New Syrian Government Changes To School Curriculum …

[naomi24]

.... sparks concern.  They haven't consulted the rest of society and the changes will take on a more Islamic slant, one of them replacing 'Defending the nation' with 'Defending Allah'.  Other changes include excluding evolution and the Big Bang theory from science and references to gods worshipped in Syria before Islam are also being dropped.

 

It didn't take them long - but this return to the dark ages comes as no surprise to me.
 

I can't post a link but this was taken from the BBC news page.

[naomi24]

This isn't about the Assad regime, untitled. Stick to the topic.

[Untitled]

what were your thoughts on the assad regime naomi? seems like a fair question. 

[ToraToraTora]

14:31 "there were children in assad's prisons toratoratora. " - no doubt the offspring of parents stupid enough to not conform. There is no "benevolence" in dictatorship, the best an ordinary "citizen" can do is stay off the radar of the authorities and try and live the best life they can. I'm not saying there is remotely anything good about Assad/Hussain type regemes but sometimes what they get replaced with is worse. Those untouched by the attorcities of Assad and co will now start to feel oppressed by the mad mullahs.

[naomi24]

Untitled, read my post at  14.34.  This is an important news item and I don't want it hijacked.

[Untitled]

it is relevant though naomi. 

[naomi24]

It isn't.  If you want to talk about something else go elsewhere and start a new thread.

[Untitled]

"There is no "benevolence" in dictatorship, the best an ordinary "citizen" can do is stay off the radar of the authorities and try and live the best life they can"

i don't think you quite grasp how arbitrary these regimes can be. they'll come for you because some police chief wants your house or fancies raping one of your children. that's what they are like. power for the sake of power. 

[Untitled]

ok naomi my opinion is that the new syrian regime has not yet done anything to suggest it will be as bad or worse than the one that came before it and while the proposed educational changes are undesirable and i hope they aren't introduced even with them i still think the country is better off without assad

my view you see is that you have to judge the current regime relative to the one that came before it, so by making that argument i am in fact making the previous regime relevant. 
 

so what's your view? how do you think the new regime compares to the previous one?

[naomi24]

Untitled. The changes to education are being introduced. 

[Untitled]

the link someone posted earlier said they were "proposed"... has something changed?

[ToraToraTora]

untitled: "i don't think you quite grasp how arbitrary these regimes can be." - fair enough I probably don't. So what would you prefer Old Assad or New Taliban? Ok so the local police chief may not fancy raping your daughter but the local neighbour will have her stoned to death on some jumped up "blasphemy" charge because she annoyed him.

[Untitled]

it's too early to tell. if they go the route of ISIS or the taliban then they are much of a muchness tbh and will have gone from one flavour of horrible to another. if they look more like egypt or jordan then that's hardly ideal obviously but it would be a significant improvement.

the other big question of course is what they do about captagon. destroy that horrible cartel and the middle east would be a better place... the temptation to simply take over might be too strong however and then we'll be back where we started. 

[naomi24]

It's not too early to tell.  Their proposals on education tell us all we need to know.  

[Untitled]

well i think it is. they haven't started massacring or bombing their citizens yet. 
 

should the uk be working to bring back assad in your view then naomi? seeing as you believe the new regime is worse. 

[naomi24]

Your mind is wandering again, untitled. 

[Untitled]

ok naomi. nobody can say i didn't try but you simply aren't interested in discussion. i will go and watch a film or something 

[ToraToraTora]

untitled, yep if they stop the captagon show then that will show the world they are an improvement. As you say though the temptation to take over the hugely profitable business will be strong.