Monday, October 13, 2014

Today during class, we viewed videos and read an article from the NY Times about Malala's prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.  In Malala's acceptance speech and during her interview with the reporter, Malala shared her views on the current US government policies in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Subsequently, students shared their opinions on the following question: 

Question for your comment: (click on the comment link below)

Does Malala have a right to continue to lead the global conversation about the best way to address the  political problems of terrorism in the world? Or, as some of you remarked, has she gone too far in giving advice to world leaders about what to do next to address the issue of terrorism in the world? 

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23 comments:

  1. Malala definitely has the right to speak out. Often, it takes the wisdom of a child to make adults change their perspectives.

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  2. Malala is a force of positive change in our world today. As someone who has experienced terrorism first hand, she has every reason to tell world leaders her thoughts on how to improve conditions in her homeland of Pakistan. Just think how things could change if leaders listened to every child hurt by the violence of extremism!

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  3. Malala is a force of positive change in the world today and is using her voice to draw attention to how to improve a horrible situation in her homeland of Pakistan. If only world leaders listened to every child ever hurt by the violence of extremism, what inspiring things could happen?

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  4. She has gone to far. Malala has great advice, but she is giving to much advice and should back off a little. Hundreds of people have thought about sending or taking back soldiers, but without the soldiers so many more girls will die and the Taliban will continue to grow stronger. Sending books to Pakistan is great, but we should definitely not just take back all of our military. If the soldiers beat the Taliban then girls will not have to worry about. Meanwhile Malala has not even finished her education or had any political/military classes. The USA and Obama know best and right now it is best to listen to them. Malala has been through the experience, so while that makes her understand better then anyone it can also cloud her vision. She wants nobody else to die from the Taliban and neither do I. Unfortunately until the Taliban go away for good everyone in Pakistan is still in danger. That is why the soldiers have to stay their. It is a delicate balance and taking away the soldiers will disrupt the balance negatively. Malala should back off a little until she sees the big picture. The big picture is we have to get rid of the Taliban for anything to start getting better in Pakistan.

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    1. I like how you stated your final goal, which is "getting rid of the Taliban." I think that your evidence correctly supports this view. I also like how you told about the cause and effect of completing Malala's idea and the U.S.'s idea in your comment.

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  5. Malala has had six years of being an education activist as it said in the article we read today in class. Malala is a primary resource of the effects of the Taliban an their unequal laws. No other politician has been shot in the head by the Taliban and gone through what Malala has, she has had the most experience we can ask from her. She is certainly qualified to lead todays people as long as others will listen for she can do great things working for equal eduacautions.

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  6. Malala has experience in real life and knows that she has to help. But she isn't politicaly educated to relize that we can only withdraw troops from afghanistan when the Taliban are anhilated. She thinks that she can abolish this extremism by educating the people. She is also giving the same reasons and solution to dictatorship. She thinks education will make people relize that Democracy is the best type of government. I Think we should play the waiting game and wait for sucess in one of our other missions this way we have enough troops for a suprise attack and we can catch them of gaurd. This will end the Taliban and then we can withdraw our troops and help sucure womans rights in Afghanistan.

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  8. She should not be telling other leaders what to do about world problems since it is completely out of her league. However, she has a cause she believes in, so she can speak out about it, but she can't tell other leaders what to do about situations that she only knows one side of.

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  9. Malala is very inspiring when she speaks out on girl's education, but she should not be telling other leaders who are higher than her what to do about world issues that she has only seen one side of.

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  10. I do not feel that Malala should be addressing world leaders. Even though she had been a force of positive change in the world, she lacks the experience and knowlegde to do that. I feel Malala should be listened to, she shouldn't tell the US president what to do with the Taliban.

