fear to maintain control. The have public demonstrations for people who go against the regime. They kill the person (or people) and leave them in the streets for a week or so, so people can see what happens if they break even their most ridiculous rule. Another tactic commonly used here is having some sort of police. Perhaps the most famous example is Hitler’s SS. The SS would enforce Hitler’s ideas. They made sure that people weren’t revolting. The Taliban is basically one big police group. One more important thing in rising to power is using the middle class. Ride the middle class to the top. Most famous rises to power throughout history have been through the middle class; even Obama did. The rest is easy. Just don’t go to war with the U.S. Remember getting power isn’t about you actually doing things. It’s about your people listening to you. Your people have to fight against themselves, and then you have achieved complete power.

The Different World

For a student surrounded by fields of turf, readily available schoolbooks, and teachers which are eager to teach and help, it is difficult to understand how one might live under conditions that include poverty, oppression, and the constant fear of death. These are the conditions that people have to live under in the world today, or during the oppression of Jews by the Nazis. What is going on in Swat Valley is considered to be fascism as well. The Taliban are using “scare tactics” and militarism to control the population of this valley. During the oppression of the Jews and the people in Swat Valley, innocent people were/are being hurt. Fascism is not effective and should not be used as a political system. Even though its ideals are good, such as a better economy, fascism is not practical when used due to the harm it brings. The harm overweighs the promises.
Even though America is in an economic crisis, it still holds great military power. This power could be used to stop the attacks done by the Taliban on schools for girls. We need to continue to fight this “evil” that arose out of the Nazis or the Taliban. Some people may oppose this plan, but overall, we would be making the world better.

Equal Rights?

What is fascism? When I first heard this word I asked myself the same question. The dictionary definition of fascism is a single organization or group repression of opposition and extreme nationalism. It is also any movement, or tendency that favors a dictatorial government like Benito Mussolini practiced in Italy between 1922 and 1943.When I think of fascism I relate it to events that occurred during the 1900’s and not to today’s events. I never made the connection with fascism and the 21st century, until I read the article in Upfront called “The Price of Going to Class.” After reading this article I was shocked at how some people view women and education, especially the Taliban. The Taliban believe that a woman’s place is at home taking care of her family and bearing children, not getting an education. I don’t understand why an educated woman is a bad thing, while it’s the “norm” for a man. Women are entitled to have the same rights as men but in Afghanistan this is not that case. I find this disturbing because women and young girls are not living a life they choose. I am saddened by the thought that women like Inez Milholland, fought so hard for women’s rights and we have not made real progress for women worldwide. How is it possible that some women today are not allowed an education? Every young girl in America has the opportunity to go to school and be educated. We take education for granted. We feel entitled to it and why shouldn’t we? However we must remember that not all women have the same rights as we enjoy in this country. The girls in Afghanistan would do anything to go to school and stop the Taliban from banning their education. When I finished reading the article “The Price of Going to Class” the first word that came to mind was fascism. I believe the Taliban is a fascist group in the true sense of the word. They may not hold all the power quite yet but they are on their way to gaining complete control. It is frightening how fascist groups seem to succeed in gaining control even when their intentions are bad like Adolph Hitler. Even though what he did was horrible he remained in power and was able to convince people to join him and his fellow Nazi members.

