Here is an extract form the book "Momo" by Michael Ende and below you can find some more quotes and sayings about time. They are here to make you think a bit about time - because "time" is the topic of the following videoconferencing session.
Libor
Momo
Michael Ende (translated by J. Maxwell Brownjohn)
...
"So… you like it here, do you?"
Momo nodded.
"And you want to stay here?"
"Yes, very much."
"I mean, shouldn't you go home?"
"This is my home," Momo said promptly.
"But where do you come from?"
Momo gestured vaguely at some undefined spot in the far distance.
"When were you born?"
"As far as I can remember... I've always been around."
...."How old are you really?"
Momo hesitated. "A hundred," she said.
They all laughed because they thought she was joking.
"No seriously, how old are you?"
"A hundred and two," Momo replied, still more hesitantly.
....Lots of things take time, and time was Momo's only form of wealth.
...
Life holds one great but quite commonplace mystery. Though shared by each of us and known to all, seldom rates a second thought. That mystery, which most of us take for granted and never think twice about, is time.
Calendars and clocks exist to measure time, but that signifies little because we all know that an hour can seem as eternity or pass in a flash, according to how we spend it. Time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart.
....
Exactly what form the right kind of life should take, Mr Figaro wasn't sure. He vaguely pictured it as a distinguished and affluent existence such as he was always reading about in glossy magazines.
"The trouble is… my work leaves me no time for that sort of thing, and you need time for the right kind of life. You've got to be free, but I'm a lifelong prisoner of scissors, lather and chitchat." ....“I‘m from the Timesaving Bank. Permit me to introduce myself: Agent No. XYQ/384/b. We hear you wish to open an account with us.“
...
"You're wasting your life cutting hair,lathering faces and swapping idle chitchat. When you're dead, it'll be as if you'd never existed. If you only had the time to lead the right kind of life, you'd be quite a different person. Time is all you need, right?"
......"Surely you know how to save time, my dear sir? Work faster, for instance, and stick to the essentials. Spend only fifteen minutes on each customer, instead of the usual half-hour, and avoid time-wasting conversations. Reduce the hour you spend with your mother by half. Better still, put her in a nice, cheap old folks' home, where someone else can look after her - that'll save you a whole hour a day. Get rid of that useless budgerigar. See Miss Daria once every two weeks, if at all... Above all, don't squander so much of your precious time on singing, reading, and hobnobbing with your so-called fiends. Incidentally, I'd also advise you to hand a really accurate clock on the wall so you can time your apprentice to the nearest minute."
.....
"How does the system work?"
The man in grey gave another thin-lipped smile. "Don't worry, we'll take care of that. Rest assured, we won't mislay a single second of the time you save. You'll find you haven't any left over." ...
[Mr. Figaro] forgot the men in grey but not his new resolution, which he believed to be his alone. The determination to save time now so as to be able to begin a new life sometime in the future had embedded itself in his soul like a poisoned arrow.
....
The odd thing was that, no matter how much time he saved, he never had any to spare; in some mysterious way, it simply vanished.
....
In their view, even leisure time had to be used to the full, so as to extract the maximum of entertainment and relaxation with the minimum of delay.
...
Daydreaming [the people] regarded almost as a criminal offence.
...What [the people] could endure least of all, however, was silence, for when silence fell they became terrified by the realization of what was happening to their lives. And so, whenever silence threatened to descend, they made a noise.
...
Old buildings were pulled down and replaced with modern ones devoid of all the things that were now thought superfluous. No architect troubled to design houses that suited people who were to live in them, because that would have meant building a whole range of different houses. It was far cheaper and, above all, more timesaving to make them identical. ...
The lives of the people who inhabited this desert followed a similar pattern: they ran dead straight for as far as the eye could see. Everything in them was carefully planned and programmed, down to the last move and the last moment of time.
...
People never seemed to notice that, by saving time, they were losing something else. No one cared to admit that life was becoming even poorer, bleaker and more monotonous.
...
But time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart. And the more people saved, the less they had. ....
"Once upon a time, people used to like coming to see Momo because she listened to them and helped them know their own minds... They don't have time for such things, they say, but haven't you noticed something odd? It's strange the things they don't have time for any more."
...."SAVE TIME? WHO FOR? NO TIME LEFT? WHERES IT GONE?... IMPORTANT YOUR TIME IS AT STAKE... DON'T YOU HAVE A FUNNY FEELING SOMEBODY YOUR TIME IS STEELING?"
....
Quotes:
Time and tide wait for no man. A pompous and self-satisfied proverb, and was true for a billion years; but in our day of electric wires and water-ballast we turn it around: Man waits not for time nor tide. Mark Twain
When we are doing what we love, we don't care about time. For at least at that moment, time doesn't exist and we are truly free. Marcia Wieder
You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it. Charles Bixton
Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life. William Faulkner
Time is what prevents everything from happening at once. John Archibald Wheeler
But what minutes! Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day. Benjamin Disraeli
How long a minute is, depends on which side of the bathroom door you're on.
Zall's Second Law
Time is the most undefinable yet paradoxical of things; the past is gone, the future is not come, and the present becomes the past even while we attempt to define it, and, like the flash of lightning, at once exists and expires. Charles Caleb Colton
Time is what we want most, but... what we use worst. Willaim Penn
Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can't buy more hours. Scientists can't invent new minutes. And you can't save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow. Denis Waitely
I'm working to improve my methods, and every hour I save is an hour added to my life.
Ayn Rand
- Time flies.
- Time is money.
- Ahead of one´s time.
- To kill time.
- To waste time.
- Time will tell.
- Take one´s time.
- There´s always a next time.
- Time and tide wait for no man.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Guns in the world, especially in the U.S.
Guns: are they a cultural symbol for the USA?
Guns in the U.S.: The perception of guns in the U.S. is very different from the UN or Europe. If you look at the statistics, there are hundreds of people killed by guns annualy in the U.S. because it‘s legal to have a gun. It’s common that people can go and buy a gun in the store next door and nobody would ask them any question as in the Czech republic for example. Because bearing arms is your citizen’s right and the protection against infringement of this right is addressed in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
I don’t understand the american logic. They appreciate the safety much more than freedoom (they call freedom something very different than european people) if you consider for example The Patriotic Act. For me, it sounds tautologic – you have the right to bear a gun and use it for your self-defense (it‘s your freedom choice) and you feel very anxious about other people beacuse. It’s called „the security dilemma“ in international relations and it means – „I feel very anxious about you so I will protect by developing more advanced systems to destroy you. You will do the same and that’s how we act..“ And now we come to very interesting question: Do Firearms Kill More People (in the home) Than They Save (in public places)? Because the abuse of guns is very common..And the argument „consider how many people died in cars“ is very stupid – so we should we increase the numer of Miller people?
