Milad Doroudian – Page 2 – The Speaker News Journal

The vaccination conundrum: collective irrationality

February 5, 2015February 5, 2015 by Milad Doroudian

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To vaccinate or not to vaccinate is a choice which is undoubtedly the right of every person in the “free world.” Yet, when the discussion of the anti-vaccination movement comes up it becomes immediately obvious that we are not talking about individuals. At least not people who are able to make individual choices. Rather, we see collective asininity, new forms of group-think, and irrational mob-parentage.

The measles outbreak which has made headlines across the United States and in Canada has been worrying those of us whose rationality goes beyond the idea of what is “green” and what is not. Those of us who have an infinitesimal amount of knowledge of basic 6th grade science are able to discern that not vaccinating your children is a bad thing. History is our proof.

Prior to the invention of the vaccine, people were dying, and they were dying in egregious numbers. The number of children affected by polio, influenza, and who knows what other ghastly pestilence before the vaccine was exceptionally worrying. People actually died. Many children would not see the age of 10.

Parents in those days also lived in fear, yet they did not live in fear of a scientifically inconclusive study that vaccines might have a side effect, whose rarity is so wide it is laughable. No. They lived in real fear that something like a fever could kill their son or daughter. They, whose level of education was probably lower than the average person today, lived in reality, while parents today live in asinine foolishness.

Yet what could account for such lack of reason? Collective mentality, not so different from the environmental movement, vegans, and so on. In fact many of these parent put their children at serious risk, only to feel welcomed part of some sort of perverse community where parents just “know better” not to vaccinate their children.

When you ask these people the simple question of “Why?” they will give you the same reasons in repetition. They are in an essence unable to think for themselves, but follow some sort of trend believing that they are doing their children good. Not so different how the mysticism in a community in Canada led to the death of a child because they refused chemotherapy, and rather took on “natural” forms of medicine.

The irony behind all of this is that we live in an age where anyone can access studies by scientists and doctors, yet so many people chose irrationality over reason, they choose collective bromides over individual thought. The fact that they are able to make such choices puts them amid those who are lucky enough to do so, all the while thousands die of influenza in some African countries, would they opt out from a chance to save their children?

Once reality hits, these “health-conscious” parents and children will begin to get sick — something which is already happening, and the most unthinkable — and as children begin to die as a result of their need to “feel welcomed” by the mob or “feel” as they are part of some greater collective group. perhaps they might see the error of their ways. This is a conflict of delusion, and reality.

Rant by Milad Doroudian

Image By NIAID

Historically illiterate: Canada’s baffling quandary

February 2, 2015 by Milad Doroudian

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VANCOUVER, Canada — The fondness that I hold for this nation and its institutions is something which has been instilled in me since my youth. I always nitpicked and stacked my books on Canadian and British history, making sure that I knew the stories of the people who have not only let me live in this country, but also become a part of their culture, and heritage.

Democracy, constitutional law, and liberty are ideals which have been passed down from the English-speaking peoples and which have permeated into different arms across different parts of the world, from Australia and New Zealand to the West Indies to, arguably, the United States, and of course Canada. The nation which shared great sacrifices alongside Great Britain in both world wars, and also provided its mother country with a great deal of aid

Undeniably Canadians have formed an identity which is unexampled across the globe, particularly because of its parsimony to its giant neighbor, yet we forget that the institutions which still govern this nation are frankly British. They are simply cogeneric, which means that to an extent the history of Britain, and even that of the Commonwealth — old and new — is a compulsory part of ours.

Black, Bliss, Pearson. All great historians which have had an immeasurable effect on the manner in which I view the history of a nation, who to this day remains heavily tied to its motherland. However there is a baffling quandary that is affecting most of those that are in my age group presently: there is an incessant approval of apathy towards this fact, and any history for that matter.

When you ask a young Canadian today what he/she is most proud of they will proudly answer: Canada’s natural beauty. Not the Canadian Pacific Railway which is a crowning achievement of human reason, and was built through unthinkable drudgery to connect this grand nation together. Another may say that he is proud of the fact that Canadians are nice — an asinine bromide — rather than say that to date Canada has participated in 54 peacekeeping missions around the world.

