Mr. Simon and Mr. Tom were journalists from Indonesia. Mr. Tom highlighted the significance of creating an understanding between different cultures. He seemed concerned that the US seemed to generalize Islam, and also claimed that media played an important role in bridging gaps between culture or destroying this bridge.
Mr. Simon came up with a deep philosophical question as do "why conflicts exist?" He also suggested that most conflicts in the world involved the US. He had recently returned from a sojourn to Tennessee, and was saying that the American people were nice but the US administration was an entirely different story.
Mr. Mohamed Khalil was another guest invited to the class. He was originally from Sudan who had settled in the US, and now he is working in Saudi Arabia. His professional life was dedicated to public and grassroots democracy in Saudi Arabia. His expressions were very idealistic but refreshing in its directness.
He pointed out that working for grassroots diplomacy was almost a sacrifice because it didn't pay very well. Mr. Khalil was a big advocate of proper planning and implementation of policy because these policies directly involved grassroots mobilization.
"Public diplomacy is not about the good feeling you get after helping people, but realizing how much your work is going to help people," Mr. Khalil said. On the issue of grassroots mobilization in developing and underdeveloped nations, he said that change has to be provided in such societies in small doses. In an honest statement, he also claimed that the usual tendency of the educated lot to instruct needs to be curtailed in these societies as they are usually against the established customs and traditions.
It is not our work to provide change, but to allow a choice for the future generation to make change, he seemed to say.
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