Fascism

Through reading the article The Price of going To Class I proceeded to conclude that the Taliban was somewhat of a fascist organization. Although it did not fit all of the requirements of fascism like totalitarianism, and being militaristic, it did identify with other elements that are key to fascism. For example 80 percent of women are illiterate, as well as married underage. In addition women are banned from working outside of the home because they are needed to take care of the children, the household, and bare children to increase the population. The Taliban also has censorship and television, movies, and music, are banned. Censorship, along with not allowing education for women, is a major part of fascism in the case of the Taliban because this enables them to have full control over what the people know, as well as what they can learn. Lastly apart from censorship, and gender roles one of the most important elements of fascism, is having a single organization have complete power, which the Taliban had for five years, and to some extent still have currently.
Because the Taliban is a somewhat fascist group, it shares some similarities with the Nazis organization. First off the Taliban had, ultimate power for five years until the United States overturned them. This is extremely similar to Hitler being sent to prison after the Beer Hall Putsch uprising, which was an attempt to take over the Munich government. However, although the Taliban was overturned by the United States, and although Hitler was sent to prison they both managed to find ways to gain power once again. The Taliban ambushed Afghanistan with checkpoints, as well as the assassination of officials, and they were able to gain control over the countryside. Hitler, and the Nazis acted similarly and began to take over Germany region by region. Lastly both the Taliban, and the Nazis used threats in attempts to get what they wished. The Taliban didn’t want women to be educated, and so they made threats on women who did go to school, and threw acid on their faces. The Nazis didn’t want the Jews to own factories, and didn’t want them to have jobs because the Jews were making they most money, and so they placed threats on the Jews requiring them to give up their jobs, otherwise there would be consequences, which normally meant death.
This article illuminated the idea of how the Taliban is a fascist organization, as well as how similar the Taliban is to the Nazis. It is terrible to think that the horrific organizations that we are educated on to prevent them from occurring again, are still occur in the world today. Also it is clear that just because Europe, and the United States have dealt with, as well as experienced certain events. This does not mean that other countries are able to do what Europe, and the United States have done, and they are suffering from the lack of power to do so.

A Humanitarian Crisis

Pakistan is the sixth-most populated country in the world, with more than 172 million people living inside its borders. Of those, roughly twenty-five percent are school-aged children. And of those, just under half are girls. That is over twenty million girls who will not be educated, or whose education is under attack by the Taliban. These Islamic extremists believe that girls should not be educated, and should remain the ignorant and purely domestic women that mirror the path that many of their mothers have been forced into.
The Taliban very much resemble the fascist governments or groups of power that were prevalent before World War 2. As we know, these include the USSR under Stalin, Italy under Mussolini and Germany under the control of their fuehrer, Adolf Hitler, as well as Japan under Emperor Hirohito. Like these examples from the past, the Taliban has chosen to bypass the bureaucracy, and instead take power by force. Stalin used his uprising to directly seize the title of dictator, as did Mussolini. The Nazis most closely resemble the Taliban by way of their similar scare tactics and invoking of fear in their opposition. Both were relatively small, regional nuisances until they received greater attention, at which point their power exploded and they quickly became a force to be reckoned with. Both staged public displays of humiliating their rivals and executions, inspiring fear and giving them a pushover crowd to work with. However, after gaining popular support, the Nazis began to take parliamentary seats, and elected Hitler to be chancellor, while the Taliban has yet to take any legal political action to further its cause.
Instead, the Taliban focuses on fear-mongering and violently suppressing opposition. As they have accurately realized, a smart opponent is a dangerous opponent, so they have forbidden for girls to become educated, seeing as their lower status in fundamental Islamic society would make them more likely to stand up against the injustice. 20 million people are having their futures stripped away by an injust power. To put that in perspective, that is almost the same number as have died of AIDS in the last 30 years. I’m not saying that what these girls are suffering is as bad as having no immune system, but you notice that AIDS is considered a major humanitarian crisis, while the issue of girl’s education is commonly overlooked. Another example: malaria is a huge issue for the population of sub-Saharan Africa. For every person that dies of malaria, there is a girl in Pakistan having her life stripped away by the Taliban. Although frequently passed over, the issue of girl’s education in Pakistan as well as other Islamic-rule countries is a crisis that must be solved by the global community.

Dedication to Education

The Taliban are doing anything to keep Afghanistan girls out of school, but the girls’ dedication toward their education is superseding to their threats and terrorizations. Using fundamentalist Islamic values as a motive, the Taliban forbid women to attend school, work outside of home or wear any other clothing besides burkas. Originally these were only threats imposed to the public, but as the Taliban kept seizing more control over the nation disobeying these rules could lead to grave situations. Now girls are not allowed to attend school and those that do are paying a high price. The Taliban have gone to such drastic measures that they are spraying acid, like in Shamsia’s case, or monitoring specific schools until they close, like in Malala’s case.
Even though they use traditional Islamic values as an excuse for their terrorizations, it is more likely that their real intentions are to keep women as “stupid things” to prevent them from becoming individual minds that can endanger their control. Women, being almost half the population in Afghanistan, have the potential to unite and rise up against the Taliban successfully. With a decent education, girls can learn how to form, express, and put to action their opinions. Fearing that with a good education there is more of a chance that the women will resist against their control, the Taliban are doing anything to prevent these girls from attending school.
However, what is more impressing then the assaults the Taliban are doing is the devotion many girls have toward their education. While many students in the U.S. are cutting classes, girls in Afghanistan are defying not only the Taliban’s orders, but their parents’ will and sneaking out of the house just to go to class. As many schools were close many girls convert their own rooms into miniature classrooms. Some girls, like Shamsia Husseini, that have already been attacked by the Taliban are also continuing to attend classes. Such intrepid actions demonstrate these girls’ staggering dedication for their education.
It is clear that for many girls the Taliban’s threats and terrorizations will not stop them from persueing a decent education. Such dedication should be admired. These girls, like any other girls in the world have the right to an education and they should not have to be fighting for their rights. Yet they are. And they are fighting against a very dangerous and violent group. They are being penalized for not doing anything wrong. Facing such unjust punishments with such bravery should be commended for.