We live in an age where the greatest Canadian is not Alexander Graham Bell which has left humanity a gift which they could not fathom, but rather David Suzuki, who become a millionaire through collective activism. An age where people no longer read of the great strides and pains of Federick Banting, Terry Fox, and John A. Macdonlad; rather of the whims of Rob Ford, Justin Bieber, and Michael Buble.

What is most worrying, however, is not that people do not know Canadian history, but rather that they do not know the most basic functions of its government, both at the provincial and federal levels. They do not realize the crowning glory of British democracy which still runs smoothly today. They are ready to attack Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau and so on blindly without actually understanding any particular issues at hand, nor the political processes which make our lower and upper houses battle it out in the name Westminster-style democracy.

Still, the issue is not that most youth fail to read any British history, rather that they even make no attempt at Canadian. Where the source of this philistinism derives from one cannot say, especially in a culture where a library card is gratuitous. Even more so in a culture where information is so widely accessible.

Do not be fooled by the common university student who at first glance might seem intelligent because of his/her ability to quote some famous men and women. Their understanding of history, culture, and the arts starts with the “Introduction” and ends at “Chapter 19.” They usually are against mainstream politics, but cannot name the mechanism and historical principles that produced them. They are the ones who embrace deconstructionism readily, without grasping the ideas and basics of what they should be “deconstructing.”

They do not read the history behind parliament, capitalism, socialism, Canadian conservatism and liberalism, yet both those on the left and right attack them, without expanding their historical research beyond half a Wikipedia article. It is apparent that we are now in an age where our youth is located in an eerie world of “educated” illiteracy.

Rant By Milad Doroudian

Image by Tamar

Hong Kong streets “filled” with pro-democracy protesters

February 1, 2015 by Milad Doroudian

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Hong Kong experienced another, much smaller, pro-democracy protest this Sunday when close to 13,000 people peacefully took to the streets.

The organizers of the protest hoped to achieve a turnout of 50,000, but were disappointed to find out that only a few took to holding the yellow umbrella — the sign of protest that dominated Hong Kong last year before the government forced the protesters into submission.

Two thousand police officers stood by to watch the demonstrators go by in Hong Kong’s most prestigious financial sector. There have been no reports of violence or clashes, but only chants for freedom and democracy that echoed between the high-rise buildings.

The people that showed up were spotted carrying British Union Jack flags, symbolizing the city’s past status as a British protectorate before it was turned over to the Chinese in 1997. Although the British period was undeniably an era of instability, it was one in which the virtues of British democracy were bestowed on the residents of Hong Kong — virtues which still permeate Hong Kong’s anglophile culture.

Last year the protesters demanded to be given more democratic choice in their search for a proper leader for the city, which resulted in vast Occupy-type settlements and even barricades across sections of the city. This time the protest did not reach the same level of commitment.

The South China Morning Post ran an article where they showed an interview with Daisy Chan, one of the organizers of the protest. Chan stated that the low-turnout “only shows that Hong Kongers are no longer satisfied with conventional ways of protest”.

In another report, Chan said, “In the past, these citizens were less political than they are right now. The Occupy movement woke people up.”

Despite Beijing’s steadfast refusal to defer to the protesters, it conceded to give the city the possibility to select from a group of leaders hand-picked by Beijing.

Although hardly anything that resembles democratic conduct, the idea is still not ratified and will only be implemented after 2017, if ever.

The facts are, however, that the turnout was minimal when compared with the roaring crowds that made international headlines for weeks last year, and that after the crowds began to die down, police engaged in meticulous questioning which, even though did not lead to criminal charges, must have had an effect on the general populace.

It is essential to remember that China is a despotic nation, and that the government is putting on a relatively pleasant face should not detract attention away from its coercive nature. In this China faces international pressure, compounded by Hong Kong’s youth, who refuse to depart from their ideas about the intense government regulations that fill the city as thickly as does its smog.

It is not surprising therefore that many of the people who attended were carrying banners that had, “Reject fake democracy, we want real universal suffrage,” written on them in large, bold letters.