There is very popular website in the U.S., www.nra.org, which fights against the U.N.ban on bearing guns and which is very proud of being the premier firearms education organization in the world!! Also if you look at the American kinematography, every James Bond and these kind of movies are based on „strong menship involving fast car, nice blonde and a gun“.
Statistics:
- In fact, more children -- children-- have been killed by guns in the past 25 years than the total number of American fatalities in all wars of the past five decades (I recommend you the Article „Some People Love Guns. Why Should the Rest of Us Be Targets?“ by Jonathan Safran Foer (on-line in http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042001980.html).
- There is a positive correlation between homicide rates and availability of guns in developed nations. (Hemenway and Miller, 2000). (on-line http://blog.sciam.com/index.php?title=do_firearms_kill_more_people_in_the_home&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1&showComments=1).
- Great Britain: According to government statistics, the number of people killed by guns has essentially stayed the same, with dips and spikes, as before the 1997 gun control laws went into effect: There were 55 shooting deaths in 1995 and 50 last year in England and Wales. By comparison, there were 137 fatal shootings in the District of Columbia last year.
The number of crimes in which a handgun was used in England and Wales has risen from 299 in 1995 to 1,024 last year. Offenses committed with all types of firearms, including air guns, have also increased (http://cafehayek.typepad.com/hayek/2007/04/british_guns.html).
- I very recommend you to look at the http://www.rileyhospital.org/attachments/FirearmStats.pdf!! For example, 32 436 Americans were killed with firearms in 1997. For comparsion, 58 148 Americans were killed in the Vietnam War.
- Accurate figures on firearms are scarce, but there are an estimated 200 million guns in circulation in the US, a country with a population of about 300 million. According to a Harris poll conducted in 2001, approximately 39% of all American households own at least one gun (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6562529.stm).
- Statistically, Americans use guns to kill each other far more than just about any other society in the world.
Kristyna
Guns in the U.S.: The perception of guns in the U.S. is very different from the UN or Europe. If you look at the statistics, there are hundreds of people killed by guns annualy in the U.S. because it‘s legal to have a gun. It’s common that people can go and buy a gun in the store next door and nobody would ask them any question as in the Czech republic for example. Because bearing arms is your citizen’s right and the protection against infringement of this right is addressed in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
I don’t understand the american logic. They appreciate the safety much more than freedoom (they call freedom something very different than european people) if you consider for example The Patriotic Act. For me, it sounds tautologic – you have the right to bear a gun and use it for your self-defense (it‘s your freedom choice) and you feel very anxious about other people beacuse. It’s called „the security dilemma“ in international relations and it means – „I feel very anxious about you so I will protect by developing more advanced systems to destroy you. You will do the same and that’s how we act..“ And now we come to very interesting question: Do Firearms Kill More People (in the home) Than They Save (in public places)? Because the abuse of guns is very common..And the argument „consider how many people died in cars“ is very stupid – so we should we increase the numer of Miller people?
There is very popular website in the U.S., www.nra.org, which fights against the U.N.ban on bearing guns and which is very proud of being the premier firearms education organization in the world!! Also if you look at the American kinematography, every James Bond and these kind of movies are based on „strong menship involving fast car, nice blonde and a gun“.
Statistics:
- In fact, more children -- children-- have been killed by guns in the past 25 years than the total number of American fatalities in all wars of the past five decades (I recommend you the Article „Some People Love Guns. Why Should the Rest of Us Be Targets?“ by Jonathan Safran Foer (on-line in http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042001980.html).
- There is a positive correlation between homicide rates and availability of guns in developed nations. (Hemenway and Miller, 2000). (on-line http://blog.sciam.com/index.php?title=do_firearms_kill_more_people_in_the_home&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1&showComments=1).
- Great Britain: According to government statistics, the number of people killed by guns has essentially stayed the same, with dips and spikes, as before the 1997 gun control laws went into effect: There were 55 shooting deaths in 1995 and 50 last year in England and Wales. By comparison, there were 137 fatal shootings in the District of Columbia last year.
The number of crimes in which a handgun was used in England and Wales has risen from 299 in 1995 to 1,024 last year. Offenses committed with all types of firearms, including air guns, have also increased (http://cafehayek.typepad.com/hayek/2007/04/british_guns.html).
- I very recommend you to look at the http://www.rileyhospital.org/attachments/FirearmStats.pdf!! For example, 32 436 Americans were killed with firearms in 1997. For comparsion, 58 148 Americans were killed in the Vietnam War.
- Accurate figures on firearms are scarce, but there are an estimated 200 million guns in circulation in the US, a country with a population of about 300 million. According to a Harris poll conducted in 2001, approximately 39% of all American households own at least one gun (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6562529.stm).
- Statistically, Americans use guns to kill each other far more than just about any other society in the world.
Kristyna
Guns: are they a cultural symbol for the USA?
Guns in the U.S.: The perception of guns in the U.S. is very different from the UN or Europe. If you look at the statistics, there are hundreds of people killed by guns annualy in the U.S. because it‘s legal to have a gun. It’s common that people can go and buy a gun in the store next door and nobody would ask them any question as in the Czech republic for example. Because bearing arms is your citizen’s right and the protection against infringement of this right is addressed in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
I don’t understand the american logic. They appreciate the safety much more than freedoom (they call freedom something very different than european people) if you consider for example The Patriotic Act. For me, it sounds tautologic – you have the right to bear a gun and use it for your self-defense (it‘s your freedom choice) and you feel very anxious about other people beacuse. It’s called „the security dilemma“ in international relations and it means – „I feel very anxious about you so I will protect by developing more advanced systems to destroy you. You will do the same and that’s how we act..“ And now we come to very interesting question: Do Firearms Kill More People (in the home) Than They Save (in public places)? Because the abuse of guns is very common..And the argument „consider how many people died in cars“ is very stupid – so we should we increase the numer of Miller people?
There is very popular website in the U.S., www.nra.org, which fights against the U.N.ban on bearing guns and which is very proud of being the premier firearms education organization in the world!! Also if you look at the American kinematography, every James Bond and these kind of movies are based on „strong menship involving fast car, nice blonde and a gun“.
Statistics:
- In fact, more children -- children-- have been killed by guns in the past 25 years than the total number of American fatalities in all wars of the past five decades (I recommend you the Article „Some People Love Guns. Why Should the Rest of Us Be Targets?“ by Jonathan Safran Foer (on-line in http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042001980.html).
- There is a positive correlation between homicide rates and availability of guns in developed nations. (Hemenway and Miller, 2000). (on-line http://blog.sciam.com/index.php?title=do_firearms_kill_more_people_in_the_home&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1&showComments=1).
- Great Britain: According to government statistics, the number of people killed by guns has essentially stayed the same, with dips and spikes, as before the 1997 gun control laws went into effect: There were 55 shooting deaths in 1995 and 50 last year in England and Wales. By comparison, there were 137 fatal shootings in the District of Columbia last year.
