Foreign Policy

The news from the Middle East seems to be déjà vu all over again. This time it's Syria. I am sure we will cover the pending war with Syria in our Current Events discussion group. The Zoom-In group can take a broader view. The unrest in the Middle East, particularly Palestine, has been a primary concern of Dory. The fight with al-Qaeda, particularly in Yemen, was a topic suggested by Lowell. Lowell provided a link to video about the situation in Yemen. Dory suggested that we discuss ways to reduce terrorism as stated here.

As a group, we can use movies to start our discussions. The Bain shows a documentary every other Friday and is open for suggestions. A while back, they showed Budras, which presented a different side to the Palestinian problem.  Here is a TED Talk about this film:

The Economy

It is hard to believe that the Economy has recovered from the 2008 recession. With jobs still scarce, it is an unequal recovery. As Vince commented, the growing income inequality and shrinking middle class is leading to more social resentment. Bill commented that Globalization is one of the primary drivers of the loss of US jobs. Something drastic may need to be done. We may be ready for a discussion of Capitalism vs Socialism, as suggested by Norm.

Here is a TED Talk that claims that the data shows Inequity on is own is detrimental to society. Warning, there are a lot of graphs in this talk.

Politics

Not surprisingly, there were several suggested topics that are the subjects of hot political debate. In the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision on the Voting Rights Act, we are concern about the new voting rules which seem to target minorities. This is part of the New Jim Crow trend brought up by Gerry.

Norm suggested the topic of Immigration. We assumed that Republicans had to back Immigration Reform to be viable in 2016. But instead we are seeing more voter restriction in key Red states. Do the Republicans think voter restriction trumps immigration?

Norm also suggested the topic of Abortion. As Skye had commented, why should it be anybody's business besides the woman and her doctor. Good point, but that's politics.

Bill reminded us of guns in America. Certainly some opposed to legal abortion have resorted to guns. Yet all attempts for sensible gun control have been twarted.

Why are there so many crazy issues dominating politics. It could simply be that extreme views attract more money. Here is a TED Talk about money in politics and a call to action.

Social Conscience

There was a lot of interest in Social Conscience topics. Hank posed the question on how society can encourage their members to be concern with their fellow man. Norm raised some more specific issues, racism, criminal justice, ethics and idealism. Vince was concern about helping the younger generation who are facing a particularly hard time and wondered how an intergenerational conversation might help. Tim saw that such a conversation could lead to a better understanding of the cultural, spiritual and institutional problems facing the nation. Skye saw such a conversation as a way to pass life lessons to our grandchildren.

This blog page will gather our thoughts about Social Conscience and it will serve as a starting point when we have our discussion. The other suggested topis will also have their pages. The response we get on the pages will help us determine when to schedule them.

Here is a TED Talk about why it is important to have a social conscience as a part of one's identity. It also shows how social conscience was passed between generations. I hope that it will stimulate ideas for topics of conversation.

Background Material

The topic of discussion will be known a least a week ahead of time, so people may prepare, but only if they want to. Still, we would have a better discussion if we shared some common background material. This blog will be used to allow members to recommend articles or videos pertinent to the topic of the week. Online material would be the easiest to access, but traditional media can also be referenced.

When a topic has sufficient interest, it will be given a blog page with its subtopics and background references. Members may suggest more subtopics and background references. The amount of activity on a topic's page, will help to determine when it should be scheduled for discussion.

In the Current Events Blog, a TED video was posted as an addendum to the discussion we had. Since we would now know the topic in advance, a TED video could serve as common background material that would hopefully stimulate discussion.

Since the most accessible information is on the web, the ability to gather information will depend on familiarity with Internet tools. Our discussion group is not a competition of ideas. Our goal is to help each other learn about better ways to be informed. In our first meeting, we might allocate time to discuss the information resources available on the web. What do you think?

In the next blog post, I will give an example of a topic page. The topic will be one of the first tier topics listed on the "First Cut" blog post. I will try to pick the topic that seems to have the most interest based on the comments I receive. This selection is just for the example; we will not start scheduling topics until our first meeting.

First Cut

The suggested topics have been summarized for discussion purpose. The topics are organized in two tiers, general topics and a subtopics. A general topic will be the focus of a single meeting. The subtopics will be points of discussion. If there is enough interest in a subtopic, it could become a general topic of a following meeting with subtopics of its own. So as a group  we will zoom-in on the topics which interest us.

Please leave comments or send email to add, clarify or rearrange any topic below.