Whether or not what is happening now in Hong Kong will result in large demonstrations similar to the ones which shook the world last year is hard to tell; the real question is how the Chinese government will respond if it does.

Analysis by Milad Doroudian

Image by Pasu Au Yeung

Israel moves to enlarge West Bank settlements

February 12, 2015February 1, 2015 by Milad Doroudian

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Despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s firm reversal of the Housing Ministry’s bid for the expansion of settlements into the West Bank, Ari Uriel, Israel’s minister of construction, decided to go forward with the plan of building an additional 450 housing units in the Eitam Hill area, just east of Efrat.

A total of $215,000 (over 800,000 shekels) have already been spent on an architect and a contractor who are currently implementing the designs for the settlements.

The settlements will be built east of the famous barrier that separates Israel from the West Bank, and will constitute another move by the right-wing government in their hope of pushing their barriers deeper into territory claimed by Israel.

This announcement came only days before a Palestinian man was fatally shot by Israeli forces as he was spotted throwing a firebomb near Nablus in the West Bank.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), as well as other Arab organizations, has condemned Israel’s actions in the West Bank as thoroughly illegal and unsettling. In fact Turkey has gone as far as to suggest that this infringement of international law will undoubtedly lead to even more instability in the area, and world politics as a whole.

In fact a statement released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry said, “This Israeli action shows that they neglect the Palestinians’ recent international initiative.”

Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Badr Abdelatty has made it exceptionally clear that Egypt condemns Israel’s actions and fears they will have grave consequences for the peace talks that Egypt has been mediating between Israel and Palestine.

Perhaps the most interesting comment came from Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who said, “The Israeli decision is not surprising when you look at it in the context of the culture of impunity Israel enjoys from the international community”– in an attempt to show that it is really the global community’s fault for letting Israel act like this.

Only yesterday, 22 representatives of European nations converged at the entrance of the Silesian Sister Convent to protest Israel’s expansion, making a spectacle in the small town in the West Bank

A more concerning fact is the amount of tension that has resulted with regard to the United States, Israel’s longtime ally and friend, as a result of Israel expansion into Palestinian territory, especially for the Obama administration, which had been called by some leading intellectuals, such as Ben Shapiro, “anti-Semitic”.

Although Netanyahu has not commented on the situation, in his most recent cabinet meeting he once again expressed his concern of the ever-increasingly imminent terrorist threats to Israel “from all fronts,” referring particularly to the egregious attack on Sinai this past week that led to the deaths of 30 people.

Whoever has a claim over the West Bank, we can be sure of one thing: it will lead to more political and possibly even physical conflict in the future.

Analysis by Milad Doroudian

Image by Rafael Medina

Neon and history: Museum of Vancouver’s permanent light show

January 29, 2015 by Milad Doroudian

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The 50s and 60s were gaudy times in Vancouver, not only because of the people, but also the neon lights that cluttered most of its main streets. The incessant buzzing sound in the Museum of Vancouver’s Neon Vancouver/Ugly Vancouver exhibit is an impassioned window into what Vancouver might have looked like before it was this boring.

The exhibit, which is run by the museum’s curator Joan Seidl and was created by Revolve Design, has been open since 2011. It is a riveting look at a period when people did not have to worry about electric bills shutting their business down, and lobbying did not have much pull in town hall.

The MOV website claims that there were around 19,000 signs in Vancouver through the uncanny decades of fluorescent debauchery.

“The exhibition raises interesting questions about how we collectively construct the way our city is portrayed,” says Neon Vancouver | Ugly Vancouver curator, Joan Seidl, Director of Exhibitions and Collections at MOV. “There was a real push in the 60s and 70s to redefine Vancouver as a green, natural space. While we may love neon today, there was a real outcry against neon signs, which represented a more industrial, urban city.”

Yet there is more to neon, at least back then, than meets the eye — or better said, burns it. It was undoubtedly a sign of economic growth, at least among small business owners, whose efforts in trying to catch people’s attentions with the most luminous designs usually paid off, until the streets simply got too busy, and even too shiny.

