Merry White Christmas

Charles Dickens wrote his "A Christmas Carol" in 1843, in the economic crisis of England famous as Britain's "Hungry Forties," when people feared of social breakdown. In that story scrooge Scrooge in a journey turned to a generous Scrooge.
Perhaps in today America and other Christian western countries, this conversion sounds meaningful as they more or less are experiencing same conditions. This January brings with it hardship in economic and weather situation as well. This year white Christmas has covered the face of the northern cities in the U.S. Strong storm is not good news for the rich let alone for those who have lost their jobs, salaries and are homeless.
This situation has added to previous economic hardship, although the poll says that the circumstances are better comparing last year, but still there is a 10% unemployment and the situation of the colored people in finding job is worse than the Whites. These conditions may lead to intolerance toward the weaker stratifications like the minorities and immigrants.
Scrooge before his journey thought those people unable to support themselves are better to die. It was the innocence of crippled Tiny Tim and the vision of his future that converted him. In current cold, and white Christmas, indifferent wealthy people see innocent children like Tim, but who can show them their future?
Sometimes these events and times are just spurs to help others. And it is not special to the U.S, as in Iran too we have such events and times like the beginning of the year or the time of opening the schools that people find some reasons to help those who are not rich enough to afford the extra expenses. I think this is a good common point between the nations.

Schema

According to the free dictionary schema is a "diagrammatic representation; an outline or model" and in psychological approach, it is "a pattern imposed on complex reality or experience to assist in explaining it, mediate perception, or guide response."
So, schema is a mental structure that can be applied in everything in our real life, as a simplified knowledge about ourselves, others and every other thing.
This mental perception could affect every aspect of our life; it would direct our thought and accordingly our action in encountering any phenomena. In fact, schemas in our minds are filters that everything goes through them and then we decide how to react. The ranges of schema contain everything, however, Changing Minds. Org has categorized some types of it like this:
"Social schemas are about general social knowledge.
Person schemas are about individual people.
Idealized person schemas are called prototypes. The word is also used for any generalized schema.
Self-schemas are about oneself. We also hold idealized or projected selves, or possible selves.
Role schemas are about proper behaviors in given situations.
Event schemas (or scripts) are about what happens in specific situations."[1]
As a conclusion, we can say if you have a positive conception about any subject it will encode in your mind as a positive and you will remember it with its positive aspect. If someone loves sea, definitely he has had a favorable image about the sea, but if someone is afraid of sea, he probably has an experience about drowning one of his beloved one in the sea.
This is applicable to any other mental representation. I have a personal experience. In 1981, my brother came to Iran, after nearly 17 years living in the U.S. Then, as the war with Iraq was recently finished, the representation of Iran was a poor and miserable country, which is full of chaos and violence. When my brother called his wife after a couple of days and said he had gone shopping and had bought some Chiquita banana, his wife, a native American, had amazingly asked if there was any Chiquita banana in Iran? In fact, her social schema about Iran according to information had gathered from media was a starving third world country.
There are the same false schemas in Iran against the United States. Some of people obsessed with the anti America schema may think the people of this country are occupied with the animosity about Iran, while if they establish personal contact, they will understand those imaginary enemies are human beings like themselves, with kindness, affection, respect and open mindedness toward others. Therefore, to be ready to change a schema when one finds it is not true, needs braveness.

[1] . http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/schema.htm

Everything is all right

The history of the U.S has shown that every action is regarded legal as long as there is a written document for that. From the very beginning of establishing this country, they found another nation living there, the Indians. They made treaties with those people while in some instances, they even could not read the treaty and signed it just according to a vague and sometimes false explanation provided with them, and then they were forced to retreat toward harsher lands legally, according to their sign in their treaty. So, the important part of every matter is finding a legal justification. This justification is a bondage to law or the same written document and this is the way that has been followed through time.
The issue of war is not an exception in this respect. If there is a just justification and cause for war, then it will be ok. The beginning wars with Indians were justified because the Indians did not act according to their treaties. Now the recent wars are waged by introducing just cause for it, like war on terror. "The "war on terrorism" purports to defend the American Homeland and protect the "civilized world". It is upheld as a "war of religion", a "clash of civilizations", when in fact the main objective of this war is to secure control and corporate ownership over the region's extensive oil wealth."[1]
In Just War Theory, war is introduced as a humanitarian operation. The image of invader is justified, on the other hand the representation of the enemy is demonized. This new representation is based on convincing the public opinion. People are told that the wars are conducted according to some principles which have of course, a legal and documented origins. Therefore, people always could be assured that everything is lawful and legal.

[1] . http://www.somalilandtimes.net/sl/2006/259/5.shtml

Bold Gamble?

Bruce Riedel, who has been an advisor to four presidents on the Mideast and South Asia, now has advised White House in war in Afghanistan. His experiences as a CIA officer may influence his advices though. "Responding to reports that Mr. Obama on Tuesday will call for an escalation of the war in Afghanistan, possibly an increase of 30,000 troops, Reidel said, “This is a very bold gamble on the part of the president. He inherited a situation which was getting bad and is getting worse now.”[1] He thinks the decision of Obama in deploying new forces to Afghanistan is “probably the most important foreign-policy decision … he is going to make”. Riedel thinks, if Obama can convince Americans that he believes he has a workable way forward, they will accept the idea of sending more troops.
Therefore, what the adviser focuses on is making people convinced. The mere justification is to remind the threat of foreign enemy. The adviser announces, "We face a very determined enemy in the Taliban and al-Qaida, which just last week announced that it is prepared to fight and has no interest in negotiation." And nobody asks whether they were pursuing negotiation till now and now they want to root out the enemy by sending more troops?
One way of convincing people may be creating hope. As he says "“Hopefully, the strategy [the president] is proposing will demonstrate results and while we won’t know when the war will be over, we will know we are on a path to an outcome that protects American national security and keeps the Taliban and al-Qaida from taking over Afghanistan.”
Another way is creating fear "I think that if the president spells out to the American people why we are there in terms of the threat it still poses to this country by al-Qaida and its Taliban ally, many Americans will say ‘Yes, we don’t want another 9/11.’ ”
But here is some questions in people's mind that why they are not successful during these long years of presence in that country? Is the reason has just been not having adequate troops? The increasing poll of dead and casualties concerned the people and they want their children home by Christmas instead of Afghanistan.
Riedel is now a senior foreign policy fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
[1].http://www.projo.com/news/content/AFGHANISTAN_EXPERT_SPEAKS_12-01-09_LNGKSQJ_v15.3b3d9f5.html