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  11. Even though Malala has first hand experience with the Taliban and political problems of terrorism in the world, Malala has gone too far in giving advice to world leaders about what to do next. Malala’s voice should be heard as an opinion, but she does not have the experience of politics and what to do to solve those situations. Malala has experienced a lot of horrible situations from the terrorism, and it will cloud her judgement on how to solve the situation properly. She is also giving ideas that she feels is appropriate for solving these global issues, and that is good, but she is going too far and thinking that taking away the military and educating the people will solve the problem. However, like we discussed in class, it all goes in a circle and will affect the others. Her ideas are great, but she is trying to criticize people that have way more experience of how to deal with these problems than she does, who has only seen what will happen and how strong the Taliban are.
    -Hannah

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  12. Even though Malala has first hand experience with the Taliban and political problems of terrorism in the world, Malala has gone too far in giving advice to world leaders about what to do next. Malala’s voice should be heard as an opinion, but she does not have the experience of politics and what to do to solve those situations. Malala has experienced a lot of horrible situations from the terrorism, and it will cloud her judgement on how to solve the situation properly. She is also giving ideas that she feels is appropriate for solving these global issues, and that is good, but she is going too far and thinking that taking away the military and educating the people will solve the problem. However, like we discussed in class, it all goes in a circle and will affect the others. Her ideas are great, but she is trying to criticize people that have way more experience of how to deal with these problems than she does, who has only seen what will happen and how strong the Taliban are.

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    1. I highly agree with your view. I like how you say "cloud her judgement on how to solve the situation properly." I think this is a very important part of this issue and I will take it into consideration.

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  13. We all agree. Malala should help the government not critique it. She has 1/2 the experience needed but the american government has the other 1/2. We should really do that whole debate things in class since a lot of people arn't responding to this blog.

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  14. Malala is a very hardworking teenager that has too much power right now. At the momnet Malala is giving advice to politicians that most people don't agree with. Although Malala was shot in the face when she was fifteen and nobody should have to go through the mental and physical pain of that this doesn't mean that she is a polticain. At the age of seventeen Malala has too much power that she doesn't know what to do with. Malala has all this power on her shoulders and doesn't know what her next step is in her crusade. Malala says that the United States should not be sending anymore troops and they should be sending schools supplies. Malala has to understand that major problems are not that easy to fix. If the US does send anymore soldiers then daily more and more girls will wind up shot in the face like Malala. Malala is only seventeen and she is trying to contrediced many politicians that have much more authority and experience than she has. If Malala want to keep all of the girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan alive with good educations then she won't tell President Obama to stop sendind troops.

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  15. Malala has way to much power right now. Malala has to udnerstand that there are poltitcians that have much more knowledge and authority then she does as a seventeen year old girl. Although Malala was shot in the face at age fifteen and nobody should have to go through the physical and emotional pain of that she is still not a politician. Malala is contredicting many if the politicians and she has to realize she does not have that much authority. Malala is telling president obama instead of sending troops to send school supplies to Pakistan and Afghanistan. If this were to happen many more teenage girls would be getting shot daily by the Taliban.

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  16. Its a little bit of both. Malala has the right to speak her own opinion. My classmate clearly stated that "Malala witnessed everything and was part of it". This is true she probably has more experience then the politicians who sit at there desks and go over the things they cn and can't do. I think that if Malala had more guidance it would be better because she doesn't know a lot about military and politics.

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  17. Its a little bit of both. Malala has the right to speak her own opinion, like when she said that canceling out the military will lead us to more educated people. This is true but later on it will be harder for us to defeat the taliban. One of my classmate clearly stated that" Malala witnesses everything and was part of it". Yes this is true, she is probably more educated about this then a politician who sits at there desk and go over things they can and cant do. Over all i think Malala is an inspiration but i think she could use guidance as well because she doesn't know everything about the world because she is so young.

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  18. I think that if anyone has the right to talk about this it's her.
    She not only lived through the whole problem and was controlled by terrorists but, (+Brian F) she knows both sides of the story because she now lives in the west.

    Also I heard a lot of people saying that our army is protecting the girls in the Middle East and that's one of the reasons they should stay. THAT IS COMPLETELY FALSE! That would require getting through the Taliban and we can't do that. I also heard people saying that we could easily squash the Taliban because we have the biggest army. We don't.... That's also false because Guiness World Records says that currently the largest army is North Korea. NOT THE US!!!! Now I will admit that our army is still massive. BUT that doesn't matter because the US for some reason thinks it can carry the entire world. Because of this our troops are scattered across the globe and so split up that we have nothing against the Taliban.

