h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Here's another, more comprehensive, list of both current and past "conflicts."

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/war/

I was just looking for the same thing!
I'm trying Amnesty Int unless you have been there.
There is also Peace & war Report&
Human rights watch but I got too depressed sorting through the page!
So I have no list so far...

Africa seems to have the most, and Central & S America
They are not all classified as "war"
It's almost harder to find peaceful places.


That would be a good post in itself all the euphemisms for conflict-war

Interesting links. You're right, abbi -- it's overwhelming.

Maybe it's unrealistic to expect someone to track wars, when the definition of a war can vary so much. Afghanistan and Iraq are simmering slightly less than full-blown war right now, but what do you call it when there are five or ten casualties each day, week after week? It's funny how many euphemisms there are on the fas.org site. "Uprising." "Conflict." "Secession." "Civil Disturbance"

Not that I know enough about the FAS to guess what kind of spin they might put on things, but you can imagine each government or group claiming their own slightly different wording for their wars. Was it the "Civil War" or the "War Between the States" or "War of Northern Aggression"? The act of choosing which name you'll call it can imply your affiliation with one side or the other.

Maybe the list of current wars isn't such a great idea. What about a short quiz with answers designed to raise consciousness?

The most deadly conflict since World War II happened on what continent?
A. Asia
B. Europe
C. Africa
D. South America

Answer: Africa (with a link to the BBC article about the Congo)


Rank these wars by the estimated number of deaths, highest to lowest:
A. US/Vietnam
B. Russia/Afghanistan
C. US/Iraq (1991)
D. Rwandan Civil War

Answer: No idea, but I bet most of my countrymen would guess wrong, assuming the wars we participate in were bigger than others.


Which of these countries has *not* been invaded or bombed by the United States at some point in the Twentieth Century?
A. Dominican Republic
B. Pakistan
C. Sudan
D. Brazil

Answer: Brazil maybe? Trick question! Dominican Republic was bombed in 1965, Sudan and Pakistan around 1998 during the Lewinski scandal. A suspected chemical weapons factory in Sudan was bombed in retaliation for an attack on an American embassy. Of course, it turned out to be a pharmaceutical plant specializing in aspirin and anti-biotics. Pakistan was not an intended target, but one of our missiles went astray while targeting a terrorist camp in Afghanistan, and it accidentally hit across the border in Pakistan.

Can you think of other questions with surprising answers about recent wars or on-going wars? We could put together ten or twelve questions and submit it to the Post. I want to keep it somewhat light, don't want to scare people off, but the point of it would be to get readers thinking about how little they know about current or recent wars.

Another thing I'd like to finish eventually is an entry for the Edited Guide describing the Chinese Invasion of Vietnam in 1979. I was in first or second grade at the time, so I can't be faulted for not paying attention. But I sure never read about that in any high school or college history texts. It could be a brief, straight-forward, factual entry for the Edited Guide, but they probably wouldn't accept a title like "Domino Theory shot to Hell: Chinese Invasion of Vietnam in 1979".

Sorry I've been rambling. Let me know if you would be interested in contributing toward a quiz or article for the Post. Just something to get people thinking.

Later,
Deidzoeb

A quiz for raising consciouness seems like a good idea for h2g2.
I like it.

Would you stick to wars-conflicts or would you want to add famines-AIDS? The Genocides in human history have been never ending.

That seems reasonable, abbi. Wars are the things that really get my goat, but it would be worthwhile to get people thinking about the number of preventable deaths that we ignore around the world.

It could be like a virtual "teach-in"! Do you suppose purplejenny and the h2g2 "People For Peace" group would be interested in participating? Hmmm...

I was going to suggest Pheloxi ,he has lots of ties to WOW and 360.
I have seen purple jenny but do not know her.

This is an intersting site if you'd like to borrow some questions from them.

http://www.digitalronin.f2s.com/politicalcompass/inconochasms.html

Hope the link works

Gee that link is now different
So Sorry! Don't go there it's a network login.

Ok this shorter version works, tried it twice

http://www.digitalronin.f2s.com/politicalcompass

Cool. I took the test.

For the teach-in quiz, I was thinking more along the lines of something that quizzes people about indisputable facts, like which wars are happening now, how much money is being spent on AIDS or conflicts, how many people have died from famine or genocide, etc. Hopefully people from anywhere on the political spectrum would be a little surprised about how major the Congo conflict has been, or the other facts they've been missing from shallow news reports.

But if we asked pointedly political questions, conservative readers might be put off and ignore the rest of the quiz.

Maybe we could give a link to the Political Compass test? I figured it would be good to give links to in-depth stories about the topics we bring up in the quiz.

I think you are right on all accounts
Excellant!

Here's a couple that aren't violence or disease specific, but still could give people cause to think...

1. Of the countries listed, which has the highest life expectancy?

a. Bangladesh
b. Ethiopia
c. Nigeria
d. Zimbabwe

Answer: a. Bangladesh, where a baby born today has a life expectancy of 60.95 years.

2. Of those countries, which has the lowest life expectancy?

Answer: d. Zimbabwe, where a baby born today has a life expectancy of 37.08 years.

3. Of the countries listed, which has the highest gross domestic product per capita?

a. Algeria
b. Ethiopia
c. Haiti
d. Pakistan

Answer: a. Algeria, with a gross domestic product per capita of $5,500.00 per year.

4. Of those countries, which has the lowest gross domestic product per capita?

answer: b. Ethiopia, with a gross domestic product per capita of $600.00 per year.

Speaking of income, there is a figure of 2 dollars (a ? week or month ?) that is often quoted in many poor areas. Does that sound familiar?

I don't know of any country where the average is that low... $600.00 per year works out to about $1.64 per day. Thing is, that's an average. By the definition of the word "average," there's a bunch of people who get a lot less...

Right.

Sub Com good luck with the project
It's a good idea.
Back in a couple weeks.