The number of crimes in which a handgun was used in England and Wales has risen from 299 in 1995 to 1,024 last year. Offenses committed with all types of firearms, including air guns, have also increased (http://cafehayek.typepad.com/hayek/2007/04/british_guns.html).
- I very recommend you to look at the http://www.rileyhospital.org/attachments/FirearmStats.pdf!! For example, 32 436 Americans were killed with firearms in 1997. For comparsion, 58 148 Americans were killed in the Vietnam War.
- Accurate figures on firearms are scarce, but there are an estimated 200 million guns in circulation in the US, a country with a population of about 300 million. According to a Harris poll conducted in 2001, approximately 39% of all American households own at least one gun (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6562529.stm).
- Statistically, Americans use guns to kill each other far more than just about any other society in the world.
Guns in the U.S.: The perception of guns in the U.S. is very different from the UN or Europe. If you look at the statistics, there are hundreds of people killed by guns annualy in the U.S. because it‘s legal to have a gun. It’s common that people can go and buy a gun in the store next door and nobody would ask them any question as in the Czech republic for example. Because bearing arms is your citizen’s right and the protection against infringement of this right is addressed in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
I don’t understand the american logic. They appreciate the safety much more than freedoom (they call freedom something very different than european people) if you consider for example The Patriotic Act. For me, it sounds tautologic – you have the right to bear a gun and use it for your self-defense (it‘s your freedom choice) and you feel very anxious about other people beacuse. It’s called „the security dilemma“ in international relations and it means – „I feel very anxious about you so I will protect by developing more advanced systems to destroy you. You will do the same and that’s how we act..“ And now we come to very interesting question: Do Firearms Kill More People (in the home) Than They Save (in public places)? Because the abuse of guns is very common..And the argument „consider how many people died in cars“ is very stupid – so we should we increase the numer of Miller people?
There is very popular website in the U.S., www.nra.org, which fights against the U.N.ban on bearing guns and which is very proud of being the premier firearms education organization in the world!! Also if you look at the American kinematography, every James Bond and these kind of movies are based on „strong menship involving fast car, nice blonde and a gun“.
Statistics:
- In fact, more children -- children-- have been killed by guns in the past 25 years than the total number of American fatalities in all wars of the past five decades (I recommend you the Article „Some People Love Guns. Why Should the Rest of Us Be Targets?“ by Jonathan Safran Foer (on-line in http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042001980.html).
- There is a positive correlation between homicide rates and availability of guns in developed nations. (Hemenway and Miller, 2000). (on-line http://blog.sciam.com/index.php?title=do_firearms_kill_more_people_in_the_home&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1&showComments=1).
- Great Britain: According to government statistics, the number of people killed by guns has essentially stayed the same, with dips and spikes, as before the 1997 gun control laws went into effect: There were 55 shooting deaths in 1995 and 50 last year in England and Wales. By comparison, there were 137 fatal shootings in the District of Columbia last year.
The number of crimes in which a handgun was used in England and Wales has risen from 299 in 1995 to 1,024 last year. Offenses committed with all types of firearms, including air guns, have also increased (http://cafehayek.typepad.com/hayek/2007/04/british_guns.html).
- I very recommend you to look at the http://www.rileyhospital.org/attachments/FirearmStats.pdf!! For example, 32 436 Americans were killed with firearms in 1997. For comparsion, 58 148 Americans were killed in the Vietnam War.
- Accurate figures on firearms are scarce, but there are an estimated 200 million guns in circulation in the US, a country with a population of about 300 million. According to a Harris poll conducted in 2001, approximately 39% of all American households own at least one gun (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6562529.stm).
- Statistically, Americans use guns to kill each other far more than just about any other society in the world.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Swastika: One symbol, many views
One of the basic aspects which determine certain culture and describe it, is its system of symbols. Symbols encourage solidarity and unity within certain group of people we call the culture. Its members are familiar with their meanings and know how to use them. There are
generally well-known symbols (concerning for example national or religoius cultures) which may be understood as official, e.g. a flag (Union jack), an anthem (Marseillaise), an animal(Kiwi in New Zealand), a plant(Cedar in Libanon), objects (crescent moon and star for Muslim religion) and many more...
One of such examples may be swastika aka crux gamata, today the name hakenkreuz or hooked cross is probably the most spread in Western world. This ancient symbol may be recognized across nations and comunities throughout the whole world. But each of them may interpret this exact cross in completely different way. In Asia it´s high posibility people will see it as positive symbol of luck and wellness, while in Europeans it would surely evoke unpleasant idea of past Nazi menace.
Wikipedia provides quite interesting and deep explanation of what swastika is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
I would be delighted if you write some comments on this topic. I believe it could enrich our discusion about culture and Geert Hofstede´s theories. I´m very interested in this problem. We all have own culture since we came from several countries and may offer different points of view...
How do you feel about hooked cross? How do you call it? What meanings does it have for you and your culture?
Thanks for any comments! Martina
generally well-known symbols (concerning for example national or religoius cultures) which may be understood as official, e.g. a flag (Union jack), an anthem (Marseillaise), an animal(Kiwi in New Zealand), a plant(Cedar in Libanon), objects (crescent moon and star for Muslim religion) and many more...
One of such examples may be swastika aka crux gamata, today the name hakenkreuz or hooked cross is probably the most spread in Western world. This ancient symbol may be recognized across nations and comunities throughout the whole world. But each of them may interpret this exact cross in completely different way. In Asia it´s high posibility people will see it as positive symbol of luck and wellness, while in Europeans it would surely evoke unpleasant idea of past Nazi menace.
Wikipedia provides quite interesting and deep explanation of what swastika is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
I would be delighted if you write some comments on this topic. I believe it could enrich our discusion about culture and Geert Hofstede´s theories. I´m very interested in this problem. We all have own culture since we came from several countries and may offer different points of view...
How do you feel about hooked cross? How do you call it? What meanings does it have for you and your culture?
Thanks for any comments! Martina
Our contemporary heroes
Who is the hero? The word hero comes from the Greek language and the first heroes are known from the Old Greek legends. Basically it can be said, that a hero is a person who is victorious in some struggle or was brave. There are many dead war heroes memorials around the whole Europe. The heroes are not only an outcome of a war, we can use the term in sense of other contests as well. In this sense our ice hockey players may become heroes in the Czech republic after the end of the ice hockey world championship. It just depends on their final placement.
My personal opinion is that a hero should achieve something more than just hunting a puck around the ice rink. My criteria are perhaps similar to those for hero medal awards, i.e. like saving a human life.
