Is the world better off with or without Wikileaks? - Annotated Bibliography

 

Brevini, B. & McCurdy, P. (2013). Beyond WikiLeaks: Implications for the Future of Communications, Journalism and Society. Palgrave Macmillan.

 

One of the spotlight of Wikileaks is the release of US secrets and confidential files on the war of the Middle East. It raises questions on the security of the nation and the capability of the government to secure its own secrets from the eyes of the public. In this book, Brevini and McCurdy discussed the implications of Wikileaks on the way journalism and communications work in the future. It seeks to answer the ever-polarizing dilemma of disclosing information to public as a an inherent right or the need to protect the government from the bias opinion of the masses and the opportunistic views of enemies. Regardless of the moral, ethical and legal grounds of Wikileaks disclosure, the issue comes to the impact of Wikileaks on the future of communications.

 

 

Heller, K.J. (2010). "Why the Benefits of WikiLeaks Far Outweigh Its Dangers." Opinio Juris. Retrieved from http://opiniojuris.org/2010/12/03/why-wikileaks-good-far-outweighs-its-harm/

 

 

In this article, Heller explored the advantages of Wikileaks in relation to its information disclosure. It is a comprehensive review on how each aspect of the disclosure provides the people enough information for them to decide on issues concerning the national defense and security. In contrast, it also offers an explanation on the disadvantages and harms that the disclosure of Wikileaks can make on the security of the US government. In the end, Heller sounded the verdict of proving that Wikileaks' benefits are far better than the damage it can do to the nation.

 

Leigh, D. & Harding, L. (2011). WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy. PublicAffairs.

 

The era of Wikileaks is not an era of simple dynamics, it is an era of powerful network. The diclosure being made by Wikileaks with regards to important details of the US government covers ethical, legal and political issues. In this book, Leigh and Harding offers an in-depth review of these three aspects of the Wikileaks disclosure. It opens Wikileaks to be under scrutiny and disclosure instead of Wikileaks doing it.

 

Sifry, M. (2011). Wikileaks and the Age of Transparency. OR Books.

 

The most important issue regarding Wikileaks is transparency. In this book, the author explores the right of the people to know what's happening in their government, the obligation of the government to inform the populace, and the vitality of protecting the government from invasion, either by principle or practice. Sifry offered an argument on how the government reacts to the new age of information and of transparency and its evolution from the traditional closed system.

 

Star, A. (2011). Ed. Open Secrets: WikiLeaks, War and American Diplomacy. The New York Times Company.

 

In this book published The New York Times, Star unraveled important issues regarding Wikileaks rise to global prominence and attention. It chronicled how Wikileaks reached the doors of The New York times - which started the controversy. This book edited by Star contained the opinion of political analysts and communication experts who review the action of Wikileaks in disclosing information that are potentially alarming to the national security of the nation and stability of the government. It offered a trace on how these information reach the hands of Wikileaks, and it offered a controversy on how things happen under the watch of the government.

Walt Whitman - Formal Education

 

There's always a battle within me, a battle between formal education and learning from life. But formal education is vital to nurture my undisciplined and untamed mind. Learning from my experiences will help me embark to an early search of wisdom, but it is through formal education that I am able to practice my mental faculties to become the rationale of my experiences. Both formal education and learning from life or experiences are important to the well-being of a person; leave one and you will be left in the miry pit of self deterioration.

 

The preparation of formal and classroom education is clearly drawn by Walt Whitman's An Old Man's Thought of School. Formal education builds the lives of young people as a preparation for a life ahead when they integrate with the real world. As Whitman put it, "Building, equipping like a fleet of ships, immortal ships,/ Soon to sail out over the measureless seas“ (Whitman 134). Indeed, formal education can be likened to a shipyard where ships are built and prepared. Formal education puts the hull in place, the engines in perfect condition, and the entire ship ready for the travel. Should formal education fail to do its job of preparing the person, the journey ahead would not be smooth. It would be hard for a person who's not able to undergo preparation by classroom education to get in touch with the opportunities and challenges that are ahead of him.