No Modern Day Gestapo

For me to relate Nazi Germany to modern day Afghanistan would be going out on a limb and tying together laces of history that do not make for a tight knot. I believe that a strong argument claiming 1930’s Europe is identical to modern day Afghanistan does not exist. While wrestling to form an argument about Nazi Germany and Afghanistan, one might start by comparing the similarities between the Nazi Party and the Taliban. One might say that the Taliban kills innocent citizens just as the Nazis did, and that they instill fear into the hearts of those they rule over. One could say that the Taliban takes control of communication and commerce as if they were Nazis. Let me convince you that the Taliban is no Nazi party. For one, all of Afghanistan disapproves of the Taliban's tactics and mentality, as exemplified through the democratic government that is in place -- a clear message that the Taliban is not welcome. We must remember that the Nazi party gained party members in the legislature through Hitler's campaign tactics, and took control of the government through politics rather than force -- something the Taliban demonstrated in 1996 after defeating the Soviet Union. As Hitler took control of Germany through the government, he gained followers that helped him ingrain the Nazi ideals into the German core. The momentum of the Nazi party did not grow through gunfire, but rather through the excitement of the German citizens. The Nazis then continued to prove to Germans that they were the answer to all of their economic failures. They succeeded in raising the unemployment rate from a few million to a few thousand, and brought Germany from a loser of WWI, to a major world power leading up to WWII. Hitler had an organized police force and bodyguard in the S.S. and S.A., and with Heinrich Himmler, Hitler convinced the Germans that they belonged to a nurturing and politically enhanced nation that would one day belong to the middle class that built it. The S.S. and S.A. created job opportunities for the youth of Germany, encouraging young men to belong to something greater than themselves, which from an economic and political standpoint is a strikingly good idea. This is completely different than the Taliban because these new jobs were a contributor to the strengthening economy of Germany. The Taliban are far from prominent in the economy of Afghanistan. Instead they are helping with its demise. Although it may appear that my argument is applauding the Nazi Party, I am only proving that they had everything that the Taliban does not -- the support of their nation.

Parallels Between the Taliban and the Nazis

We study the fascist dictators of the early 20th century in a very simple-minded way. When we read about them in our World History book it truly makes them along with all of their ideas seem like: history. In our country, and specifically where we live, we see no trace of these ideas. But, the truth is that these ideas are still present in the modern world. The Taliban in Afghanistan are a modern example of a fascist group. By living in the United States and learning so much about the destruction that these reigns of dictators caused, it is clear to us that these ideas are not only morally wrong, but also unproductive. In the U.S. we are lucky to be able to practice a number of freedoms. We have a very powerful, stable, and democratic government. It would be nearly impossible for a fascist group to turn Americans off of the democratic government and on to them. In countries such as Afghanistan, it is the polar opposite. For many people, the Taliban seems very attractive. The government is unstable and distrusting. The Taliban provides a stable set of laws and an alternative to the unorganized and unproductive government. Sound familiar? In early twentieth century Germany, the economic troubles combined with the unstable government made the Nazi movement look promising. Both groups started and gained followers in the same manner. Many of their ideas are also very similar. They both value the traditional lifestyle of woman in the home (demonstrated by the story of the girls getting acid thrown in their faces when attempting to attend school) and violence and fear to gain followers. The Taliban have not gone as far as the Nazis, trying to limit the world to one race, but who's to say that eventually they won't. When we look back and learn about the enormous amount of terror that the Nazi party bestowed upon the world, we have to remember that history has a way of repeating itself. Let's not forget that at its early stages the Nazi party was simply regarded as an overthrowing of the communist government.  To paraphrase a character in Cabaret: They will overthrow the communists and then we will take over. Who's we? Germany.