Looking into the history, the first one coming into my mind, are the Czech legionnaires and the Czech aviators fighting during the WWII. There were without any question many nameless heroes during the WWII usually saving their friends and relatives from certain death in the concentration camps. Perhaps the most known is the controversial Oskar Schindler who profited from the confiscated Jewish wealth, but saved more than 1000 Jews from the transports to the concentration camps. Other heroes appeared later during the communist dictatorship. Especially after the August 1968 occupation the ice hockey players who defeated the Soviet union team became a national heroes. Other distinct heroes are appearing during crisis like various natural disasters. Even a 6 years old girl saving a life to her 2 years old drowning friend is a true hero for me. Different persons might be heroes for the others, however this is perhaps the best way how to describe our contemporary heroes from my point of view.
Tereza
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
summary about the last seminar - heroes and symbols
In the last lecture we discussed the topic culture again and we've got the homework to describe heroes and symbols..
1) Our present heroes
National: I think we can definitely mention sportsmen as heroes and nobody would not be against it. For me, Katerina Neumannova, czech and world famous ski−runner who won many gold medails in the worldchampionships is a hero, then always our ice−hockey players, every time they win the championship, we adore them and consider them heroes… For many of us, alive disident people (people who were fightinig against communist regime and sign Charta 77) are also heroes, for example our former president Vaclav Havel – world known novelist, philosopher and human rights' activist. I think it is also very important not to forget "everyday's life" heroes, doctors who save lives, pilots of aeroplanes or for most of us, our parents are also heroes!
Global: I quite agree with Nicolas that we can consider Nelson Mandela as a global hero. According to me, Princess Diana could be a hero, she was something as an angel for many people and her early and tragic death made "a symbol".
2) Our present symbols
National: It is definitely flag which Martina described in the lecture. I can alco mention the label of Pilsner Urquell beer.
Global: As we said, Microsoft, Mickey Mouse, unfortunately well known symbol MacDonald's,…
3) The question is, if we understand students from Asia. Well, I understand three girls from China quite well, especially "the leader", her english is very nice, but it is a little bit difficult to remember the names… The most difficult was to understand students from Thailand but now it is quite ok. The students from Japan didn't talk a lot, so I can't say whether I understand, usually it was ok. But I think they have thein own community more than chinese students and they talked japanese quite often during the lecture.. But I think we understand what we need and I appreciate and admire that they are studying english, it must be pretty hard for them!
Monday, April 30, 2007
the decorated tree is a symbol of traditional celebration, which takes about 4 days and every village has it in other term. Under this tree we are dancing, singing, having fun... Boys must look about it during celebration, because boys from another village can come and cut it down. And this is a big shame!
There were two types of traditional costumes - for celebrations and for everyday using. The costumes for every day were common abou 50 and more years ago, now wear it only old women. Costumes for celebrations are very expensive. Whole costume can cost as much as new motorbike! So every family look about it very carefully. Every part of costume is kepr for about 30 years looking as new. New parts are bought separated during years. It is difficult to dress up this costumes, people can not do it themselves. There are old women helping them, they need years of experiences. Whith their help it takes more than hour, especially for girls.
For comparison I send photos from my village - Brumovice - which is only 4 km far from Kobyli, but the costumes are different. Every village has own costume.
On the hats, boys wear, are hundreds of small beads and it has about 2 kilograms, so it is really heavy to wear all day. Married men are not allowed to wear the feathers from cock tail.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Sports(wo)men: Is the winner the same as hero?
Last time (25th April) we were discussing "cultures", especially Geert Hofstede´s theory of them, his definition and five main indices which determine every culture. Janice reminded the circle diagram. That is how we got to the HERO /HEROIN question.
While talking about national heroes, I´d rather say personalities considered as heroes, Nicolas mentioned that in France succesful sportsmen are often admired as heroes, at least within certain group of people. In our country (Czech republic and I dare say even in Slovakia) it´s the same. Apparently there are some who believe Milan Baros (football player) or Roman Sebrle (athlete who compete in decathlon) are national heroes. In 1998 when our ice-hockey team won gold medal in Olympics many people felt real enthusiasm. I remember newspaper and TV was full of it. But I´m not sure if there would have been a crowd in the airport welcoming the team, if they had lost. Well, even on third place, theys would still have remained good players.
This year Katerina Neumannova (won world championship in cross-country skiing) was awarded by President of Czech republic. I´m not sure if she even appeared on ceremonial. If she had came, she would be standing next to czech pilots from RAF, inventors, artists, poeple who saved someone´s life...
For me this worshipping of sports(wo)men is curoius and I don´t understand why people do that.
I´d like to know your opinion. Do you think your top players are real heroes? What do they bring to you or your national culture?
Martina
While talking about national heroes, I´d rather say personalities considered as heroes, Nicolas mentioned that in France succesful sportsmen are often admired as heroes, at least within certain group of people. In our country (Czech republic and I dare say even in Slovakia) it´s the same. Apparently there are some who believe Milan Baros (football player) or Roman Sebrle (athlete who compete in decathlon) are national heroes. In 1998 when our ice-hockey team won gold medal in Olympics many people felt real enthusiasm. I remember newspaper and TV was full of it. But I´m not sure if there would have been a crowd in the airport welcoming the team, if they had lost. Well, even on third place, theys would still have remained good players.
This year Katerina Neumannova (won world championship in cross-country skiing) was awarded by President of Czech republic. I´m not sure if she even appeared on ceremonial. If she had came, she would be standing next to czech pilots from RAF, inventors, artists, poeple who saved someone´s life...
For me this worshipping of sports(wo)men is curoius and I don´t understand why people do that.
I´d like to know your opinion. Do you think your top players are real heroes? What do they bring to you or your national culture?
Martina
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Easter in Moravia
For my region I come from - the South Moravia - is also typical that men dressed in traditional moravian folklor clothes (costumes) come to visit their girls and they sing moravian songs (about wine and love...). I will show you some typical folklor clothes and costumes (photos are from one Moravan village):
Questions about culture
Hello! I would like to pose you some questions. I hope some of them will be answered tomorrow during the videoconference and if not, I would be glad, if you could put the answers on this blog.
1) Do you think that you are a part of more groups/cultures and if yes, why? What do you have in common with other members of these groups?
2) What are the typical features of "your" culture(s)? How can someone else become the part of this culture(s)? Or do you think that it is not possible at all?
3) Which people are considered in your culture as heroes? Why do you admire them? What were their important achievements?
4) After Easter, we were talking about the habits and customs typical for our regions. How do you celebrate Easter? Do you have any special customs which are exceptional?
I also wanted to put some photos of our traditional costumes on this blog, but unfortunately, it did not work, so I will try it next time.
Michaela
1) Do you think that you are a part of more groups/cultures and if yes, why? What do you have in common with other members of these groups?
2) What are the typical features of "your" culture(s)? How can someone else become the part of this culture(s)? Or do you think that it is not possible at all?
3) Which people are considered in your culture as heroes? Why do you admire them? What were their important achievements?
4) After Easter, we were talking about the habits and customs typical for our regions. How do you celebrate Easter? Do you have any special customs which are exceptional?
