Comments by "Emanon" (@Emanon...) on "Review: Dictators Without Borders by Alexander Cooley and John Heathershaw" video.

You must distinguish between authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. Most authoritarian regimes, although with restrictions on personal freedoms, have a greater range of civil liberties provided to their citizens. As long as they mostly tow the line, of course. Examples of this are Thailand, Singapore and Turkey. I don't know if there is a set definition of either, but totalitarianism usually involves a certain moral belief and behaviour, which is strictly enforced by the state ie. China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia.
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StnlN2 On that we agree. And that is partly the problem with "exporting" democracy to nations with weak institutions (usually stripped down by the rulers) and low levels of education. Iraq and Afghanistan are good examples of this.
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Well Islam certainly has a challenge, but no more than very conservative hindu or christian views eg. Georgia and India. Good examples of nascent democracies are Turkey, Lebanon, Tunisia and Malaysia. Don't get me wrong, they have their problems, but overall the institutions and public awareness exists to prevent a lapse to dictatorship. What Erdogan is currently doing in Turkey is imo no different than what's going on in Poland and Hungary. I largely think it's an issue of education, as you will see large groups of especially muslim youth that have read and understood their religion and openly challenge what defines the cultural rules in society.
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Islam IS a political religion. So is christianity in the US and judaism in Israel (to a lesser degree). Sharia is not set in stone. It is defined by the culture and contemporary interpretation of holy texts. The Problem, as I stated before, is the illiteracy and lack of education. Just like priests in the middle ages were the only ones who could read latin, today in Muslim countries, you are not allowed to challenge the (politically sanctioned) dogma, and will face heavy media and judicial pressure for doing so. Islam has not had a "Great Council" of interpreting and reforming islamic laws since the 1100's. Hence the fucked up and backwards thinking in those countries. The basic problem is that it is not in the rulers' interests to promote development and education. But there is a hope for the future. Young muslims are more critical towards blind obedience and faith as set by the powers that be.
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Eastern Europe: They have not been forced to jack shit. Again, get your facts straight. They didn't receive ANY of the asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan during the crisis a few years back. They are unwilling to even commit to their international obligations, let alone try to solve the issue with the EU. The Irony is that internally in the EU, the greatest amount of migrants are from Poland and Hungary. They are hypocrites and now moving towards further restrictions in personal freedoms and eroding their own civil institutions.
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That's a matter of opinion. Yes, no one should be forced to. It should be a humane response to fellow human beings in need. If not maybe solidarity with other countries ie. Greece Italy and Spain who are getting shafted? Poland has the highest discrepancy between actual migrant population and percieved influx. Again: Education and critical thinking. The rest is a matter of opinion and ideology I guess... Have a good one
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Well, there we disagree strongly. Firt of all, your views on "honor killing, female genital mutilation, polygamy etc." is uninformed about how people actually live their lives around the globe. You see people as "barbarians" who are from other areas. I see them as human beings who've had a shit draw in life. On a perfect planet Earth, yes, we would have no borders. That's not the case, however. While having strong immigration laws is fine, denying refugees of war, no matter the cost, is for me "barbaric and medieval". And no, London is still pretty white. You are factually wrong. Look it up. It's not a zero sum game. But I digress. My point is that there is a short way from nationalism to policies that limit civil liberties even in Eastern Europe, and that is due to the lack of information & general education in the populace. Respectfully, even you have demonstrated on severel occasions a lacking knowledge in areas yet a very strong belief in your views despite of that. That's part of the problem imo. While I dont' disagree that culture and nationality plays a major part, the greatest hindrance to democratization is abject poverty, lack of education and lack of opportunity.
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Stnl N2: 1) London: You are correct about the statistical data. What it doesn't say in the first 4-5 lines however are number of "new" immigrants ie. 1st or 2nd generation. That number is 23%, Which is still a large number, yes, but the majority are British of British (UK and Commonwealth), African and Indian descent. To consider Caribbeans, Africans and Indians that came to England 100-200 years ago as foreigners is a gross misrepresentation of what is defined as British. Secondly are the 2 mio. (recent) Polish migrants in the EU also to be considered "diluting" the national culture? 2) Islam: Of course I concede to that. I'm not here to "win" arguments, dude. A youtube video is nice, just be careful with the source and the underlying agenda. Haven't seen the video, I'll just take your word for it. But honestly I'm tired of loose quotes and discussions out of context on Islam. Yes. Sex Slavery was a part of Islam in wartime 12-1300 years ago. To some (ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Shabab) it still is. That doesn't mean that the large part of muslims tolerate this - especially their wife ;) Islam (and christianity, judaism, buddhism etc..) like technology, is a tool in your daily life. You can use it to advocate slavery and murder of infidels. And you can use it to advocate charity, peace and tolerance. Right now, it seems the fucked up guys down there are using it for oppression of women, trampling the rights of the poor and for advocating wars. *Sigh* I'm gonna have a drink... Just keep an open mind and take care. Cheers
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Brilliant video. Keep up the great work!
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