Vancouver, experienced a surge of industrial expansion, especially in the 60s, which translated into relatively better wages and generally a better standard of living. Still, for many this did not mean that they wanted neon signs taking over their city. The contrast must have been exceptional, between the nature that surrounds Vancouver, and the signs that buzzed in the streets.

The surprise that is not so evident however is that a great deal of Vancouverites have failed to see the exhibit, let alone visit the Museum of Vancouver which holds so much treasure-in historical format. It seems that when I ask someone my age if they have seen or heard about it, it is astonishing to find out that they did not. Not only that, but they did not know that at one point in its history Vancouver was lighted up with pink and red, and not just grey concrete, and blue glass.

By Milad Doroudian

Images by Suzanne Rushton.

The Great Russian Sacrifice- the overlooked Eastern Front

December 28, 2015January 29, 2015 by Milad Doroudian

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Twenty-four million dead. That is the egregious number that few people have overlooked in the decades since the end of the Second World War — number which symbolizes the dead Russian men, women, and children who died defending their motherland. It is no wonder then that Russians refer to the war as “The Great Patriotic War.”

Since Putin has been in power, which now seems like an exceptionally long time, every May Victory Day, as well as every chance he gets, he reminds the West and the Russian people that it was the Soviets that bore the greatest weight in the war, and that it is they who sacrificed the most. With morbid statistics like that, it is hard to argue with him.

In 1941, Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa which was a 3 million man invasion of the Soviet Union that resulted in the greatest offensive over the widest front in human history. With lighting speed — almost literally — the Wehrmacht managed by 1941 to reach the outskirts of Moscow, even the metro station of its suburbs. The destruction and devastation that the German army left from Poland to Stalin’s capital was unthinkable.

Yet most of our history books are filled with the heroic doings of the West, from the famous D-Day landing to the North African heroism and French resistance. The Eastern Front however was a completely different type of war, that outstretched and out-tumbled the title of “total war.” One which Hollywood has not made many movies about, not just because of its grim nature, but because it is truly an example of the savage mannerism to which humanity has descended. It was, in all its fury, a conflict of survival.

By 1942, the Nazi flag had reached the Volga in Stalingrad, where some historians say the outcome of the war itself was decided. The number of dead in the city reached close to 2 million, roughly equal between both sides. If we take the entire casualty list of the British and American sides it would not amount to that number. Stalingrad was without a doubt a turning point in the war, although not the only one. If the Germans would have taken the city, it might have caused the collapse of the Eastern Front.

Stalin had ordered that the German army would be stopped in his city, not only because it held his name in a suit of vanity, but strategically the Volga was essential to the oil fields in the Caucasus. Only a few weeks before the Germans reached the city he proclaimed his famous line that permeated across the U.S.S.R: “Not a step back!”

If it would have been lost, a counterattack would have been that much harder. Yet, the harsh conditions that the Russian winter produced, along with the vast armies behind the Urals resulted in one of the greatest and longest battles. Operation Uranus, which commenced on November 19th, 1942, was the turning point in the battle itself which finally led to a much awaited Soviet victory.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt told Stalin in 1944 that “the siege of September 13, 1942 to January 31, 1943 will inspire forever the hearts of all free people. Their glorious victory stemmed the tide of invasion and marked the turning point in the war of the Allied nations against the forces of aggression.”

Yet, the actual sacrifice, one which has rung through ages, was one that was held by both men and women who enlisted across the Soviet Union to defend that which they called their motherland. Stalin’s murderous regime mobilized millions to be sent to the front, while millions of others were dying in Siberia’s gulags.

The famous British historian, Andrew Roberts, has commented in some of his writing that the grim reality might have been that it took a Stalin, to defeat a foe like Hitler. When one considers the implications he might not be far off. In other words one brutal dictator to defeat the other.

The war was won through a two-front ordeal that put pressure on the Nazis. In other words the Allies in the West were extremely important in helping not prolong the war as a whole, but the devastation in the East, not just in Russia but across most Eastern European countries was entirely a different world-one which the volunteers of American and British armies did not experience fully. In the Soviet Union, no one was a volunteer, but was forced to fight.

We must consider the fact that the war was brought to the Soviets’ lands, and to their blood, while the American and British never saw their nations invaded, and their people massacred with such barbarity.