 

And it is right, Whitman is, the future of the entire nation rests in the public school. If our public school-formal education system fails, we can expect that our nation's future will also fail. "The tiresome spelling, writing, ciphering classes (Whitman 134)" promotes the training of a person to make him or her a perfect asset for the nation's future. Otherwise, these young lives will become the nation's liability than its assets and helpmate for success. Otherwise, we can only look back and say: It could have been better if we did our best to provide formal education to our students than allow them to rule their own lives in wantonness and despair.

 

In The School Room on the Second Floor of the Knitting Mill, formal education is described in vivid memories of public school. Formal education taught me how to stand in the line without moving, to follow the rules without questioning, and to consider all things in perfect submission. By copying letters out books, I was trained to give importance to what I read and copy. It seems that the job was taunting and very huge, but it was a training to love learning and knowledge. Without formal education, I could have not learned to give importance to what I read – and everything could have passed without notice and results.

 

In formal education, I learned how to work harder to meet demands and expectations of others. It was bad to meet those expectations, I know, but the training of "pushing me over the line ( Heitzman 185)" provided me the necessary attitude and outlook to excel in what I am doing. Without such training of meeting expectations, I could have receded to mediocrity and low results. But "I hear her every time I fail (Heitzman 185)" to remind me that I can do well than what I am doing now. It was formal education that stretched me to my limit and proved that I am more than what I think and what others believe.

 

However, there are evils or extremes of formal education that may do bad than good. Instead of allowing the person to grow, formal education confines the person to its limitations, killing the very imagination that could have fueled success in the life of the person. Billy Collins summarizes this in: "I say drop a mouse in a poem and watch him prove his way out” (Collins 57). Formal education should allow the person to grow, to become who he is and who he wants to be, and not to be isolated and confined by the limits of formal education. Then Collins goes to tell how formal education can torture the young mind to stick to the principle of learning as perceived by formal education. "But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out it” (Collins 57). This is the exact description of what formal education is doing. Formal education limits the person in the chair or in the classroom, rather than allowing the person to grow and "feel the walls for a light switch." Education should allow the person to unravel new knowledge just like searching for the light switch in the dark.

 

And look at how Paul Zimmer criticizes what Collins called a "torture". Zimmer speaks on how formal education cries foul over mistakes and pressures the person to avoid such mistakes in these lines: "Five number problems in a row,/ And was about to foul a sixth,/When the old, exasperated nun/Began to pound my head against my six mistakes” (Zimmer 21). Instead of helping the person to learn, what formal education does is to pound the person against the mistake. It is as if in the classroom, everyone is bound to be perfect, than a single mistake is like a disease to be avoided.

 

Of course, we should not forget that only through pressuring us to learn, we gain mental discipline that we would need in the future. It was the "exasperated nun" who point us to our mistakes who led to think more than to play. By placing us the burden of learning, of avoiding mistakes, the traveling and unfocused minds of young people learns to look at things with concentration. This is an important part of formal education for without it, it would be hard to confine the person in the chair to work on papers from nine to five. Without formal education, it would be hard to find scholars and scientists working in their labs for almost 24 hours. But thank to formal education, the wild mind becomes a tamed beast - and now it can do wonders as it goes to the "measureless seas".

 

My protestations of the torture and confinement of formal education have finally come to their rest when I realize what I have learned. When I am tempted to favor learning from experiences alone, Walt Whitman reminded me that it was in the four corners of the classroom and formal education "When I heard the learn'd astronomer,/ When proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,/When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add divide, and measure them” (Whitman 1057). Without the formal education, I could have not learned these hard facts. Experiences in life may teach one thing, but never about an astronomer of time past. And without such knowledge, I could have not been much inspired to study harder and work better to reach others have reached.