I also wanted to put some photos of our traditional costumes on this blog, but unfortunately, it did not work, so I will try it next time.
Michaela
SUMMARY OF SEMINARS ABOUT CULTURE
I) Summary of definitions, talking about culture
In the first seminar we were talking about culture, especially about one very interesting research of netherlandish social scientist Geert Hofstede. He focused on different societies and cultures from the whole world and researched five important indexes – PDI (how is power distributed in the society, equally or unequally), IC (degree in which is man integrated into the group), MAS (distribution of roles in the society, gender, men’s and woman’s values,…), UAI (if the society needs to have certain and strict rules, needs to knot that things are in place, if it hates changes – „nanny states“ – the opposite is the tolerant country) and finally Long-Term Orientation, bus he hasn’t collected all the data yet.
In the second seminar we were talking about the definitons of culture, what does the word mean for us – which criteriums does a group have to fulfill to be described as a culture.. I agree with Hofstede that a group could be called culture if its members share the same institutions, values, behaviours, traditions… But I’d like to point out that we have to respect that its members are different personalities with their own view of thinking, different opinions.. Moreover, as a sociologist, I can say responsibly, that there is not any right or wrong definition of culture, race, nation or any other “group”.. I only think that a common view is that culture is a group of people who share the same values, have the same traditions. Considering this point of view we can talk about “west culture”, “European” culture, “Moslem” culture and everybody would know what we mean even though it is impossible to think that millions of Europeans share exactly the same values… Also for most of students culture means something what their members have in common. Then we discuss the topic of our videoconferences – if we think that we can define our group as „a culture“. For me, it is a very specific “culture” of students from many countries all over the world. I like this “multicultural” world and I appreciate that we can learn from each other about different traditions, cultures, habits.. That is what I like about it. I think we can’t say that we are a group with specific culture or we are a culture, but at least we can say that we are one “videoconference culture” from 10.00 to 11.30 p.m. every Wednesday... For me, the teachers are definitely members of the group and that is what I like about the lectures, there is nobody more than anybody else and we discuss every topic openly. It depends on the lecture and specific topic, sometimes I fell as part of a culture of Masaryk University, sometimes I don’t see any differences between our students and students on the other side of screen. But most of the students think that videoconferences are very interesting and we can learn a lot from each other but we can’t describe our group as a culture.
II) Questions for students
1) I’d like to know if you see our videoconference group and people involved in them as a culture. Are the teachers members of our group? Are there two different groups from two countries or is there anything what we share or what we have in common? Can we define us as “a culture”?
2) If you consider the definition that culture is a group of people from the same country/background who have a lot in common, who share the same institutions, traditions, values…Do you think you can specify something very typical for your culture (Chinese/Japanese/French)?
3) I’d like to discuss the thesis of controversial social scientist Samuel Huntington’s thesis. His “Clash of Civilizations” is a controversial theory that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world and the conflict between civilization and different cultures is the very typical feature of our world. He divided world into the "major" civilizations (eight): Western civilization, The Orthodox, Latin America, The Muslim world, Hindu civilization, The Sinic civilizatio, Japan, The civilization of Sub-Saharan Africa. I’d like to ask you if you see our world and contemporary events as a clash between different cultures…
4) Talking about culture not as a description of a group, but in general – culture which includes going to the cinema, theatre, reading books, listening to music or playing any music instrument, what does it mean for you? Is culture important for you?
Kristyna
I) Summary of definitions, talking about culture
In the first seminar we were talking about culture, especially about one very interesting research of netherlandish social scientist Geert Hofstede. He focused on different societies and cultures from the whole world and researched five important indexes – PDI (how is power distributed in the society, equally or unequally), IC (degree in which is man integrated into the group), MAS (distribution of roles in the society, gender, men’s and woman’s values,…), UAI (if the society needs to have certain and strict rules, needs to knot that things are in place, if it hates changes – „nanny states“ – the opposite is the tolerant country) and finally Long-Term Orientation, bus he hasn’t collected all the data yet.
In the second seminar we were talking about the definitons of culture, what does the word mean for us – which criteriums does a group have to fulfill to be described as a culture.. I agree with Hofstede that a group could be called culture if its members share the same institutions, values, behaviours, traditions… But I’d like to point out that we have to respect that its members are different personalities with their own view of thinking, different opinions.. Moreover, as a sociologist, I can say responsibly, that there is not any right or wrong definition of culture, race, nation or any other “group”.. I only think that a common view is that culture is a group of people who share the same values, have the same traditions. Considering this point of view we can talk about “west culture”, “European” culture, “Moslem” culture and everybody would know what we mean even though it is impossible to think that millions of Europeans share exactly the same values… Also for most of students culture means something what their members have in common. Then we discuss the topic of our videoconferences – if we think that we can define our group as „a culture“. For me, it is a very specific “culture” of students from many countries all over the world. I like this “multicultural” world and I appreciate that we can learn from each other about different traditions, cultures, habits.. That is what I like about it. I think we can’t say that we are a group with specific culture or we are a culture, but at least we can say that we are one “videoconference culture” from 10.00 to 11.30 p.m. every Wednesday... For me, the teachers are definitely members of the group and that is what I like about the lectures, there is nobody more than anybody else and we discuss every topic openly. It depends on the lecture and specific topic, sometimes I fell as part of a culture of Masaryk University, sometimes I don’t see any differences between our students and students on the other side of screen. But most of the students think that videoconferences are very interesting and we can learn a lot from each other but we can’t describe our group as a culture.
II) Questions for students
1) I’d like to know if you see our videoconference group and people involved in them as a culture. Are the teachers members of our group? Are there two different groups from two countries or is there anything what we share or what we have in common? Can we define us as “a culture”?
2) If you consider the definition that culture is a group of people from the same country/background who have a lot in common, who share the same institutions, traditions, values…Do you think you can specify something very typical for your culture (Chinese/Japanese/French)?
3) I’d like to discuss the thesis of controversial social scientist Samuel Huntington’s thesis. His “Clash of Civilizations” is a controversial theory that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world and the conflict between civilization and different cultures is the very typical feature of our world. He divided world into the "major" civilizations (eight): Western civilization, The Orthodox, Latin America, The Muslim world, Hindu civilization, The Sinic civilizatio, Japan, The civilization of Sub-Saharan Africa. I’d like to ask you if you see our world and contemporary events as a clash between different cultures…
4) Talking about culture not as a description of a group, but in general – culture which includes going to the cinema, theatre, reading books, listening to music or playing any music instrument, what does it mean for you? Is culture important for you?
