Earlier today, I spent some time reading up on the current Qatari diplomatic crisis, which eventually led me to reading about things like the Muslim Brotherhood. I then decided to stop before I went much deeper down that particular rabbit hole. When religion and politics are mixed together, it's difficult to tell how much of it is actually religious and how much is just political.
The thing about politics is that it's difficult to be unbiased when talking about it. One of the things that put me off becoming interested in the subject when I was younger was the fact that things always seemed to be so polarized - there were always two distinct sides, each with a steadfast and unwavering belief in its own superiority over the other. Anyone who knew anything about politics always seemed to already have a position which they saw as the correct one, thereby implying that anything else was wrong. It was pretty much always a case of us against them. It was pretty much always a choice between black and white, when in reality there's always plenty of grey.
The thing about politics is that it's difficult to be unbiased when talking about it. One of the things that put me off becoming interested in the subject when I was younger was the fact that things always seemed to be so polarized - there were always two distinct sides, each with a steadfast and unwavering belief in its own superiority over the other. Anyone who knew anything about politics always seemed to already have a position which they saw as the correct one, thereby implying that anything else was wrong. It was pretty much always a case of us against them. It was pretty much always a choice between black and white, when in reality there's always plenty of grey.
Another issue I had with talking about politics, especially in this country, was that it almost always had to involve race and/or religion. To go against a political party that associated itself as being representative of a certain race or religion was to go against said race or religion. All in all, a part of me decided that it probably wasn't worth going into any of that, especially since I was, at the time, of an age where my political beliefs didn't really seem to matter.
As time went on, however, I developed an interest in the science of politics, particularly with regards to political ideologies. Reading George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 most likely played a part in that, and I found intellectual satisfaction in learning about politics away from the context of the real world, where so much more came into play.
I then started following global politics; it is easier to separate emotion and logic when you and your own country are not directly involved. As a kid, I enjoyed reading about far-off lands, and how different they were from where I lived. Today, reading about what politicians in other countries do is probably just a more grown-up version of that.
It's just part of my nature to be intellectually curious, so I suppose it was only a matter of time before I started gravitating towards matters of such complexity. My current status as a Master's student is also playing its own role in developing my mind; it's unsurprising that I've chosen to expand my thinking, outside of my studies anyway, through a field that demands me to do so at a standard higher than I've been used to in the past.
It wasn't too long ago that a former lecturer of mine, who I was helping with data collection for a research paper, suggested that I consider working for the United Nations at some point. I found the idea to be quite appealing, albeit one that I later put aside after realizing that I still had a pretty long way to go to be qualified to work for such an organization. Keeping myself informed on global matters is, I suppose, one step towards that.
At this point in time, I still don't have a clear vision for my future. There are a lot of possible paths which all depend on things that may or may not happen. That's just life. The main thing now is to keep growing and developing myself as a person. It's always good to open as many doors as possible; I may not know which one I end up choosing, but it's better to have more options.
It's just part of my nature to be intellectually curious, so I suppose it was only a matter of time before I started gravitating towards matters of such complexity. My current status as a Master's student is also playing its own role in developing my mind; it's unsurprising that I've chosen to expand my thinking, outside of my studies anyway, through a field that demands me to do so at a standard higher than I've been used to in the past.
It wasn't too long ago that a former lecturer of mine, who I was helping with data collection for a research paper, suggested that I consider working for the United Nations at some point. I found the idea to be quite appealing, albeit one that I later put aside after realizing that I still had a pretty long way to go to be qualified to work for such an organization. Keeping myself informed on global matters is, I suppose, one step towards that.
At this point in time, I still don't have a clear vision for my future. There are a lot of possible paths which all depend on things that may or may not happen. That's just life. The main thing now is to keep growing and developing myself as a person. It's always good to open as many doors as possible; I may not know which one I end up choosing, but it's better to have more options.
