Well, Turkey is at again. Readers know of my affection for this wonderful country. Unfortunately, that high regard always seems coupled with astonishment over Turkey's penchant for engaging in self-defeating activities. In a page ripped from Beijing's playbook, the government announced last week that it had banned 850 websites including Blogger and YouTube. This is yet another setback for those of us who support Turkey's accession to the European Union.
If Istanbul can't take the heat of today's technology, they risk removing themselves from the kitchen of modernity. It is hard to understand such overreactions to the occasional and even unwise mockeries of Ataturk or other forms of political opposition. Mustafa Akgul summed up the heavy handedness best when he told the Christian Science Monitor (October 30), "It's like having a huge library and finding an error on a page in one book and closing down the entire library." Whether it's burning books or shutting down websites, those who fear the free flow of information always fail in the end. Closed systems naturally devolve to entropy.
p.s. One can only assume that GE Chairman & CEO Jeff Immelt is accurate when he says in stump speeches that the United States graduates more majors in sports management than electrical engineering. If we are to compete effectively with China and India in the coming decades, we must understand the primary factors shaping economic competitiveness, acknowledge that these subjects are rigorous for very good reason, and motivate young people to pursue them.
If Istanbul can't take the heat of today's technology, they risk removing themselves from the kitchen of modernity. It is hard to understand such overreactions to the occasional and even unwise mockeries of Ataturk or other forms of political opposition. Mustafa Akgul summed up the heavy handedness best when he told the Christian Science Monitor (October 30), "It's like having a huge library and finding an error on a page in one book and closing down the entire library." Whether it's burning books or shutting down websites, those who fear the free flow of information always fail in the end. Closed systems naturally devolve to entropy.
p.s. One can only assume that GE Chairman & CEO Jeff Immelt is accurate when he says in stump speeches that the United States graduates more majors in sports management than electrical engineering. If we are to compete effectively with China and India in the coming decades, we must understand the primary factors shaping economic competitiveness, acknowledge that these subjects are rigorous for very good reason, and motivate young people to pursue them.