Kristyna
Monday, April 16, 2007
A. Holliday
I think I should put something here about what Adrian Holliday has to say about small cultures which could also be described as a group.There is a need to distinguish two paradigms of 'culture' in applied linguistics. What has become the default notion of 'culture' refers to prescribed ethnic, national and international entities. This large culture paradigm is by its nature vulnerable to a culturist reduction of 'foreign' students, teachers and their educational contexts. In contrast, a small culture paradigm attaches 'culture' to small social groupings or activities wherever there is cohesive behaviour, and thus avoids culturist ethnic, national or international stereotyping. Ethnography uses small cultures as the location for research, as an interpretive device for understanding emergent behaviour, rather than seeking to explain prescribed ethnic, national or international difference.
culture
homework 11th April
1) what does it mean culture - how could be a group described as a culture:I agree with Hofstede that a group could be called culture if its members share the same institutions, values, behaviours, traditions… According to the English – Czech Explanatory Dictionary, culture is “a form or type of civilization of a certain race or nation”. But I think it is very misguided to designate a group as a culture – because in this case its members are supposed to be a group with similar behaviour, institutions,… But we have to respect that its members are different personalities with their own view of thinking, different opinions… As a sociologist, I can say responsibly, that there is not any right or wrong definition of culture, race, nation or any other “group”.. I only think that a common view is that culture is a group of people who share the same values, have the same traditions. Considering this point of view we can talk about “west culture”, “European” culture, “Moslem” culture and everybody would know what we mean even though it is impossible to think that millions of Europeans share exactly the same values…2) How can we define the "microculture of our videoconferences"To define the culture we share with the students from Aberystwyth is very difficult.. For me, it is a specific culture of students from many countries all over the world. I was already thinking about this topic (about our lectures and a shared cuture) before we got this homework. It was one of the first lectures when I said to myself – isn’t is great that there is student from Japan sitting next to the students from China and Russia, people from Czech Republic discussing the topic “communism” with the students from China… I like this “multicultural” world and I appreciate that we can learn from each other about different traditions, cultures, habits.. That is what I like about our “videoconference culture”. I think we cant say that we are a group with specific culture or we are a culture, but at least we can say that we are one “videoconference culture” from 10.00 to 11.30 p.m. every Wednesday... For me, the teachers are definitely members of the group and that is what I like about the lectures, there is nobody more than anybody else and we discuss every topic openly. It depends on the lecture and specific topic, sometimes I fell as part of a culture of Masaryk University (and I am proud of being one of our students, for example when we were talking about communism) sometimes I don’t see any differences between our students and students on the other side of screen.3) What about Czech Easter habits?Many Czech Easter symbols are related to spring and the beginning of new life (a bunny, a chick, a little kitten)• Easter Eggs and krasliceThe hand-painted or otherwise decorated egg (kraslice) is the most recognizable symbol of Czech Easter. Girls decorate Easter eggs to give them to boys on Easter Monday. There are many Easter egg decorating techniques and the more elaborate ones require a certain level of skill. Different materials can be used, such as bee's wax, straw, watercolors, onion peels, picture stickers. There are no limitations to creating pretty, colorful eggs.• Pussywillow and pomlázkaYoung, live pussywillow twigs are thought to bring health and youth to anyone who is whipped with them. An Easter pomlázka (from pomladit or "make younger") is a braided whip made from pussywillow twigs. It has been used for centuries by boys who go caroling on Easter Monday and symbolically whip girls on their back. In the past, pomlázka was also used by the farmer's wife to whip the livestock and everyone in the household, including men and children. There would be no Czech Easter without the pomlázka. Another czech habits, typical especially in the mountains is to douse a girl with water - it has a similar symbolic meaning as the pomlázka.Boys used to make their own pomlázkas in the past (the more twigs, the more difficult it was to braid one), but this tradition and skill is long gone and pomlázkas can be bought in stores and street stands. Some men don't even bother and use a single twig or even a wooden spoon!This tradition is still largely upheld, especially in villages and small towns, although it may have lost its symbolism and romance and is now performed mainly for fun. Some boys and men seem to have forgotten that the whipping is supposed to be only symbolic and girls don't always like that. The reward has also changed - food, money and shots of plum brandy (slivovice) (or wine in my region) are often given instead of or in addition to painted eggs and candy. So by early afternoon, groups of drunk men can be seen staggering along the roads... All that aside, Easter remains one of the most joyful holidays on the Czech calendar. But I think that many men confuse this feast with beating woman and drinking and they forgot the mentioned symbolism and also the christian tradition..Regarding food, for my family is typical to cook a special dish - a chicken roll with green herbs and plants (blowball, chive,...)For my region I come from - the South Moravia - is also typical that men dressed in traditional moravian folklor clothes (costumes) come to visit their girls and they are singing moravian songs (about wine and love...)
1) what does it mean culture - how could be a group described as a culture:I agree with Hofstede that a group could be called culture if its members share the same institutions, values, behaviours, traditions… According to the English – Czech Explanatory Dictionary, culture is “a form or type of civilization of a certain race or nation”. But I think it is very misguided to designate a group as a culture – because in this case its members are supposed to be a group with similar behaviour, institutions,… But we have to respect that its members are different personalities with their own view of thinking, different opinions… As a sociologist, I can say responsibly, that there is not any right or wrong definition of culture, race, nation or any other “group”.. I only think that a common view is that culture is a group of people who share the same values, have the same traditions. Considering this point of view we can talk about “west culture”, “European” culture, “Moslem” culture and everybody would know what we mean even though it is impossible to think that millions of Europeans share exactly the same values…2) How can we define the "microculture of our videoconferences"To define the culture we share with the students from Aberystwyth is very difficult.. For me, it is a specific culture of students from many countries all over the world. I was already thinking about this topic (about our lectures and a shared cuture) before we got this homework. It was one of the first lectures when I said to myself – isn’t is great that there is student from Japan sitting next to the students from China and Russia, people from Czech Republic discussing the topic “communism” with the students from China… I like this “multicultural” world and I appreciate that we can learn from each other about different traditions, cultures, habits.. That is what I like about our “videoconference culture”. I think we cant say that we are a group with specific culture or we are a culture, but at least we can say that we are one “videoconference culture” from 10.00 to 11.30 p.m. every Wednesday... For me, the teachers are definitely members of the group and that is what I like about the lectures, there is nobody more than anybody else and we discuss every topic openly. It depends on the lecture and specific topic, sometimes I fell as part of a culture of Masaryk University (and I am proud of being one of our students, for example when we were talking about communism) sometimes I don’t see any differences between our students and students on the other side of screen.3) What about Czech Easter habits?Many Czech Easter symbols are related to spring and the beginning of new life (a bunny, a chick, a little kitten)• Easter Eggs and krasliceThe hand-painted or otherwise decorated egg (kraslice) is the most recognizable symbol of Czech Easter. Girls decorate Easter eggs to give them to boys on Easter Monday. There are many Easter egg decorating techniques and the more elaborate ones require a certain level of skill. Different materials can be used, such as bee's wax, straw, watercolors, onion peels, picture stickers. There are no limitations to creating pretty, colorful eggs.• Pussywillow and pomlázkaYoung, live pussywillow twigs are thought to bring health and youth to anyone who is whipped with them. An Easter pomlázka (from pomladit or "make younger") is a braided whip made from pussywillow twigs. It has been used for centuries by boys who go caroling on Easter Monday and symbolically whip girls on their back. In the past, pomlázka was also used by the farmer's wife to whip the livestock and everyone in the household, including men and children. There would be no Czech Easter without the pomlázka. Another czech habits, typical especially in the mountains is to douse a girl with water - it has a similar symbolic meaning as the pomlázka.Boys used to make their own pomlázkas in the past (the more twigs, the more difficult it was to braid one), but this tradition and skill is long gone and pomlázkas can be bought in stores and street stands. Some men don't even bother and use a single twig or even a wooden spoon!This tradition is still largely upheld, especially in villages and small towns, although it may have lost its symbolism and romance and is now performed mainly for fun. Some boys and men seem to have forgotten that the whipping is supposed to be only symbolic and girls don't always like that. The reward has also changed - food, money and shots of plum brandy (slivovice) (or wine in my region) are often given instead of or in addition to painted eggs and candy. So by early afternoon, groups of drunk men can be seen staggering along the roads... All that aside, Easter remains one of the most joyful holidays on the Czech calendar. But I think that many men confuse this feast with beating woman and drinking and they forgot the mentioned symbolism and also the christian tradition..Regarding food, for my family is typical to cook a special dish - a chicken roll with green herbs and plants (blowball, chive,...)For my region I come from - the South Moravia - is also typical that men dressed in traditional moravian folklor clothes (costumes) come to visit their girls and they are singing moravian songs (about wine and love...)
