I just took a tour of the flowers on the ship with the
florist, Heri. He is not a ship employee but is an Indonesian who is employed
by a company in Holland. He makes 340 flower arrangements a month.
The green flowers in the arrangement below are called Moby Dick's because they look like whales if you view them sideways.
There are some Moby Dick's in this arrangement, too.
I think the yellow roses were my favorite.
We are having quite a bit of turbulence today and Bill is
seasick. He went with me to the Book Club meeting in the Crow’s Nest but left
because the motion is worse the higher up you go in the ship. It also increases
when you go to either end of the ship. Low down in the middle of the ship is
the least movement. Maria, one of our servers, said she was a little seasick
today, too.
Frank Buzzard gave another great talk on the space shuttle.
This time he emphasized the fourteen (?) nations who got together to build the
space station.
Yesterday, I took notes while the Moroccan guide told us
about Casablanca. He turned to me and said, “Good student”, then went on with
his talk. I am a good student. I took a lot of notes at Stephen Sloan’s talk on
terrorism.
Mr. Sloan says nice things about his wife from the podium.
It’s obvious that he has a great deal of respect and affection for her. Today,
he took some questions after his lecture. Someone asked him if gender equality is at fault for the
terrorism crisis. He considers gender equality to be “just equality”. He said
his wife ran up against the glass ceiling several times in her career so he
understands women’s issues.
The title of his talk today was Conflict, Violence,
Terrorism and Warfare in Political Life.
There was a common phrase when I was growing up that described the
children of immigrants melting into the common mélange of people. But, Mr.
Sloan says the Melting Pot hasn’t melted. Many people keep their ethnic,
national and/or religious identities when they move to a new area.
The first theme in the current conflict is Anti-Western
because the colonial legacy still matters. We saw that in Morocco. The French
influence is still very heavy because everyone speaks and reads French.
Moroccans are not even trying to blend the various cultures. They celebrate
their proximate but separate identities.
The second theme is Anti-Secular as many cultures are
religious and reject modernization.
The third theme is Anti-Democratic. The “gray world” is not composed of
democracies but is still governed by autocratic systems. Geographic boundaries
are more porous than ever. Multinational corporations and criminal enterprises
are also factors in change.
Terrorism used to be one tactic in an insurgency. Now
terrorism seems to be the only tactic. There are new mercenaries who are hired
by governments or corporations. Far more money is being expended in private
security rather than in armies.
There is theory that events result in some kind of
equilibrium but Mr. Sloan believes that violence and conflict are inevitable.
Some ideologies believe in permanent conflict. He says all forms of political
violence are not bad. Conflict, violence and warfare are always present in
political life.
The state (government) has a monopoly of more or less
legitimate force. “Force is legitimate violent.” He recommended a report called
“The Causal Model of Civil Life” by Ted Gurr.
People feel relative deprivation—a lack of some kind even
though they have a better life than their parents. He studied The Weathermen, a
1960’s terrorist group. They were the children of people who were relatively
well-off. “Terrorism is the violence of the privileged.” Societies that are
undergoing a change have more potential for violence.
He explained the J Curve Theory of Revolution. I didn’t
catch exactly what it was but I will ask him to repeat the definition next
time. He also said that the Middle East is one of the ungovernable areas of the
world. Many states are states in name only. He mentioned the Intolerable Gap
and will talk more about it next time.