    So instead of sending troops which are just killing Taliban, we should send food, water, books, etc etc. Instead of sending weapons that don't help the girls at all we should send food to stop them from starving to death. Now, (+ayub ahmed) the circle of balance was a good point and is unfortunatly important. However it's just death on all ends. Nobody wins. What I think is that the US should identify the biggest problem and use the whole army on that problem. The rest of the UN can work on the others while we slowly go from threat to threat and actually get something done.
    But that will never happen because none of The United States founders listened to George Washington who famously said that having two political parties would be a bad idea. But they stupidly split it up into Democrats and Republicans who spend the whole time arguing and getting nothing done.
    The US needs to set it's priorities straight.

    In conclusion, I think we should all listen to Malala because she is more experienced than any of our politicians in this matter. She knows both sides due to living in the West and is the youngest Nobel Peace winner of all time for a reason.
    She proves to us that age is just a number.
    That's why I believe Malala is the best person to help us solve this issue.

    -Shawn

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  19. I believe that Malala Yousafzai should not interfere so much with the government agencies. Malala, now a 17 year old girl has experienced a horrid trauma that no one should have to experience, let alone a teenage girl. Malala, has given hope and inspiration to people around the world and has captured everyone’s attention but is Malala really using her powerful voice the most appropriate way?
    Primarily, Malala has not thought of the delicate balance that Ayub has aforementioned in class today. Ayub has described the balance of the U.S. military, the Taliban supporters and the educated people. Malala’s ideal solution is to “Send books instead of soldiers, send pens and teachers instead of guns and tanks [to Afghanistan and Pakistan]” as Malala said in an interview after she had become the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Of course, this does seem like an ideal solution to the problem; but, would it affect, negatively, any other aspect of the problem.
    In addition, we need to keep in mind that Malala is not a major in politics, government, philanthropy, psychology, philosophy, economics or military. She has no idea of how many debates and discussion this topic has prevailed. Would blaming President Barack Obama and his efforts on sending troops to Afghanistan to protect the people help? Would bluntly speaking your opinion without notice of others concerns help the world become a better place? I’m not saying that Malala is a complete nuisance or that she is an ignorant child, but I am trying to express that Malala and the government agencies should try to work together to create of an solution together.
    Furthermore, this situation reminds me of the Holocaust era and during World War II. For example, Malala is the Anne Frank character who is the lone voice that has personally experienced the horrors of the time but still tries to inspire and encourage others. But would you trust military advice from Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill, General of the U.S. military genius, Dwight D. Eisenhower, France’s leader and military general, Charles de Gaulle, or from a teenage girl. As I would like to, again, strongly stress the meaning of what I am saying, I am not criticizing Malala Yousafzai and her efforts, but I believe that Malala and the government agencies should try to work together to find a solution to this problem.

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  20. I believe that Malala Yousefzai is an outstanding person and fully deserved the Nobel Peace prize she won last Friday. During her meeting with President Obama though, Malala clearly stated that she believed that the United States should withdraw their military support from Pakistan and instead, send books, pens, and more teachers to educate Pakistanis. On this topic, I disagree. Malala is merely 17 and though she has had real time experience with the Taliban in the Swat Valley, I believe that with this statement, she was somewhat overstepping her boundaries. I think that Malala was not fully informed about the political side of the argument she was making and had a slightly biased viewpoint in her argument. All her life, Malala has been in Pakistan, witnessing the cruelty of weapons, and how devastating the ripple effects of violence can be on an area or even a nation as a whole. On the topic of the Taliban, hundreds of thousands of the best minds had been put together and had discussed and debated whether or not other countries should intervene with the Taliban in Pakistan, and it had finally been settled upon that this would be the smartest decision. I feel that Malala though she is extremely passionate and is working only for the well-being of others, is not fully supported and does not have proper backing for her statement. Hypothetically, if the United States and other countries did withdraw their military support from Pakistan, there would be devastating effects. The Taliban would expand their operations without a sizeable military controlling them and keeping them in check. Though more Pakistani women would be educated, the Taliban would simply grow stronger and crush any opposition more forcefully. At the moment, the troops from countries around the world are barely able to keep the Taliban under control, so imagine what would happen if all the troops were evacuated. Despite my disagreements, I can agree that Malala is an amazing women with a brilliant idea and a persevering personality, and whatever she is doing is purely for the welfare and the well-being of her nation.

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