Archive for April, 2007

  In well known recent stories we see public figures have their personal issues sprayed over the media. We’ve seen it from Rosie vs. Trump, to Alex Baldwin vs. Kim Basinger (and unfortunately his daughter too). While some might argue this is what happens when you become famous, what are we to make of the Duke Lacrosse case? Before any of the details could be confirmed, the internet gossip condemned them before they could get a fair trial. The internet has made it possible to say nearly anything about anyone anonymously and get away with it.

  Just about anything you thought was private could be on the internet, including your medical history and social security number. Thanks to the many blogs and the online versions of media companies, information can get around faster then ever.

  Donald and Rosie could have handled things behind closed doors, but instead took it to the media to relay insults. This only encourages other people to take things to the public before handling it privately. And from what we saw in the aftermath of that online squabble, no one really wins.

  People take personal issues online to get a consensus in their favor, and at the same time try to publically shame the other person. We’ve seen this happen countless time where a couple breaks up and risqué pictures of them together show up on tracker sites. In the business world this happens too when employees are notified they were fired when they see it first on the 7 o’clock news. What ever happened to the saying “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”?

  The current version of that saying should be “what’s taken online stays online”. Some issues just need to be solved through mediation or the courts. Online disputes just go on and on forever, unless it affects society in general, let’s all keep our disputes offline.

  The political climate currently in Moscow is turbulent at best after a symbol of sacrifice to many was dismantled. This symbol is an Estonian monument known as the Bronze Soldier. To get a better understanding of the conflict over the statue we’ll take a deeper look at both countries history.

  According to the wiki page of Estonia they are located in Northern Europe bordering on the south with Latvia and to the east with Russia. Estonia’s other neighbors are the Finland and Sweden. Carbon dating established a lineage dating back to 6500 BC. Back then the area was mostly a hunting and fishing community.

  Current day Tallinn was called Reval before 1918. During the Iron Age they converted to a farming community. Their culture was first influenced by the Roman Empire, then during the early thirteenth century by the Crusades. During this time the area known as Estonia was divided into eight large countries, which were later united under two forces by 1227. Germany conquered and controlled the bottom half, and Denmark controlled to Northern force. In 1343 the people of northern Estonia and Saaremaa rebelled against German rule in the St George’s Night Uprising. Russia attempted an unsuccessful invasion in 1481 and 1558, and after 1524 Estonia converted to Lutheranism. Fast forward to 1940, Estonia was formally annexed by the Soviet Union.

  During the oppressive rule a Estonian SSR, thousands of ordinary people were drafted into the Red Army. Later when the country was occupied by Germany from 1941 to 1944 many Estonians joined the German Armed Forces. Soviet forces reconquered Estonia and tens of thousands of people fleed to bordering countries.

  Admits the collapse of the Soviet Union, along with the Singing Revolution against Russia, along with mass public protesting, Estonia regained independence on August 20, 1991.

  Now back in modern times, this statue which has stood since 1947 without much controversy, was created to memorialize the sacrifice of the fallen Russian soldiers who fought against Nazi Germany to liberate Estonia. The statue has the same sentiment to the ethnic Russians living in Estonia as to Russian nationals; it was the equivalent of a Tomb of the Unknown to the United States as The Bronze Soldier was to the Russia. Thirteen Soviet soldiers who died during the liberation of Estonia are said to be buried near the monument.

  Not surprising the Estonian government views the statue depicting a “young man who holds his helmet on his right hip and gazes sadly at the ground – is an unwelcome and painful symbol of what they view as the Soviet occupation of their nation after World War II”.

  The Estonian government wants to relocate the statue, and delayed the exhumation and identification of the soldiers’ remains.

  The removal of the Bronze Soldier with inscriptions “To the fallen of the Second World War” has sparked massive controversy in political circles. Russian parliament called for Russia to sever diplomatic relations with Estonia, others have called Estonia supporters as “provincial zealots of Nazism”, while others have gone as far as to say “It’s like anti-Semitism, but directed against Russians”, said Sergei Markov a member of the Public Chamber government advisory board.

  In the wake of the violent protests in the Estonian capital, one reported fatality has been confirmed. Along with the violence resulted in fires, looting, bottle-throwing and other vandalism. In response the Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves has condemned the violence saying “The night criminals were united not by their nationality, but by the desire to destroy, to rob and to commit outrages”. Stanislav Cherepanov, chairman of the Russian Party of Estonia, who is among those who want to keep the monument in place, denounced the violence and called for a constructive dialogue. “Not a single monument, symbol, is worth human blood”, he said in an interview.

Source doc baltimoresun | wikipedia