Positives of Communism discussion
positives of communism
Communism like all political system (or if you want, ideologies) had both negatives and positives. We cannot claim that one system is absolutely perfect and another is totally bad. This is not possible and that´s the reason why people prefer different systems – they have various values and everybody finds something convenient for him in “his” system.Now, I would like to report about some positives of communism in former Czechoslovakia.Firstly, there was practically no unemployment. Everybody had to be employed, otherwise he could be sent to prison. People worked and earned money hence you did not see homeless people or beggars in streets.Secondly, it was much easier than nowadays to marry and have children, because the young families had some advantages and support from state. For example, they could take newly-wedding loans, which were very lucrative for them. Hence, the rate of natality was quite high, what is something really different from today – for example, in 1961 the proportion of children in age 0-14 was 26 % of population, in 2001 only 17%. On the other hand, the proportion of people in age 65+ was in 1961 7,5 % and in 2001 13%.Granted, many people critisise that in fact, it was impossible to travel abroad – especially to western countries. However, if you were a member of some cultural group, you had good chance to visit many countries because you represented your country. For example, the folklore group from our town visited during the communist era Great Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium ect.Although I am not the fan of communism, as I mentioned in the beginning, it had its positives and many people say that their lives were happy. I think it was a good era for workers and also for people who did not have big ambitions, but it was discriminating system anyway. Michaela
Communism like all political system (or if you want, ideologies) had both negatives and positives. We cannot claim that one system is absolutely perfect and another is totally bad. This is not possible and that´s the reason why people prefer different systems – they have various values and everybody finds something convenient for him in “his” system.Now, I would like to report about some positives of communism in former Czechoslovakia.Firstly, there was practically no unemployment. Everybody had to be employed, otherwise he could be sent to prison. People worked and earned money hence you did not see homeless people or beggars in streets.Secondly, it was much easier than nowadays to marry and have children, because the young families had some advantages and support from state. For example, they could take newly-wedding loans, which were very lucrative for them. Hence, the rate of natality was quite high, what is something really different from today – for example, in 1961 the proportion of children in age 0-14 was 26 % of population, in 2001 only 17%. On the other hand, the proportion of people in age 65+ was in 1961 7,5 % and in 2001 13%.Granted, many people critisise that in fact, it was impossible to travel abroad – especially to western countries. However, if you were a member of some cultural group, you had good chance to visit many countries because you represented your country. For example, the folklore group from our town visited during the communist era Great Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium ect.Although I am not the fan of communism, as I mentioned in the beginning, it had its positives and many people say that their lives were happy. I think it was a good era for workers and also for people who did not have big ambitions, but it was discriminating system anyway. Michaela
21.3.
21.3...positives of commuunism,...
21.31) As noted above, the social care about mothers was generous and it became more stronger in the beggining of 70s and then in Husak’s era… Government passed a pro-natality law which, in combination of high number of post-war born women at productive age caused a baby-boom at that time…For example, mothers were given special social contributions for childern school things, their clothes,… (in 1974 and 1975 it reached its top - 194,2 and 191,8 thousand childern were born)… And also the model of family and its position in the society was a little bit different from now– for the young family at that time was typical to spend all the free-time togehter and they also concentrate all the activities to the family circle.Another advantage which is very difficult to find sufficient arguments for, was the social cohesion between people. Also Marx said, that people fight in capitalism like eagles but in socialism they share more together (maybe the poorness and desperacy..*), they were not so ambitious and care more for each other than in this „anonymus“ world.The most visible positive for many people could be that the gulf between „the top five“ and the others wasn’t so deep, the „social scissors“ are more splayed in contemporary society and it causes societal tensions. I mean that the idea of communism was „for all the same“ but the capitalistic slogan sound something like „who tries he deserves“.. For example, the number of „poor people“ was thanks to full employment, government’s generous help for families and other social contributions very low.. It’s fact that the poverty became more visible after 1989. Concerning emplyment, which has very much to do with the topic of poverty, there was almost nobody unemployed in the era of communism, but now, although the rate of unemployment has been declining since 2003, it tis still about 7,7%.But there are no real positives for me!!! I think that some of socialist ideas, propagated by Marx,Engels were not bad at all, but they have arised from absolutely different background…And theory about socialism which leads to communism maybe sounds nice but the reality is very different from it. This is the reason I always vote for the right wing, I want the freedom of speech, freedom of move and I don’t want communist to have control over my country anymore!!!2) A) Talking about last fifty yrs, the best thing was that the communist regime has broken down as we already said. But there are also many other important events for our country – the entry into the EU has moved the Czech republic closer to the advanced european democracies and led us to share more with them..Even that there are many disadventages and the voices of eurosceptics are very strong, it is very important to us to be a part of the EU..B) The worst thing was the lack of freedom under communist supremacy…I think that that time under Soviets has fixed something very typical and sad to the czech character, something what is incomprehensible for other nations ..And that is what I find as the worst.. The Communist regime used inherent Czech nationalism to create xenophobic attitudes towards anyone who came from the outside world and/or who differed in any significant way from the accepted "collective" way of behaving within the "nation."I don’t want to generalize but it is also very typical for many czech people to underestimates themselves..and not only for the „common“ people, it is also typical for czech political leaders, to follow the allies but not to ask for anyhing and be absolutely not-assertive…C) How does our country enrich the world? I think that there were born so many excellent artists (Antonin Slavicek, Emil Filla, Toyen, Olbram Zoubek,…), musicians and harmonists (Bedrich Smetana, Antonin Dvorak,…) so we definitely can say that those people have enriched the world. The czech medicine, especially surgery plastic, as I know, is very well developed and czech doctors are ones of the best specialist in the world. And we also have many important inventors!!For example, Otto Wichterle has invented contact lines, Karel Schinzel has introduced a coloured photography or Prokop Diviš has invented a lightning rod…3) Regarding videoconferences, I’m very satisfied and keen on it! I haven’t had any experiences before and I’m very glad I’ve enrolled this course! I think this is the most effective way of communication between students and I think it can motivate us to be better in debates, to prepade the arguments and so on.. It’s also very interesting that we meet students from all over the world, talking about different cultures, traditions, … I really like it and I don’t have any recommendations or complaints or anything else..
