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Are foreign teachers primarily conservative minded here?
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brnrd



Joined: 23 Dec 2013
Posts: 53

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 6:12 pm    Post subject: Are foreign teachers primarily conservative minded here? Reply with quote

I'm liberal minded,and I have a strong feeling that disproportionately I'll find most Western FTs will be conservative(notice lower case "C")
Would you agree ?

Cheers,
William
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buravirgil



Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 6:56 pm    Post subject: Re: Are foreign teachers primarily conservative minded here? Reply with quote

brnrd wrote:
I'm liberal minded,and I have a strong feeling that disproportionately I'll find most Western FTs will be conservative(notice lower case "C")
Would you agree ?
That's some fairly polarized thinking for someone claiming to be liberal.
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johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dear buravirgil,

Well, instead of Polar opposites, maybe "mirror images"- reflect on this.

http://www.civilpolitics.org/content/2010-02-are-liberals-and-conservatives-polar-opposites-or-mirror-images/

Regards,
John

P.S. In my experience, I found the political leanings of my colleagues to be a mixture of both, along a spectrum ranging from Tea Party supporter to Bernie Backer, kind of a microcosm of American society, not much, if any, different from most working environments anywhere.
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buravirgil



Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

johnslat wrote:
Well, instead of Polar opposites, maybe "mirror images"- reflect on this.

http://www.civilpolitics.org/content/2010-02-are-liberals-and-conservatives-polar-opposites-or-mirror-images/
P.S. In my experience, I found the political leanings of my colleagues to be a mixture of both, along a spectrum ranging from Tea Party supporter to Bernie Backer, kind of a microcosm of American society, not much, if any, different from most working environments anywhere.
RE: Seeing the other (something I was told the Prophet Muhammad observed: Through our differences we see ourselves.)
Obama&Robinson:A Conversation in Iowa (NY Review of Books)
Robinson: Because [of] the idea of the “sinister other.” And I mean, that’s bad under all circumstances. But when it’s brought home, when it becomes part of our own political conversation about ourselves, I think that that really is about as dangerous a development as there could be in terms of whether we continue to be a democracy.
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scot47



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In UK terms there are more "Guardian" readers than "Telegraph" readers.
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 8:22 pm    Post subject: Re: Are foreign teachers primarily conservative minded here? Reply with quote

brnrd wrote:
I'm liberal minded,and I have a strong feeling that disproportionately I'll find most Western FTs will be conservative(notice lower case "C")
Would you agree?

How are you defining "Western?"
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scot47



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 8:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lahore rather than Dacca.
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CANDLES



Joined: 01 Nov 2011
Posts: 605
Location: Wandering aimlessly.....

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 9:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's funny Scot.

But the OP is right that the 'Westerners'.....who I've seen and have met; American Somalians, Brit Somalians, any number of Brit+...Canadian+' American+ Middle Eastern+, etc become really rigid and uncompromising and believe that they cannot be questioned on anything and they in turn look down upon the Arabs and the rest of the world as 'corrupt'.

Odd situation!
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 9:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

CANDLES wrote:
But the OP is right that the 'Westerners'.....who I've seen and have met; American Somalians, Brit Somalians, any number of Brit+...Canadian+' American+ Middle Eastern...

However, I suspect the OP is lumping "westerners" together as one cultural group.


Last edited by nomad soul on Tue Oct 13, 2015 9:38 pm; edited 1 time in total
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CANDLES



Joined: 01 Nov 2011
Posts: 605
Location: Wandering aimlessly.....

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 9:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

But NS I tried to differentiate ......

There were those and there were the ones who thought they had the 'calling'.
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plumpy nut



Joined: 12 Mar 2011
Posts: 1652

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 10:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I always felt that a lot of the teachers in the KSA were somewhat conservative minded, I could be wrong on that. You may find your need to be liberal under attack by what you experience in Saudi Arabia. You may change.
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 11:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
But NS I tried to differentiate ......

There were those and there were the ones who thought they had the 'calling'.

Then instead of lumping people together by nationality, religion, ethnicity, etc., it makes more sense if the OP asked about others' observations/experiences with their teaching colleagues, in general. That said, KSA is a conservative country, so there's no reason to believe the majority of expats working in the Kingdom wouldn't hold some level of conservative values/beliefs. Additionally, expats can exhibit conservative behavior in KSA but be the opposite when outside the Kingdom. Anyway, we can only change our own behavior and not that of others.
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brnrd



Joined: 23 Dec 2013
Posts: 53

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 11:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was allowing a...liberal interpretation of "conservative". I stopped posting lengthy theses on this forum about 15 years ago.Hence nowadays we have 140 character Twitter:Say it short and sweet.

I'll be seeing for myself in a few weeks.

And as far as "Westerners"...well, the way it was presented in about 40-50 books I've read.There's the simple tacit model, and then we can get into...anthropological,sociological,political sciences(geopolitics as sub specialty)genetic genealogy...yada yada- Seinfeld reference there.

People are malleable and prone to adapt to their environment.I'm going out on a wing, by saying Saudi Arabia by and large should be ultra-conservative,so to successfully stay an extended amount of time..

Cheers,
william
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tony87



Joined: 21 Jul 2015
Posts: 43

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 1:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd use the word 'boring', rather than 'conservative'. I mean who willingly goes to a place where there's no sex, no booze, no nightclubs, and you can't even step outside your apartment because of the blazing heat.

The answer: those strange folk who are happier to sit at home reading a book or knitting rather than going out and having a good time.
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buravirgil



Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 1:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

tony87 wrote:
I'd use the word 'boring', rather than 'conservative'. I mean who willingly goes to a place where there's no sex, no booze, no nightclubs, and you can't even step outside your apartment because of the blazing heat.

The answer: those strange folk who are happier to sit at home reading a book or knitting rather than going out and having a good time.
The "two front" character of this "contribution" borders on being made in bad faith.

Should I use the "T" word?
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