 

Truly, "I became tired and sick” of the rigors of formal education, but it was through this that I "look'd up in perfect silence at the stars” (Whitman 1057). I hate when my imaginations are killed in the classroom, but it was formal education who taught me how to make those imaginations works.

 

Without hesitation and fear, I speak, therefore, that formal education is a vital part of a person's life. It would be fatal to favor learning from experiences than it is evil to isolate one's mind in formal education's classroom.

 

 

Works Cited:

 

Collins, Billy. “An Introduction to Poetry.” History Teacher. ____________________________________

 

Heitzman, Judy. "The Schoolroom on the Second Floor of the Knitting Mill." Learning by Heart: Contemporary American Poetry About School. Ed. Anderson, Maggie & Hassler, David. University of Iowa Press, 1999.

 

Whitman, Walt. “An Old Man's Thought of School.” Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. Ed. Oliver, Charles. Infobase Publishing, 2005.

 

Whitman, Walt. “When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer.” Ethics. ________________________________________.

 

Zimmer, Paul. “Zimmer's Head Thudding Against the Blackboard.” Learning by Heart: Contemporary American Poetry About School. Ed. Anderson, Maggie & Hassler, David. University of Iowa Press, 1999.

Human Rights in Islam

 

Topic and Research Question

Islam and Human rights, a religion much talked about nowadays, and a topic of great concern in today’s world. The regions we live in, GCC, is surely well versed with the religion, its laws, and rights. However, in the western world, a lot of discrimination is being taken place, and due to various incidents, which have somehow been linked to the religion, many westerners, who are unaware of the actual teachings or the religion, have down-seen the entire nation of Islam. Therefore, in the research paper, I will be elaborating on the actual “rights” the religion of Islam mentions as per the books, emphasizing on three major points, the first being “Islam; forbidding discrimination”, in terms of colour, belief, language and so on, further on, I will be discussing “women rights”, which has surely been misunderstood by many, even people living in the GCC region may have misunderstood it in many ways. And finally, in my research paper, I will be discussing “Article 10”, which states that “Islam is a religion of un-spoilt nature!”, and basically describing that the religion does not force any human to revert, or follow the religion of Islam, it is entirely upto them to take up their belief in the religion, and that, forcefully doing it is prohibited.

Importance of Research

To my belief this topic is extremely important, not only to the current follows of the religion, but to the entire mankind, as the teachings of the religion, along with its laws and rights, has been entirely misunderstood by everyone across the globe. After researching, and writing this research paper, not only will I be able to take a strong stand that my side of the argument, which is “FOR” the topic, is strong, but even the readers or listeners will be able to understand the concept of human rights in Islam in a better manner, which I feel is an important topic. Undoubtedly, slightly controversial, however, with strong points noted and mentioned, with logical explanations, I am sure everyone would agree upon.

Literature Review

Sachedina (2009), with very definite and strong points or arguments has mentioned in his book, “Islam and the Challenge of Human Rights”, that both the religion of Islam, and Human Rights are inter-linked, and that, the religion has entirely logical points to support everyone’s rights, as they deserve. It may have been mislead to many, that other religions have better rights, and that Islam does not have equal rights amongst its people, however, this is untrue, and Sachedina (2009) has, within his book, explained, and compared various human right issues precisely. As mentioned above, one of the main topics in my research paper would be “women rights”, which will be an argument opposed to Wafa Sultan (2009), the author of the book “A God Who Hates”.  This book of hers had brought about fury to a lot in the Muslim world. She explains that within Islam, women rights are almost non-existent, and that, all women following the religion are ill-treated. However, this is entirely un-true, alas, she was one among the million others who were and are unable to understand the religion, and its human rights righteously.

Methodology

As this topic is a slightly controversial one, and is wide spread, I would do the max to bring out the truth, and look into each matter as deep as I can in order to prove my point. Hence, my research would compose of various academic research journals, articles, news papers, and so on, from whatever source I may have at my disposal. It may be the library database, hard-copies of magazines, and news papers, and books. In addition, to have a better understanding, I would even put an extra effort to go about making a questionnaire and filling it out amongst not only students in our university, but of people of different age groups, religious beliefs, and regions. All this would help in making my paper a stronger one.