Updated 8/24/13

▾ ☐ Education
   - ☐ Teaching profession
   - ☐ Selection of majors, how the match or influence personality
▾ ☐ Health
   - ☐ Aging
   - ☐ Increasing longevity
▾ ☐ Foreign Policy
   - ☐ Ways to reduce terrorism
   - ☐ Israeli-Palestinian conflict
   - ☐ Yemen and al-Qaida
▾ ☐ Politics
   - ☐ Immigration
   ▾ ☐ Abortion
       - ☐ To what extent men should be involved in the decision
       - ☐ Why not leave it a private matter
   ▾ ☐ Voting rights
       - ☐ The New Jim Crow
   - ☐ Guns in America
▾ ☐ Economy
   - ☐ Capitalism v. Socialism
   ▾ ☐ Globalization
       - ☐ Unemployment in the US and the world
       - ☐ Impact of imports on consumer goods
       - ☐ Efficiency vs service in retail
       - ☐ Effects on environment
   - ☐ Income inequity, shrinking middle class and social resentment
▾ ☐ Social Conscience
   ▾ ☐ Criminal justice, prison population, mandatory sentencing
       - ☐ Mandatory sentencing reform
   - ☐ Idealism
   - ☐ Ethical issues - medical, social, business, political, etc
   - ☐ Racism
   - ☐ Cultural, spiritual, and institutional problems facing the nation
   ▾ ☐ Inter-generational conversation
       - ☐ What would you do differently
       - ☐ What advice to give grandchildren
   - ☐ How society can shape an individual's conscience
   - ☐ How hard times shape social consciousness 
▾ ☐ Security
   - ☐ Defense concerns
   - ☐ Privacy
   - ☐ Drones
   - ☐ Wars, how they start, how to stop

Brainstorming

Here are the suggested topics and procedures I received so far. It seems that we are off to a good start. Remember this is still a brainstorming session, so the ideal is not to be critical but to let these ideas stimulate other ideas. Also don't be afraid to suggest something that has already been suggested. Sometimes the same basic idea phrased in a different way will lead to a different line of discussion.

From Gerry;
Possible topic  "The New Jim Crow"

From Norm:
Topics worth exploring only if the audience is diverse e.g.
- Racism - if only one ethnic group shows up, no benefit.
- Abortion - It seems to me only women have standing to discuss this issue.  But that position may in itself be worth discussing, or not.
 - Capitalism v. Socialism if group is ideologically diverse
 - Ethical issues - medical, social, business, political, etc
 - "Is Idealism worth discussing?"

From Vince:
I am interested in how individuals our age (60-70 and older) can have an inter-generational conversation with individuals the age of our children; or more likely our grandchildren. Our generation has witnessed much change(social, economic and so on). How best to convey that change to a generation that will most likely experience as much or more change during their lives. We may also learn much  from the younger generation as to what interests and concerns them. Old people conversing with “old” people is interesting in my opinion, but also quite limited.

From Tim:
Vince your suggestion would have been my number 1 suggestion.  I feel that using this issue as a platform, we can approach many if not all of the cultural, spiritual, and institutional problems facing the nation. Your suggestion also gives us an objective for framing any discussion and suggestions for improvement and further study.

From Dory:
Dory submitted this article about ways to reduce terrorism as as focus for discussion.

From Bill:
We might want to consider the topic “Globalization”.  Although I acknowledge the process probably is unstoppable, I think we could get a lot of insights into current issues; unemployment in the US and throughout the world; the impact of imports on consumer goods; efficiency vs. service in the retail industry; effects on the environment (always a hot topic); and I am sure others.

From Wayne:
I can think of several topics.   One of the very much discussed and in the news at present is the status of our educational system.  I believe that it has been discussed and commented on by president Obama.  It is very interesting to read some of the accounts of the teachers that volunteered for the Teach For America program.  I don’t want to get into the details now, but anyone who has had some teaching experience certainly knows that it has been a thankless job as far as compensation goes.  Of course, there can be other rewards besides money that may come from the teaching profession.  One of them is keeping up with latest topics and also the feeling that you have helped someone acquire the skills and attitudes for a fulfilled lifetime in their trek through this life experience as it is surely going to be quite a challenge (coping with global climate change, food resources for an expanding world population)...

From Lowell:
M ... I sent you, I hope, a separate e-mail with a link to a powerful BBC report from Yemen. Dramatic, perhaps disturbing, but neutral and responsible in terms of origin. At bottom of the take are other pieces re Yemen and al-Qaida. A pretty powerful discussion can be built around this BBC report, especially if you could show it first on a big screen or wall ... Bain, I'm pretty sure, has a projector you could use.


