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.

[Ellipsis]

BBC News - New Syrian government's school curriculum changes spark concern

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1ln12056ppo

[ToraToraTora]

so that's all we need more mad mullahs!

[Peter Pedant]

depressing race to the bottom

a transtional  govt is meant to transition. 

( altho banning paeons to the Assads doesnt sound bad - altho remember a nazi salute is not banned in the UK. )

[Old_Geezer]

Why would any people willingly opt to regress to a level of primative ignorance ?

 

Do they think it's funny ?

[Peter Pedant]

they've deleted the wrong post!

Lenin was told the army had not voted in elections and replied - it has voted with its feet

I see a depressing future for Syria

[Peter Pedant]

Why would any people willingly opt to regress to a level of primative ignorance ?

are you talking about AB or Syria - Iran 1979, women voted to disenfranchise themselves ( yessirree !) - "every good woman should vote as her father or husband tells her to" - thiss was a vote and not a decree

[tomus42]

It isn't a return to the dark ages. They were already there. Different dictatorship is all that will change.

[jno]

that's what happens: tyrants oppress their citizens, they're overthrown, the world cries Huzzah and the new regime is the hardliners the tyrants kept down. Nothing new: overthrow Saddam and his republican guard are free to form ISIS; overthrow the Shah and in come the mullahs. There's something to be said for tyrants but nobody ever learns.

[Untitled]

"There's something to be said for tyrants but nobody ever learns."

they would have to go very very far indeed to be worse than assad... the new regime has not committed any mass murders of its citizens that I am aware of. 

[Untitled]

also the reason that religious hardliners took over in iran is because the shah (gleefully assisted by the CIA) destroyed all of his secular opposition 

[fender62]

untitled, also the reason that religious hardliners took over in afghanistan is because the the people (gleefully assisted by the ISAF) the religious hardline fanatical murdering taliban, but hey there back, so happy days ehh, specially for women.

[naomi24]

The issue here seems to have passed some people by.

[Peter Pedant]

when I clutched my pearls and said "that is EXACTLY right" the last time, I got deleted ( again) rule 16 - unmimsy

The issue here seems to have passed some people by. - precisely !

reminds me a bit about the chaos in Europe after May 1945

I say - there is a rumour on the internet ( much quoted on AB) that Putin has poisoned Assad

[Old_Geezer]

The only thing to be said in favour of tyrants is ... actually I can't think of anything as all they do is choose the victims of injustice.

 

The big issue is a population unable to accept or cope with western style freedoms, their leaders arise by being more aggresive and scheming than the rest and everyone accepts they are allowed to do as they wish. Mainly due to their followers forcing it.

 

The whole population needs to find a way to change attitude and not pass their culture flaws onto their future generations. Apart from some benevolent empire invading and controlling for many generations it's difficult to see how that would come about.

 

Maybe families who left and have learnt better may one day return and teach their fellow countrymen & women the best practices for them to adopt ?  Seems unlikely though.

[naomi24]

Fat chance of that happening, OG.

[Atheist]

Found on Wikipedia.

"In his capacity as King of the United Kingdom, Charles III is styled "Charles the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of His other Realms and Territories King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith". The title "Defender of the Faith" reflects the Sovereign's position as the supreme governor of the Church of England. The original Latin phrase Fidei Defensor is represented on all current British coins by the abbreviations F D or FID DEF. This notation was first added to British coins in 1714, during the reign of King George I. The decision of the Royal Mint to omit this and certain other parts of the monarch's style from the "Godless Florin" in 1849 caused such a scandal that the coin was replaced.[11]"

 

[Untitled]

what were your thoughts on the assad regime naomi?

[ToraToraTora]

The sad thing with countries like this is that they have a choice between a murderous self serving tyrant or murderous self serving religious nutters. They do sort of function for most under the former as long as no one challenges the powers that be and lives a quiet anonymous conforming life. Under the latter they suffer all sorts of restrictions due to the extreme beliefs of these rulers. Tricky one.

[Untitled]

"They do sort of function for most under the former as long as no one challenges the powers that be and lives a quiet anonymous conforming life"

there were children in assad's prisons toratoratora. 
 

people often think that dictatorships are "fine" if you keep your head down but they aren't. they are predatory institutions.  they rely on corruption and abuse in order to work no matter how "benevolent" they may look to the outside world. Dictatorship as a system relies on a class of people being able to rape, rob, torture and kill whoever they want whenever they want and have the backing of the state to do it - it's true in china, singapore, russia, whereever you care to look. Assad's regime was one of the nastiest because the family also ran one of the biggest drug smuggling operations in the world and forcibly repurposed whole swathes of the syrian economy to facilitate their filthy drug empire. 
 

the new lot will have to get very very very bad indeed to be worse than assad. time will tell.