Well structured and presented lecture, Jason. The modern world is a very complex and contradictory. As Naomi Kleine, the environmentalist has pointed out, there are numerous involvements in any issue to consider, policatical, economic, strategic etc. Navigating these and, thereby,(as a consequence), being able to make a truely ethical judgement, is often beyond the resources of ordinary citizens. At the same time we have a news media dominated by powerful institutions, which seek to promulgate their own agenda. So, it is almost impossible to make an ethical and independant decision these days (not that it has ever been easy). Faced with this reality, the only thing to do, is to take the initiative as individuals to seek out the 'truth' for ourselves. As you will probably be aware, one such person who took this road, was the noted historian Arnold Toynbee. At a time when the Turkish population was being maligned in the national press, he actually took the trouble to visit Cyprus and see for himself, what the 'other side' had to say.(See Daisaku Ikeda's book, "One by One" ISBN 1-931501-01-7 ) Not all of us can do something like that, but I believe that we can at least keep an open mind to events, to not allow ourselves to be swayed by the prevailing opinions, and to seek to find out as much as we can about a situation before coming to a final conclusion.