----- 8/15 Update, more suggestions -----

From Hank:
We might want to discuss social conscience. Conscience: the decider of doing what one ought vice what one wants. As a society, how can we influence this decision?

From Dory:
In addition to the I-P conflict, I suggest:  education and healthcare.

From Lowell:

Here's an always-interesting topic you might want to put in the bag, from Pew Research, this past week ... headline: Living to 120 and Beyond: Americans’ Views on Aging, Medical Advances and Radical Life Extension.

From Norm:
- Voting rights, national and in the states
- Criminal justice, prison population, mandatory sentences
- Immigration, how it affects Republicans and Democrats


----- 8/16 Update -----

From Ron:
- I would add, either as a subtopic of "Politics", or maybe under an additional topic covering a multiplicity of DOD or Defense concerns, the exploding use of drones.
- Also, maybe a "Privacy" topic that could embrace the full scope of collection and use of personal information, whether by government or others. Don't think this is totally exclusive of a drone discussion, except that drone use includes offensive anonymous weapon delivery.


----- 8/18 Update -----

From Vince:
- I would like to suggest the issue of growing (from the 70s to the present) income inequity and shrinking middle class. We could also discuss whether income inequity influences Americans to become angry and divides them.
- Group meeting discussion format- It appears to me that the group should have some common reading(s) on any topic it  selects to discuss. A brief presentation by a group member might also be helpful in starting the discussion. Just suggestions. We might want to discuss group discussion format electronically, and most certainly at the first meeting.

From Skye:
- Growing income equality is good. I mean, a good topic!
- And how about - how do wars start? How do they stop?
- I'm not sure about  required reading unless something were passed out one week for the next. A short presentation by someone might be good but it might be hard to limit some people.

----- 8/19 Update -----

From Skye:

- Majors:  Why do some people major in/work in the liberal arts, the social sciences, the hard sciences? I have found some scientists who also are talented in music or something like that but not as many musicians, etc., who have a science as an avocation (other than astronomy or birdwatching). Does a certain major change one? 

- Abortions: Why is an abortion a private matter between a woman and her doctor? Why not just hers alone? or hers and her male's? How do men feel about being left out of the decision? 

- Life lessons: What advice would you give your grandchild? What do you regret doing or not doing? Has your pride gotten in the way of anything (not too personal)? What would you do differently/the same? Do you wish you had lived in another time, even by 10 years? 

----- 8/20 Update -----

From Bill:
How about Guns in America.  There’s lots of material on the subject.



----- 8/23 Update -----

From Vince:
Our group should pick up discussion go a bit deeper on topic and link it to current efforts by the Obama Administration to modify mandatory sentencing laws.

From Hank:
When I suggested Social Conscience I meant to put the emphasis on people reflecting on their own behavior: how they measured the balance between what they knew to be proper and their desires ... and how society might influence the choice for the better. Think of the three Texans who killed a student because they were bored - and later the shooter said he was sorry!

From Skye:
Not about intergenerational discussions but I think having a social conscience is becoming harder with a more crowded society. As we are using up our natural resources, there is competition for those that remain, to the extent that it outweighs the niceties in life. When one is hungry and must feed young ones, it is hard to be polite and wait your turn when that might never come. I am speaking of hard times (the 30s, certain countries today, storms, etc.). In hard times, I think our circle gets smaller - the circle we give to and will defend and care about.

New Group Starting

"Zoom-In"

A New SPRING Discussion Group

 Starts on Sept. 12 at the Bain Center

Meets on Thursday 9am to 10:30

A Current Events Spin-Off

We all love our Current Events Discuss Group. But there are times that we wish we could spend more time on a topic, or wish we could have looked-up something before we came. 

The Zoom-In Discussion Group will select a discussion topic ahead of time, so it can be discussed in-depth and give members the opportunity to prepare.

The group is open to all who come to the Bain Center.

A SPRING Group

Just like Current Events, the Zoom-In Group is under the Howard County SPRING, Seniors Peer Resources Individuals Networks Groups, which is a program to create self-help groups for seniors. The county provides a place for us to meet, but we will determine what is in the program.

We will define the process and the early discussion topics at our first meeting. We will not start actual discussion until the second meeting. There will be enough time in each meeting to select future topics and refine our process.

If you have questions, suggestions or just want to say you are interested, please contact Mike Hirasuna, Norm Fairhurst or Ron Somerville, or email mhirasuna@gmail.com.