After the war, the Soviet Union continued its despotism, and willingness to believe in a socialist utopia brought on by unfavorable conditions. In 1991, after the Berlin wall came down, and Gorbachev gave in to the West, Stalingrad changed its name to the more humble Volgograd.

Every 6 days out of the year, however, the city changes its name back to Stalingrad for celebrations, commemorations and out of respect for the men, and women that died defending not only the physical place itself, but a relentless invader. The huge towering statue of a woman holding a sword pointed towards the West named “Mother-Motherland” now watches over the city.

Blog by Milad Doroudian

Image: Ria Navosti

Luxury hotel in Tripoli stormed by armed gunmen – 8 dead

January 28, 2015 by Milad Doroudian

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Five masked gunmen attacked the luxury hotel, Corintha, on the Mediterranean in Tripoli, Libya Tuesday killing three guards and five foreign guests. Three others were injured.

The working staff said that the men came through the doors and began shooting erratically in the main lobby, killing the guardsmen on duty, and later taking hostages inside of the hotel. A car bomb that was located in the parking lot went off as well, reports say.

Mahmoud Hamza, commander of the Special Deterrent Forces commented that the situation is currently “under control,” yet there is no sign of the five masked men who left destruction in their way.

One of the men working at that time told sources that the hotel which usually staffed British and Turkish nationals was largely empty. This is also the site where Libya’s prime minister was kidnapped in 2013.

The Libyan state is currently in a pseudo-civil war between two factions — rather two governments fighting for power. One is found in Tripoli, and the other which is internationally recognized, in Eastern Libya. In fact, ever since former Libyan ruler Omar Qaddafi’s death in 2011 Libya has been stuck in constant rifle.

Sources were not clear on what happened to the men inside the hotel. Some say that they might have blown themselves up inside, or even escaped. The flow of information has been terrible since fighting commenced last summer, leading to a great deal of the embassies in Tripoli closing shop and heading home.

Information was cleared up earlier today however as Prime Minister Joseph Muscat made it clear in a tweet that the five men were killed in an exchange of fire with police forces.

By Milad Doroudian

Image: Abdul-Jawad Elhusuni

Harper to introduce new anti-terrorism bill in Parliament

January 28, 2015January 27, 2015 by Milad Doroudian

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In light of the attacks that shook Canada at the end of last year, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has become more intensely committed to fighting terrorism at home and abroad. This coming Friday will be the day that Harper’s government will unveil new anti-terrorism legislation that will attempt to do just that.

The new bill is designed to make the verbose forces of terrorism diminish both online and on other mediums. What this means is that the new legislation will make it a crime to promote terrorism, or any sort of harmful activity, thus cutting out the arm by which foreign elements try to persuade Canadian youth to turn to violence.

In addition he said that the bill will give the police the necessary tools and powers to combat terrorism and prevent events such as the shooting of soldiers in front of war memorials — obviously alluding to the recent attack on the Canadian Parliament last year, but also to label those suspected of terrorist activities and prevent them from going on flights.

On the Oct. 22, 2014, Michael Zehad Bibeau entered Parliament Hill and murdered Col. Nathan Cirillo, who was standing guard at the National War Memorial. The attack occurred only two days after another Canadian serviceman, Patrice Vincent, was struck by a car and killed in Montreal.

At first this seems reasonable as a means to counter such despicable activities as home-grown terrorism, but a great deal of people are concerned with what the increase of Canada’s policing powers will lead to, and how it will affect Canadians individually, as well as the nation as a whole.

“To be clear,” Harper added, “In doing so, we shall be safeguarding our constitutional rights of speech, of association, of religion and all the rest.”

This comes a few weeks after the egregious attack on Charlie Hebdo office that shocked the world, and sparked talks of increasing policing measure in the European Union, and most Western countries.

“These measures are designed to help authorities stop planned attacks, get threats off our streets, criminalize the promotion of terrorism, and prevent terrorists from travelling and recruiting others,” he said in Ottawa.

Harper’s office has always been a vanguard amid Canada’s political leadership in the fight against terrorism, and although the infringement of free speech is exceptionally worrying, the climate which has bred such policies seems almost understandable. Almost.

