Are you interested in politics?

[Torsten]

I've recently worked with a group of Germans who are on a further education program and somehow the Iraq issue came up. The overall consensus was that the Americans were looking for a reason to invade Iraq because they were after its oil. When they couldn't prove that the Iraq possessed WMD the Americans started to claim that the Iraq government had been funding Al-Qaeda terrorists. So the Americans occupied Iraq in 2003 and ever since that there has been a war going on in which thousands of innocent Iraqis have been killed. When I was listening to this, I started to wonder how much the group actually knew about what really happened in Iraq.

Most people have an opinion on current events and topical issues such as the credit crisis, the weak dollar, the Tibet riots, the Kosovo independence, the upcoming Olympic Games, etc. The question is how much their opinion is based on facts and how much is simply copied from other people's opinions? When asked for their opinion on a political event, it's a rare case that somebody says 'Oh, I can't comment on that because I don't have any facts to base my opinion on.'

So my question is, how much time do you spend educating yourself about political events? What sources do you use to get information and how do you deal with the information you have access to?
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[Otmane Omari]

Dear Torsten,

Really, this is a good topic to talk about. In my point of view, politics have a relation with our life because whenever something happened it directly influence our life. For example, from the beginning of the war in Iraq we noticed that the oil increased in price.

To reply your questions, educating myself about political events will take all my life. Because whenever you thing that you have educated yourself everything then something new will come and you have to study it.

About sources, I thing that most of the time media is the only soursce every human being uses (TV , Internet, Newsletters, Radio...) and I guess that it is rarely that sombody relys on others point of view or information untill he/she hear it from the media.

In the end, I want to confirm that at that time it is very hard to live without thinking about politics, national or international. What I have noticed also in these last years in our streets, home, university, bus... is that wherever you go you hear people discussing political events.

Thank you.
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[Englishmajor]

Dear Torsten and omari,

I am interested in the question, but what caught my eye was that neither of you had proofread your comments. I think of myself as a writer, so I always look at how something is written first, before replying to the question. As this is a site for English, I think we should openly express ourselves first about how something is written and then address the subject matter.

Torsten: Surely you did not mean to say "When they couldn't proof ". I think you meant to say, when they couldnt PROVE". And you are right, they couldnt prove that there were WMDs. That was proven to be a false claim after the US invaded and found no WMDs.

Omar: Your comments had many glaring mistakes. Here is one:
About sources, I thing that most of times media

I THINK, not I thing. I think that most of the time, the media is....

I admire that you have tried to answer a question about politics. And I admire that you are trying to learn on here how to talk English. I think ( that you need to write more because then we can all discuss the matter of politics and grammar, and learn from each other that way.

englishmajor

[Otmane Omari]

Dear Englishmajor,

First, about the mistake you noticed it is just A slip of the pen. Second, I noticed that you concentrate on our mistakes more than giving your opinion.
Thank you very much for your reply. And I admire that you have tried to correct my mistake too.
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[Fan Of Arabian Horses]

Hi Torsten,

I think, you´re right saying that none of the sources of information do offer the whole truth. So if one is interested in a special theme or point they need more than one or two reports about the same issue.

Unfortunately, the average person isn´t sitting close to the current event /political negotiation or whatever they are talking about, so they are needed to rely on the public reports they are offered. In this case you can listen to several TV/radio stations or read several reports in different newspapers and finally form your own opinion of correct interpretation of the information.

Additional, it often enough happens that one is omitting to think about historie of the special point and talking (as long as one is just talking ) about happenings which had occured pretty recently. I´m sure that if you deepen the special point while the talk people finally remember some reasons from the past and the result will be quite different from what was told in the beginng.

By the way, one quite usefull tool for listening to others ( I mean, opponents for instance) are the English forums(?) existing in the internet, aren´t they? It just needs you to listen and I´m sure if more people would do so there would exist much less violence in the world.

Thanks for listening to me

Michael

[Molly]

[Molly]

And I admire that you are trying to learn on here how to talk English.

"Speak" English, surely?

[Prezbucky]

We also had the issue of removing Saddam -- tell your co-workers not to forget that. The dude had thumbed his nose at the UN for 12 (or so) years, tortured Iraqi civilians, gassed Iraqi civilians, and drained the swamps (is that right?) of southern Iraq... which harmed the largely Shi'a population there.

I also don't think it's possible to search a country that size completely -- every inch of it, to at least 100 feet below the surface. We know he had WMDs, but they're probably in Syria now... or in a location (or locations) in Iraq we just haven't uncovered.

As for the oil, insurgents have been setting fire to wells, intermittently, over the past five years. I wonder if that has had a direct effect on price... surely it's had some effect -- even if small -- on supply. Katrina had a huge effect on supply in the US.... maybe that was felt 'round the world.
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[Prezbucky]

To answer the question: I check out the news media a couple times each day.

I prefer stories without much editorializing -- I like to form my own opinion based on the facts of the case, rather than read someone else's opinion.
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[Englishmajor]

Regarding politics. I use Yahoo News as my source of news, and try to keep up there online. I also listen to NPR, (National Pubic Radio) and watch CNN and listen to BBC. I debate in AOL chat rooms, and exchange a lot of emails about political matters with like minded people on AOL. The debates are fun, fast and furious. We often put people on ignore when we dont agree with them. You have to think fast, type fast, and read all at the same time. Sometimes we put a * if we have typed or spelled something wrong in a chat room.

My own personal opinion is the Barrack Obama is going to be the winner of the next Presidential election. We are hoping that Hillary Clinton will concede and end the primary soon, rather than later. We have very strong opinons. We want the war in Iraq to end. I dont think that the English forum is the place to discuss politics, because that is a subject matter which is too broad for a forum. and is a very heated subject, so one would not want to give opinions here. I try to read through "mistakes" in writing, to hear the inner person's voice and will try to do that for the sake of discussion. It is easier to answer a simple question than try to edit a remark, as well as reply to the political view of the person; so I will limit myself, I think, to editing. I believe the forum is to help people who dont speak English.

[Ralf]

[Alan]

Hi,

Well done Ralf! That's what happens when people give themselves airs and graces. Hi English Major I hope you do

[Ralf]

I'll be a good boy and leave the rifle under my mattress, promise!
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[Tom]

Hi

[Alan]

Hi Ralf,

I hope you realised I was addressing my remarks to the Major of English - I know there are some prickly people about!

Alan
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