Similar Tactics to Power

My first reaction to the film was that it was a really sad situation, yet it is amazing the people are still holding strong and fighting back to the oppression by continuing their education. Looking back on it, you can really see the influences that fascist groups have over human psychology. The Taliban seem to use fascist tactics that have been used throughout the past to gain support at the same time as instilling a sense of fear and power. They have been trying to be the new totalitarian form of government through forcing people to conform to their radical views and have taken rash and quick momentary actions, such as throwing acid in girls faces and creating mass chaos. Although they seem to be a shady, unidentifiable group with no single leader, they have definitely used similar tactics as the nascent Nazi group when they rose to power. The Nazis were originally seen as a hoodlum gang, rather than a form of government. They gained support because Germany was suffering from the bad economy due to the aftermath of the war. They were able to steadily gain support through propaganda which convinced much of the youth. By taking control over the newspapers and other forms of communication, they were able to spread their ideas, scapegoating Jews, and creating xenophobia. These were all major contributing factors in their rise of support. Also, studies have shown that when a group does something that would normally be seen as unjust, people are much more likely to follow along because no one else is acting out. (group behavior) By creating a single ideal and mindset that many people conformed to, the Nazi party was able to take control of Germany. The Taliban too have been using similar tactics to gain support. They are primarily using fear to force people to conform to their leadership and their fundamentalist ideals. Their control over many parts of the middle east has greatly taken a toll on these countries economy and more importantly, their future generations. Hopefully the Taliban will be stopped and the millions of innocent people who are living in fear can get the education and the peace that they deserve.

The Price of Going to Class

At Menlo, the price of going to class is registered in dollars.  In Afghanistan, the price of going to class is your life.  We have the luxury of riding in cars or on trains to school.  Everyday thousands of women across Afghanistan travel miles by foot to get to schools.  Along their routes, they face the dangers of Taliban.  The only dangers we face are of street cameras catching us running a red light or making an illegal u-turn. Conditions in Afghanistan are frightening. Women are burned with acid, like Shamsia Husseini.  Her face was injured so badly that she was forced to leave the country to get it healed.  Posters, or Propaganda, are place on Mosques and on buildings saying "Don't let your daughters go to school." Afghani women face these problems because of the Taliban and their fundamentalist take on Islam.  The Taliban consider women as lesser beings, just as the Nazis did with the Jews.  These two examples of persecution are strikingly similiar.  While the Taliban may not have the same organization or power that the Nazis did, they certainly still believe in persecuting those who they view as lesser beings.  The Nazi party had to be completely crushed in order to stop the persecution.  The same has to be done for the Taliban.  We had them cornered in 2003, but we let them slip away. And now, they have begun to rebuild and regroup.  President Obama told us of his plans to redeploy troops from Iraq to Afghanistan.  He must come through on this promise for it is our duty, as Americans, to help those in the face of persecution.  It always has been and it always will be.  We can't allow a price for going to class.

An Inspiration to All

Tomorrow, I have a lab report, a paper, and a test. For the past three hours, I have sat at my desk, complaining to myself about how tomorrow is going to be a bad, stressful day. It's amazing how I'm giving the oppurtunity to complain, the privilledge to have such a academic day. Forget the fact that we go to an unbelievable school with extraordinary resources. Reading this article in Upfront and watching the video about Malala made me realize that they're are hundreds of thousands of girl who sit at home and dream about being in my position. Not only should I be grateful to have the chance to learn and get the level of education I am getting, but that I don't have to worry about being shot or having acid thrown on me on the way to school. For girls like Malala, her work is something to look forward to; her life is what is on the line.
We've been studying the fascist governments of Italy, Germany, Russia, and Japan. Fascism is defined as a dictatorial and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization, usually including obedience to a political leader and harsh ways of approaching the task at hand. I can't say whether I believe the Taliban are fascist or not. I am not fully educated on their beliefs on government, but their actions signal that they are semi-fascist. While it does not seem that they have the leadership or organization of a party like the Nazis or Mussilini's Italy, they take similar approaches as the leaders of the nations above. Through unjustified violence and hatred, they maintain power out of fear. In that short video we watched in class, we could see that more than half the girls didn't show up for school because the Taliban said not to over the radio. But education is too important to not have. None of these fascist movements overall have done much good and in no way are they permitted to take away one's rights, let alone education. Girls risk their faces and their lives everywhere. This dedication should never be denied, but looked up to.