Although it an imperative to minimize the dangers that terrorism poses, it is also exceptionally important to maintain a balance between the infringement of violent speech, and that of what may be considered as coercive speech.

When issues such as the containment of “free speech” come into play it is difficult not to feel weary, regardless of the good it maintains to set out an accomplish.

Analysis by Milad Doroudian

Image By: Style416

Amid memorials, forgotten names come to light – Carl Lutz and The Legendary Glass House in Budapest exhibit in Vancouver

January 27, 2015January 26, 2015 by Milad Doroudian

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VANCOUVER, B.C — Seventy years have gone by since the Allies liberated Auschwitz and the horrors that laid inside were made public to the world. The Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre has decided that in addition to a symbolic memorial, they will bring forgotten heroes to light.

Carl Lutz and The Legendary Glass House in Budapest exhibit is a mesmerizing ode to a man who managed to save 62,000 people by handing out fake papers and setting up a total of 76 safe-houses across Budapest. The exhibit is dedicated therefore to positivity in life, rather than to death.

Trinkets, personal belongings, memoirs, diaries and the full narratives of many of the survivors that Lutz’s bravery saved are on display, yet above all it is the stories that all of these form together which is salient. Ones which show how the moral alacrity of an individual managed against great odds to save people from their certain death in places such as Auschwitz.

Who was Carl Lutz?

Born in Switzerland to a quintessentially Swiss family, he escaped European mores and left for the United States to attend college in Washington, D.C., which led him to an inspiring –and successful mind you — career in diplomacy.

In 1942 he was appointed as vice-consul in Budapest, from where he managed to save over 10,000 children by giving them safe passage to Israel through Switzerland. However, in 1944 during the Nazi occupation, when the reality of what was happening became known across Eastern Europe, Lutz came up with an ingenious plan.

After being able to persuade the local government to allow the safe passage of 8,000 Jews by issuing letters of protection, he gave out tens of thousands that all contained a number between 1 to 8,000. He did this without ever being caught, which is incogitable. Despite this brilliant moral attainment, the safe-houses that he set up were equally essential to their escape. The most famous of these was the “Glass House,” from which the exhibition borrows its name.

The “House,” which was in fact more of an industrial storage building, functioned as a safe haven for around 3,000 people, during the most difficult period of the war when the Nazis were losing and wanted to murder as many Jews as possible before the front moved back. The logistics of providing food, and water for that many people was without a doubt mind-numbing, especially when trying to evade any suspicion from both the German army and Hungarian citizens.

During his commission, apparently one day Lutz saw a woman bleeding from gunshot wounds and drowning in the Danube river. He jumped in after her and saved her, all in front of the German firing squad that pushed her in. He took her to his car and gave her a ride to the Swiss Embassy. Today that staith is named the Car Lutz Rakpart. Incidentally he was the first Swiss-born national to be awarded the Righteous Among Nations award which is given to those who saved the lives of Jews, at the risk of their own.

The exhibition is meant to educate people on the Holocaust, but more precisely highlight the actions of Lutz that seem to have been forgotten by history in the last few decades. In addition it is a stepping stone for the collaborative efforts of the Swiss consul and like-minded Jewish institutions who want to tell his story: one of hope and dignity.

Nina Krieger, the executive director of the VHEC said of the exhibit, “The response to the Carl Lutz exhibit, particularly among students, has been very positive. Presented to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Nazi occupation of Hungary, the exhibit illuminates a story of diplomatic rescue, providing an opportunity for visitors to reflect on the complexity of moral decision-making during the Holocaust. Visitors have been particularly drawn to the artifacts and testimonies displayed alongside the travelling exhibit, which relate to the experiences of Vancouver-based Hungarian Holocaust survivors. The power of these primary sources is unparalleled, particularly for young people visiting the VHEC.”

The VHEC, founded in 1983 by survivors, aims to educate the public, not only of the events of the Holocaust but the narratives of the individuals that both perished, and survived. The Carl Lutz Exhibition ends on the 13th of March

By Milad Doroudian
Photo: Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre