THE OVERALL THEME of this year’s TEDxUCD talks in Dublin was ‘Enlighten’.
Within that wider theme, there was a focus on conflicts and crises across the world. Here are some of the best bits.
Terry McCarthy, the Emmy Award winning war correspondent, and a UCD philosophy graduate discusses his time covering conflicts in Central America, South East Asia and the Middle East.
“I wanted to use this opportunity to enlighten those who may not have experienced war up close about the human costs of war, and why it is so important that we never forget those human costs when we debate the use of military force anywhere in the world.”
Goal CEO Barry Andrews looks at this generation’s humanitarian catastrophe… But wonders why we are not able to separate it from the political.
“There are no petitions to parliament, there are no protests outside embassies, there is no fundraising going on… There is no letters to the paper.
“Why the apathy? Why the inertia?”
Dr Erin Baumann describes herself and a news junkie, noting that crises heighten passions and emotions. She highlights the fact that news cycles are quite short – the crises change daily, weekly, monthly. Currently, there are crises everywhere – Sudan, Syria, Iraq and Sudan – but what pervades the airwaves is different each day.
She asks: “How do you teach long-term ideas in a world of short-term information?”
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