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Peace.facebook.com

peace.facebook.com

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Re: Peace.facebook.com

#41

Post by sbt »

jimmybot wrote: post #36

The assumption here is that peace between nations can somehow be resolved by just communication among private citizens and individual friendships; that conflicts are just misunderstandings or that we are too prejudiced or don't have enough sympathy. I can see how that is sometimes the case, but I don't see how that is always or even commonly the case. In many conflicts, there are very real underlying issues that need…

"The assumption here is that peace between nations can somehow be resolved by just communication among private citizens and individual friendships".

No, the assumption here is that facilitating communication will help resolve a conflict. A commendable initiative by Facebook.

Re: Peace.facebook.com

#42

Post by alexandros »

Being Greek, what I despise is being framed as one half of the world's 'mortal enemy pairs' that facebook is helping fix. For one thing, we haven't fought a direct war with Turkey for nearly 90 years. Having cultural animosity between two nations is one thing, being paraded as an example of 'warring tribes' on a worldwide forum is quite another. I fear this initiative crystalises stereotypes rather than helping break them down.

Re: Peace.facebook.com

#43

Post by bandris »

lupin_sansei wrote: post #38
jimmybot wrote: post #36

The assumption here is that peace between nations can somehow be resolved by just communication among private citizens and individual friendships; that conflicts are just misunderstandings or that we are too prejudiced or don't have enough sympathy. I can see how that is sometimes the case, but I don't see how that is always or even commonly the case. In many conflicts, there are very real underlying issues that need…

"The assumption here is that peace between nations can somehow be resolved by just communication among private citizens and individual friendships" This only works when private citizens are allowed to influence government: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_peace_theory That's why 2 democracies have never gone to war.

A more detailed analysis:

http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/demowar.htm

Re: Peace.facebook.com

#44

Post by mitko »

Hm... anybody can think of a reason why the adding cross country connections seems correlated for various pairs of countries.

For example the local max on Sep 19, or the local min at Aug 21 seem to hold for most pairs of countries.

Re: Peace.facebook.com

#45

Post by ErrantX »

I've never been convinced that opages like this really have much effect.

Also it's worth pointing out that the graphs are immaterial; the people with real animosity wont be making those connections - and Facebook don't seem to be doing anything to encourage them......

Re: Peace.facebook.com

#47

Post by krolley »

chaosprophet wrote: post #37
jimmybot wrote: post #36

The assumption here is that peace between nations can somehow be resolved by just communication among private citizens and individual friendships; that conflicts are just misunderstandings or that we are too prejudiced or don't have enough sympathy. I can see how that is sometimes the case, but I don't see how that is always or even commonly the case. In many conflicts, there are very real underlying issues that need…

I agree. In fact the China has already initiated the process of building a dam over one of the major rivers to flow into India (Tsangpo-Brahmaputra), and India has asked China to put a hold to this. It is also to be noted that among the few Chinese people I have met, most seem to have a liking towards Indians and vice-versa. Also, you would not believe the extent to which Indians and Pakistanis would go to demonstrat…

They would "literally" drag Pakistanis back to their homes? Seems quite harsh.

Re: Peace.facebook.com

#48

Post by dagw »

sbt wrote: post #41
jimmybot wrote: post #36

The assumption here is that peace between nations can somehow be resolved by just communication among private citizens and individual friendships; that conflicts are just misunderstandings or that we are too prejudiced or don't have enough sympathy. I can see how that is sometimes the case, but I don't see how that is always or even commonly the case. In many conflicts, there are very real underlying issues that need…

"The assumption here is that peace between nations can somehow be resolved by just communication among private citizens and individual friendships". No, the assumption here is that facilitating communication will help resolve a conflict. A commendable initiative by Facebook.

The real assumption here is that facilitating communications will help drive up traffic and thus ad revenue. A commendable initiative by Facebook if you are one of their investors.

Re: Peace.facebook.com

#49

Post by chaosprophet »

krolley wrote: post #47
chaosprophet wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. In fact the China has already initiated the process of building a dam over one of the major rivers to flow into India (Tsangpo-Brahmaputra), and India has asked China to put a hold to this. It is also to be noted that among the few Chinese people I have met, most seem to have a liking towards Indians and vice-versa. Also, you would not believe the extent to which Indians and Pakistanis would go to demonstrat…

They would "literally" drag Pakistanis back to their homes? Seems quite harsh.

Well the Pakistanis certainly weren't complaining. They were expecting to be greeted by armed policemen scrutinizing their every move (or atleast that's how one of them put it in an interview to a newspaper).

Re: Peace.facebook.com

#50

Post by dualogy »

dagw wrote: post #48
sbt wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The assumption here is that peace between nations can somehow be resolved by just communication among private citizens and individual friendships". No, the assumption here is that facilitating communication will help resolve a conflict. A commendable initiative by Facebook.

The real assumption here is that facilitating communications will help drive up traffic and thus ad revenue. A commendable initiative by Facebook if you are one of their investors.

Well, as has been demonstrated time and again, there is not always a conflict between "private" / "market" interests and "public" / "community" interests, nor need there be. (Arguably, there's almost never a clash unless the market interests are coupled to political ones, but let's not get into that...)
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