Suppressing Education is the Way to Keep Our Society the Same

In Afghanistan, the Taliban is going to extremes to keep girls out of school. Spraying acid on the faces of girls walking to school and ordering that girls stay away from schools—or else—are horribly normal occurrences. The idea is this: keep 50% of the population uneducated and that many more people will have no choice but to follow you. Mahmood Qadari, the headmaster of a girls' school in Afghanistan that was attacked by the Taliban, says, "Education is the way to improve our society." Education is a powerful force. Unbiased education gives students a chance to form opinions, while at the same time they are taught to express feelings and opinions with clarity and poise. It is obvious why the Taliban are so against girls attending school. Individual minds are irritating and dangerous, who wants more of them to deal with?
Although neither boys nor girls spend as much time in school in Afghanistan as the equivalent age range here in the US, on average girls in Afghanistan go to school for just over a third as many years as the boys. Boys, on average, attend for only 11 years. The Taliban practice a fundamentalist version of Islam, and this is blamed for the suppression of women's rights—rights that are considered basic and inborn in the US. It is naturally easier for the Taliban to oppress women, because that is what society has been doing since gender divisions were first recognized. It's easy to say "we must follow the rules of our religion", but in no religion should it say that one group is inherently better than another, and especially not that this "inferior" group should be punished for pursuing something as natural as knowledge.

For another opinion on girls' education in Afghanistan, click here.

Education: The Ability to Choose

Most of us wake up every morning to the sound of a beeping alarm, and we realize that we have to get up and go to school again. We get to school, and we moan and grumble about how boring our classes are, how we just want to go home and sleep, and how we wish we had no homework. We see education as something that is forced on us and that while it is useful, it is tedious and requires too much effort. But it has always been something readily available to us; there are so many sources that we have access to from which we can gain knowledge, like libraries and the internet. Because of this, we never really learned the value of our education.

But then we hear about the lives of people around the world, people like the girls in Swat Valley, Pakistan, who do not have this widespread access to knowledge. And we realize how lucky we are. They are not encouraged to learn like we are; in fact, the opposite occurs. The Taliban militants, who have taken control in several areas of Pakistan, pour acid on them and destroy their schools to discourage girls from getting an education – a basic right that we should all be guaranteed to. Instead of encouraging progress, they are using their religion, a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, to keep what they believe are the traditional and therefore better ways.

The only reason I can see for this is that they are afraid of what women getting an education would mean and the changes that would arise. They are afraid that they would no longer be able to exert control over the people, since there are more people that are educated and not clueless, and educated people are much harder to control than the clueless that will just accept whatever they say. But they are also afraid of change and of progress. Women receiving an education creates a huge change in their society, and they fear this change.

This fear of new or different things is something that has caused many conflicts through history, like the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany. The reason Hitler was able to gain support on the idea that Jewish people were not human was because the rest of the people in Germany did not understand them. The Jewish people practiced a different religion and had different beliefs and a different lifestyle. Many of the them were not as hard hit by the Depression, which probably caused some resentment among the other Germans. Because of their lack of knowledge about them, the Germans agreed with Hitler and alienated them. But perhaps if they tried to understand the Jewish people rather than persecuting them for being different, people would have stood up to Hitler rather than ignorantly following whatever he and the media said.

So, I ask you to think about the role education plays in your life. You can still grumble about going to school but don’t take it for granted. Education frees us from our ignorance; it allows us to understand others and helps destroy prejudices, reducing the fear we all have of the strange and the different. It basic right that we are all entitled to. If everyone was able to get an education, everyone would be able think for themselves and to choose their own actions. They would not follow the media as blindly as we have done in the past. As someone who is able to receive an education, it is our job to make sure that everyone else has the same choice. Today, little is being done for these girls in Swat Valley and around the world who are fighting for an education. So I ask you do you want a world that is still susceptible to being led by their fear like the world during World War II, or are you willing to do something to change that by fighting for equal education for all?

If you are interested in other opinions about what can be done to improve the situation in Pakistan go here

Who is in Control

To me, a lot of what is and has been going on has to do with who is in control over who and how they are using that to their advantage.  For example, Hitler tried to influence and use/control the youth of Germany as a big part of his supporters.  He could target the youth because they are at a time in their life where they are wondering who they are and are forming their own opinions and therefore can be influenced if good opportunity presents itself.  For younger people, it is really important to be accepted into a group so that you are not alone.  The Nazi party presented that opportunity.  The opportunity for the younger people to be with other people who all share the same leader and ideals.  Young People are also the future, (like the song "Tomorrow belongs to me" in the movie Cabaret that we watched) and if you can manage to control them, then you have a huge step up in controlling the future.

 

Similarly, the Taliban recognize that the younger people, girls included, are the future, and if they go to school and get an education, they can pose a threat to the Taliban whether through education of others, or becoming organized against them.  You can already see this from the New York Time documentary where the girl was speaking out against the control that the Taliban has over their school-going.  They are trying to establish their power by showing that they will carry out their beliefs/orders that the girls shouldn't be in school.  As we have seen so much throughout history, the powers usually try to make an example out of someone so as to warn the others.  The girls though have taken this warning and basically stepped on it refusing to stay at home.

Both Hitler and now the Taliban were trying to contain the people that they were controlling making sure that there could not be anything that could lead to future uprisings or threats to their power.  Both groups used fear and weren't afraid of things getting a little messy.  The difference now from Hitler though, is that the girls have shown a tremendous strength and most have gone back to school instead of living in the contained fear.  Fear only works on the weak-spirited, and these girls back in school are showing that they are determined and could very well be the threat that the Taliban is trying to get rid of.

"Are you a man, or are you a mouse?

It is easy, when sitting in the comfort of your cushy armchair or in a beautifully maintained classroom, to proclaim that you would do the "right thing" if faced with two morally difficult choices. Sadly, the "right thing" is more often than not the least practical option to take. Unconvinced?

Paint a picture in your mind, for a moment. You are no older than 40. You are sitting in jail, convicted of a death-penalty felony (pick a card, any card.), and are scheduled to be executed tomorrow. This is a twisted society- peace officers, government officials, and people of that nature are allowed to do as they will. A particularly twisted judge offers you a decision: You can kill an innocent on the street and get out of jail with a clean record- free to partake in the sweet freedom of life again, or you can refuse... upon penalty of your death and the death of every member of your immediate family.

What would you do? This is only a hypothetical situation, but pretend for a moment that it is true. Would you sacrifice one innocent to protect those who are close to you, or would you sacrifice yourself and your entire family for one innocent? So I ask again: What would you do?

Indeed, in Maus, one must sympathize with the mouse who gives away Vladek's location to the Nazi's. He did it perhaps to protect himself, or his family. A part of this is not because the mouse was of low morals, or was a crook only looking to make a quick buck. It is because we, as animals, have an instinct of self-preservation- of survival. We prioritize survival in social circles that increase in size. There is oneself, then there is one's family, then there is one's close relations, and et-cetera.

Now, I am not trying to convince you that moral failings are totally acceptable; at this point in our evolution, morals and ethics have become so ingrained in our mental makeup that they can compete with our natural instinct of survival.

I just want you to keep in mind that when judging people based on their actions, consider that people think and act differently under stressing conditions than they would at peace. Things in the world are not definite black and white. They are various, multitudinous shades of grey. We are only human, and to err is human. In times of war, such as Maus, we err quite often.

Things are all relative- relative to place, time, situation, emotions, other things (which, too, are relative).

* * *

". . . Grant me the Serenity

to accept the things that I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
...and Wisdom to know the difference."

Indeed, there are things that we must do quite often that we detest, yet there are no other choices. This we must understand.

~ ~ ~

With that final parting note, I bid you so long, and good night.

~Kevin Ji

P.S.: The movie Valkyrie is an interesting twist. Klaus von Stauffenberg, a Colonel in the German military, plans to kill Hitler to "do the right thing" and save Germany from destruction.

