Fictional vs. Actual Committees of MUN by Ilgın Sena TULUK

Fictional vs. Actual Committees of MUN

So this article’s topic will be about the fictional committees of MUN. I’ve been attending MUNs abroad so when I observe and get comments from my friends about the MUNs in Turkey, I get the idea that most people enjoy attending those fictional committees such as FIFA, Harry Potter & Game of Thrones committees (which I call non-UN committees) instead of actual committees that are discussing and looking for solutions to real life problems, such as nuclear disarmament, refugee crisis in Europe and Asia. Since I wasn’t really familiar with these committees abroad, this difference caught my attention and wanted to share my opinions about these fictional committees with you.

Before I start to reveal the thoughts of mine about these fictional committees, I want you to remember the aims and definition of MUN itself. As you can see in my previous articles, MUN is the simulation (basically imitation) of the UN where countries come together and try to find win-win solutions to real global problems. In this case, I don’t really support the fictional committees, since they don’t include the facts of today and the past. I can understand that people are having fun while attending these committees but let’s be honest, it’s nothing more than fun; don’t have a connection with the real world (I don’t even mention the issues need to be solved).

In addition to these, in the official website you can see the aims of the United Nations, and the most important ones of all are I think to maintain the international peace and security, uphold the international law, protect human rights and deliver humanitarian aid. We simulate UN, because we want to raise a conscious generation who are aware of these issues and ready to find a way out in peace. When I look at those committees again, I can’t seem to find these aims; it’s not even talking about reality. Now, attending these fictional committees and calling it as “attending MUN” in my perspective is not right. I mean finding the culprit in the Game of Thrones or talking about the magical background of Harry Potter wouldn’t solve the problems we are dealing with. While people are suffering from nuclear wars, hunger and all other things, even for the “model” UN, I don’t think it’s ethical to talk about utopic subjects that are way too far from the reality.

On the other hand, it is thought that those fictional committees take the same events with different names but it’s neither realistic nor logical. When we compare the committees, actual committees take the real life situations, analyze and find the necessary solutions. When we look at the fictional committees they aren’t talking about the real life, all issues are utopic; also with respect to their utopic subjects, the solutions and resolutions are faar away from the real life and have no applicability. Also it is possible to see that in actual committees, situations are analyzed by different aspects, which brings sophistication. However in the fictional committees since they are new and limited in variation, their analysis of the situation is insufficient.

As the summary of the whole article, in my opinion, if we couldn’t solve our own world’s problem yet, it’s not logical to deal with those utopic issues, and they wouldn’t be beneficial for us, for humanity. While people are suffering from hunger, economic/nuclear war, our responsibility is to end the war, maintain the peace internationally and raise the welfare level. Therefore, MUN wants to raise a generation who are aware of all those problems and capable of solving them and even though it is “simulation”, “model” or “imitation” ; the original process should be followed which brings the benefit and solution to the “real” worlds “real-life” problems.

References

Whats the best topic you have ever debated in a MUN? (3207, January 01). Retrieved from https://www.munplanet.com/questions/interesting-questions/whats-the-best-topic-you-have-ever-debated-in-a-mun

What We Do. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.un.org/en/sections/what-we-do/

What are the most “unusual” non-UN committees simulated at MUNs? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.munplanet.com/questions/committee-management/what-are-the-most-unusual-non-un-committees-simulated-at-muns

Can one simulate fictional councils at a Model UN? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.munplanet.com/questions/fictional-councils/can-one-simulate-fictional-councils-at-a-model-un

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ABOUTUS/Pages/MissionStatement.aspx

Ilgın Sena TULUK

Writer of MUNTurkey.com

ilginsena.tuluk@munturkey.com