 

Expected Findings

At the end of the research, I will be clearly stating, along with proving, that Islam has absolute links with Human Rights, and that, it is a religion that takes care of everyone and everything, be it Feminism, war issues, adopting issues, or whatsoever.

References:

Afkhami, Mahnaz (1999), ‘Gender Apartheid and the Discourse of Relativity of Rights in Muslim Societies’, in Courtney W. Howland  (ed.), Religious Fundamentalisms and the Human Rights of Women, New York: St. Martin’s Press, pp. 67-77

Ahmed, Leila (1992), Women and Gender in Islam, New Haven: Yale University Press

Allen, Tim and Jean Seaton (eds.) (1999), The Media of Conflict: War Reporting and Representations of Ethnic Violence, London: Zed Books.

Al- Sheha, A. (2009). Human rights in islam and common misconceptions. Retrieved from http://www.islamland.com/Media/Books/HumanRightsinIslam.pdf

Brames, E. (2001). Islamic declarations of human rights.International studies in human rights, 66, 241-84.

David G., L. (2003). human rights and human wrongs.National Review Online,

David, L. (1999). universal human rights and "human rights in islam. Midstream (New York)

IHCR. (n.d.). Islam human rights commsion. Retrieved from http://www.ihrc.org.uk/

Kazemi, F. (2002). Perspectives on islam and civil society.Islamic Political Ethics: Civil Society, Pluralism and Conflict, 50.

Rhonna, S. (2003). Textbook on international human rights.Oxford University Press, 195.

Sachedina, A. (2009). Islam & the challenge of human rights. New York: Oxford University Press.

Sultan, W. (2009). A go who hates. (1st ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press.

UN, Human Rights. (1990). cairo declaration on human rights in islam, U.N Doc.

 (1990). The cairo declaration on human rights in islam.Nineteenth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in Cairo, Retrieved from http://www.rwi.uzh.ch/lehreforschung/alphabetisch/buechler/cont/The_Cairo_Declaration_on_Human_Rights_in_Islam.pdf

 

Ethics and Islamic Values

 

According to principle or precepts of the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 188, to accept a bribe or to do it is absolutely forbidden and considered a sin. In the case of Lockheed's Mr. A. Carl Kotchian actions concerning bribery to get contracts from governments, especially for the case of Japan, it is a battle of morality and survival of the fundamental aspects of the society. Parallel to the view of Quran, which is also the basis for the moral point of view of Islam, the action of Mr. Kotchian was categorically and fundamentally wrong, bar none.

            But there are important issues that should be considered in this judgment. First, Mr. Kotchian's argument that if Lockheed would have failed to get the Japan aircraft contract, it would result to laying off of several workers and the decline of the company. It is interesting to note that Mr. Kotchian's argument is not just financial and business-relative in nature, but also moral in character. With its wide employment pool, a layoff would not just affect a single family, but an entire community or an entire economy. If the bribe was not made, layoffs would happen and children would go hungry, and worst, families would be broken. However, the action of Mr. Kotchian and Lockheed caused tremendous disadvantage to other competitors. The argument of Mr. Kotchian is defeated by the same moral argument of competitors; the families and communities of their workers still suffer the same fate as what Mr. Kotchian feared for their's.

            In the same manner, the end result of Mr. Kotchian's action did not just cause an impact on a single person, Mr. Tanaka, the former prime minister of Japan. As a result, the entire country was affected and put into a level of insecurity and instability. The action, which was deemed necessary for the survival of some people, also caused the breakdown of the Japanese society.

            Yet, in the end the punishments meted on Mr. Kotchian are justified. The action of Mr. Kotchian was bind to the decision of the company, and not to him alone. And for such, his actions did not benefit him (as he was not getting the bribe) alone, but it provided a positive on Lockheed and the entire network under it including families and communities.