21.31) As noted above, the social care about mothers was generous and it became more stronger in the beggining of 70s and then in Husak’s era… Government passed a pro-natality law which, in combination of high number of post-war born women at productive age caused a baby-boom at that time…For example, mothers were given special social contributions for childern school things, their clothes,… (in 1974 and 1975 it reached its top - 194,2 and 191,8 thousand childern were born)… And also the model of family and its position in the society was a little bit different from now– for the young family at that time was typical to spend all the free-time togehter and they also concentrate all the activities to the family circle.Another advantage which is very difficult to find sufficient arguments for, was the social cohesion between people. Also Marx said, that people fight in capitalism like eagles but in socialism they share more together (maybe the poorness and desperacy..*), they were not so ambitious and care more for each other than in this „anonymus“ world.The most visible positive for many people could be that the gulf between „the top five“ and the others wasn’t so deep, the „social scissors“ are more splayed in contemporary society and it causes societal tensions. I mean that the idea of communism was „for all the same“ but the capitalistic slogan sound something like „who tries he deserves“.. For example, the number of „poor people“ was thanks to full employment, government’s generous help for families and other social contributions very low.. It’s fact that the poverty became more visible after 1989. Concerning emplyment, which has very much to do with the topic of poverty, there was almost nobody unemployed in the era of communism, but now, although the rate of unemployment has been declining since 2003, it tis still about 7,7%.But there are no real positives for me!!! I think that some of socialist ideas, propagated by Marx,Engels were not bad at all, but they have arised from absolutely different background…And theory about socialism which leads to communism maybe sounds nice but the reality is very different from it. This is the reason I always vote for the right wing, I want the freedom of speech, freedom of move and I don’t want communist to have control over my country anymore!!!2) A) Talking about last fifty yrs, the best thing was that the communist regime has broken down as we already said. But there are also many other important events for our country – the entry into the EU has moved the Czech republic closer to the advanced european democracies and led us to share more with them..Even that there are many disadventages and the voices of eurosceptics are very strong, it is very important to us to be a part of the EU..B) The worst thing was the lack of freedom under communist supremacy…I think that that time under Soviets has fixed something very typical and sad to the czech character, something what is incomprehensible for other nations ..And that is what I find as the worst.. The Communist regime used inherent Czech nationalism to create xenophobic attitudes towards anyone who came from the outside world and/or who differed in any significant way from the accepted "collective" way of behaving within the "nation."I don’t want to generalize but it is also very typical for many czech people to underestimates themselves..and not only for the „common“ people, it is also typical for czech political leaders, to follow the allies but not to ask for anyhing and be absolutely not-assertive…C) How does our country enrich the world? I think that there were born so many excellent artists (Antonin Slavicek, Emil Filla, Toyen, Olbram Zoubek,…), musicians and harmonists (Bedrich Smetana, Antonin Dvorak,…) so we definitely can say that those people have enriched the world. The czech medicine, especially surgery plastic, as I know, is very well developed and czech doctors are ones of the best specialist in the world. And we also have many important inventors!!For example, Otto Wichterle has invented contact lines, Karel Schinzel has introduced a coloured photography or Prokop Diviš has invented a lightning rod…3) Regarding videoconferences, I’m very satisfied and keen on it! I haven’t had any experiences before and I’m very glad I’ve enrolled this course! I think this is the most effective way of communication between students and I think it can motivate us to be better in debates, to prepade the arguments and so on.. It’s also very interesting that we meet students from all over the world, talking about different cultures, traditions, … I really like it and I don’t have any recommendations or complaints or anything else..
Comments on Communism
Positives of the Communist era in the Czech Republic
1) The Communist era in former Czechoslovakia introduced a very effective and generous social system (e.g. mothers can stay with their children at home for three years, they are given allowance from the state and when they want to go back to work, their employer must give them the same position they left those three (or less) years ago).EVIDENCE: According to OECD (2005) the Czech Republic had the most effective social system in the world which needs the least money from the GDP (gross domestic product). It is even better than Denmark or Sweden; and the Czech Republic has the smallest ratio of the poor (4%) in the world. This social system is the heritage from the Communist era and no government dares to introduce major changes in this as most people consider the system as a standard.2) The Communist era brought a high social respect to the historically “poorest” working professions.EVIDENCE: For example, miners in Communist Czechoslovakia had the highest salaries among workers (much higher than white-collar workers), they enjoyed special priviledges, such as free/or almost free holidays, free theatre/concert tickets in private lives; and huge respect in “policial sphere”, for instance, they could even keep the word “God” in their traditional greeting.
1) The Communist era in former Czechoslovakia introduced a very effective and generous social system (e.g. mothers can stay with their children at home for three years, they are given allowance from the state and when they want to go back to work, their employer must give them the same position they left those three (or less) years ago).EVIDENCE: According to OECD (2005) the Czech Republic had the most effective social system in the world which needs the least money from the GDP (gross domestic product). It is even better than Denmark or Sweden; and the Czech Republic has the smallest ratio of the poor (4%) in the world. This social system is the heritage from the Communist era and no government dares to introduce major changes in this as most people consider the system as a standard.2) The Communist era brought a high social respect to the historically “poorest” working professions.EVIDENCE: For example, miners in Communist Czechoslovakia had the highest salaries among workers (much higher than white-collar workers), they enjoyed special priviledges, such as free/or almost free holidays, free theatre/concert tickets in private lives; and huge respect in “policial sphere”, for instance, they could even keep the word “God” in their traditional greeting.
Monday, March 5, 2007
welcome
Hi all,
because of the problems with the blog form the last term, we have decided to start a new one. This is for our comments - for spring 2007.
Libor
because of the problems with the blog form the last term, we have decided to start a new one. This is for our comments - for spring 2007.
Libor
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