A Lesson to Learn

At Menlo, and at other institutions around the world, History is not only studied to learn about our heritage, but to learn about the mistakes of the past, and how not to repeat them. Right now in the Swat Valley in Pakistan, people are being discriminated against, and their basic rights as humans - the rights to education, free speech, and buy goods, for example - are being taken away. This has happened so many times before in history, every time with bad consequences, yet little has been done right now by the outside world to stop this phenomenon.

While the situation in Swat is not as grave as it has been in the past (for example, when Jews were being discriminated against, and later put in concentration camps during the Holocaust), it is still noteworthy. Thousands of girls are now not able to go to school because of the Taliban; next to nothing has been done to ameliorate the situation. Yet, we know what is going on. In the video we watched, the family had a computer, and thus the means to let people know about their situation via the internet. Also, the New York Times, and other newspapers, I assume, have extensive coverage of the situation. However, just now is president Obama suggesting that we give Pakistan some military aid to combat the Taliban, and Congress, instead, is suggesting that we give them non-military aid. If the Pakistani government is unable to control a region 90 miles from its capital, it is obvious that what they require most is military aid. Then why are we so hesitant to provide it?

We need to dust the relative defeat in Iraq off, and get back on our feet to help these girls in Pakistan get to school without being violently attacked by Taliban fighters. We need to learn from past mistakes in history to avoid any more harm being done to Pakistan, and moreover, we need to realize that these girls are people, too, just like us, who want the brightest future possible, but who live in a world of violence and danger, and are unable to attain their hopes and dreams.

Girls Just Wanna have Fun...and Learn

The Taliban do not have the right to prevent girls from receiving an education in Afghanistan. The girls in Afghanistan have done nothing wrong to receive such punishment. The Taliban have their own vision on what things should be like. When something or someone goes against their vision, they force what ever it is to make it fit. In the girls in Afghanistan's case, they had acid thrown onto their faces to prevent them going to school. Although this had life altering affects on this group of girls, they continued to go to school a year later anyways. That is what they should do because they should not be cheated out of an education just because the Taliban decided that they shouldn't have one. Also, I believe that the Taliban are afraid of what women can do if they receive an education. This is like how in the past, when slaves weren't allowed an education so they wouldn't become too smart. This is what the Taliban is doing to the girls in Afghanistan. The girls have all the right to learn just like the boys if they want to.

The Price of Going to Class

Imagine your daily routine. Wake up, eat breakfast, take the train, get to school, complain about work, go to lunch, play lacrosse, go home, eat dinner, do homework, and go to sleep. We often complain about how horrible our lives are until we consider the lives of others. Specifically, we read an article about girls in Afghanistan who were told not to come back to school, but returned anyways because of their desire to learn. 11 girls and 4 teachers were attacked by 10 Taliban militants who were employed to throw acid on the faces of these courageous women. Can you imagine going to school and being brutally attacked? These men, The Taliban, are afraid of young women learning to read and write. Shamsia Husseini said, being brutally attacked by the Taliban and receiving many scars, "The people who did this to me don't want women to be educated. They want us to be stupid things." I don't understand how anyone could be so brutal and vile. The Taliban are some of the most powerful men in Afghanistan and they are afraid of young women. What would our society be like without women and allowing them to get an education? Education has come a long way in the U.S. but it also faced hardships along the way. Including mandatory public education, integration of women in education, and finally the integration of blacks and whites in school during the Civil Rights Movement. I believe that the Afghanistan government needs to rid the Taliban from their beautiful country. They are corrupting the education for women and bringing violence to the country side. This situation reminds me a lot of the one in Germany in the early 1930's. After Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, the Nazi party was now the official party of Germany. History teachers often ask, "Why even study history?" And one of the main responses is that we need to learn from our past mistakes. And I believe that this point relates to the current situation in Afghanistan and even Darfur. In the past there have been brutal homicides such as the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide. Other governments should step in and rid the Taliban once and for all. During the Holocaust the U.S. knew what was going on in Germany and didn't step in while millions of Jews were being slaughtered. When they finally decided to join in the war effort it was too late; the damage had already been done. Now it may only be schoolgirls and teachers, however the Taliban could spread and there presence could affect the entire world.