Posted by Declan on August 29, 2006, at 19:52:14
In reply to Re: Polarisation, posted by AuntieMel on August 29, 2006, at 14:09:55
Maybe there's a perceptual problem. You know how we all tend to underestimate the role we play in generating the response we observe and frequently object to? We assume that our observing position is neutral, and from this we can draw an accurate judgement of the other. But the other person/whatever has a different story going on, which, needless to say, we do not accept.
As a small example or an aside, I have read (and it may not be true) that to a follower of Islam (or one of its variants) the interpersonal psychology involved in a supermarket checkout is unnacceptable. Instead you are meant to go into the carpet shop and bargain, drink tea and look at the photos of each others children. The quick throughput of a checkout is felt to be demeaning.
Mahommed Atta had done a thesis on the architecture of Aleppo. His parents had been relocated in Cairo(?) to a highrise where a certain kind of traditional life was no longer possible. (Please, please, do not assume I am trying to find extenuating circumstances.)
I wish I lived in Canberra. I'd enrol at the Department of Islamic Studies in a flash. It would be so easy. Then I'd be employable.
poster:Declan
thread:680877
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060809/msgs/681280.html