tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56595398583483546352024-03-13T13:31:08.931-04:00Edutarian"Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army." Edward EverettUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-18259409833752706922022-03-13T11:00:00.001-04:002022-03-13T14:04:03.786-04:00Trapped in a Dream<span id="description">Under the imperium of a rather silly dream, I resolve to finish writing a few ideas that my be useful to others, more so than this article, which is largely a "journal" or more personal type of article.</span><a name='more'></a>
<p><a title="George Grie neosurrealism art gallery: The Sky is the Limit or False Illusions and Imagination Duplicity" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihcTZDUtGlTumRACp8cc05iVXtOqYakAp_iIRGizn67n0yViK-Z3WDQl1RykkbK9fTnTXzKLEnhksB2rSsGdBwnBZR-lZe0w3Qa_uCBEEv595fg_4mky6OPPR1L26HWVS9QXYXc3aZSJKThLJZHQb79L09jCw1j6YFRtW312UEtkTyPzui-ruXH9s8=s1280"><img border="0" alt="surrealist representation of an eye and tower with sky background" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihcTZDUtGlTumRACp8cc05iVXtOqYakAp_iIRGizn67n0yViK-Z3WDQl1RykkbK9fTnTXzKLEnhksB2rSsGdBwnBZR-lZe0w3Qa_uCBEEv595fg_4mky6OPPR1L26HWVS9QXYXc3aZSJKThLJZHQb79L09jCw1j6YFRtW312UEtkTyPzui-ruXH9s8=s320" width="320" align="right" data-original-width="1280" data-original-height="960" /></a>I woke up today slightly frustrated by a dream. Though the dream wasn’t exactly a nightmare, it wasn’t pleasant either. </p>
<p>I was slightly late for a class writing a quiz. It was a large class of 40 or 50 – I don’t recall having had something like this in high school, only lectures in university, but the way the students were placed in class was suggestive of high-school. I went to the only empty desk, which was completely empty – no quiz for me. I went to the teacher’s desk (front of the class) to ask for a quiz. He was a different “race” than me, by which I mean that our skin colour was different – and that’s odd, he was unlike any other teacher I had in real life. I asked for a quiz and he pointed to a few papers on his desk. They were all colored and laminated, which meant that I couldn’t write on them. He wasn’t paying attention to me or my request, he was doing a weird thing with his eyes, pretending to look down at the papers on his desk but actually looking at the class from underneath his glasses. I thought he was about to or trying catch someone copying so rather than demand a paper I could write on, I went back to my desk. I also have a sequence in my mind on some kind of fight re: the proper quiz paper he never gave me. </p>
<p>I woke up annoyed with the options I had: I could either “wait out” the quiz and then argue after that I couldn’t write it on a laminated paper (I had a 0.5 mm mechanical pencil, silver cool, that could only scratch the surface) or argue about getting a proper paper right there and then, which would have taken more time and resulted in me writing a quiz I didn’t really want to write with a significant time handicap.</p>
<p>Where did this dream come from? I’ve read (or skimmed through) <a title="Sigmund Freud (/frɔɪd/ FROYD, German: [ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏ̯t]; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies in the psyche through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Freud</a>’s and <a title="Carl Gustav Jung (/jʊŋ/ YUUNG; born Karl Gustav Jung, German: [kaʁl ˈjʊŋ]; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy, psychology, and religious studies. Jung worked as a research scientist at the famous Burghölzli hospital, under Eugen Bleuler. During this time, he came to the attention of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. The two men conducted a lengthy correspondence and collaborated, for a while, on a joint vision of human psychology." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jung</a>’s writings on <a title="Dream interpretation is the process of assigning meaning to dreams. Although associated with some forms of psychotherapy, there is no reliable evidence that understanding or interpreting dreams has a positive impact on one's mental health." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_interpretation" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">interpreting dreams</a> but don’t remember much because I thought they were mostly bs. Still, this dream bothered me. I’m a grown-a* man, why would I be dreaming of high-school?</p>
<p>I then remembered that during the lockdown, I used some of my free time to get a few certifications. I planned to write about these certifications, as I am guessing there may be others who thought along the same lines, and my research into what certifications are worth the time invested may be useful. I’ve used companies such as Certiport and PearsonVue/OnVue and though I passed and got my certification, a couple of times I had to reschedule due to some technical issues. So I shall soon write about that.</p>
<p>The other dimension of my dream has to do with my dislike for some of the choices I am facing and propensity to procrastinate decisions. That’s another, completely different story.</p>
<p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="George Grie neosurrealism art gallery: The Sky is the Limit or False Illusions and Imagination Duplicity" href="http://neosurrealismart.com/modern-art-prints/?artworks/the-sky-is-the-limit-or-false-illusions-and-imagination-duplicity.html&fullsize" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">illustration</a></p>
<div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:3c96498f-2c33-4f0d-a876-d3d360f62e0c" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none; display: inline;"><a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/" rel="tag" title="adventures in life-long learning">Edutarian</a>: <a href="https://www.edutarian.com/search?q=dream" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'dream' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">dream</a>, <a href="https://www.edutarian.com/search?q=dreaming" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'dreaming' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">dreaming</a>, <a href="https://www.edutarian.com/search?q=nightmare" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'nightmare' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">nightmare</a>, <a href="https://www.edutarian.com/search?q=knightmare" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'knightmare' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">knightmare</a>, <a href="https://www.edutarian.com/search?q=stress" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'stress' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">stress</a>, <a href="https://www.edutarian.com/search?q=decision+making" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'decision making' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">decision making</a>, <a href="https://www.edutarian.com/search?q=procrastination" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'procrastination' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">procrastination</a>, <a href="https://www.edutarian.com/search?q=unconscious" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'unconscious' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">unconscious</a>, <a href="https://www.edutarian.com/search?q=subconscious" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'subconscious' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">subconscious</a>, <a href="https://www.edutarian.com/search?q=psychanalysis" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'psychanalysis' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">psychanalysis</a>, <a href="https://www.edutarian.com/search?q=freud" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'freud' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">freud</a>, <a href="https://www.edutarian.com/search?q=jung" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'jung' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">jung</a>, <a href="https://www.edutarian.com/search?q=adler" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'adler' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">adler</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-65977863972814462812019-08-20T01:00:00.002-04:002019-08-20T01:00:00.899-04:00Turek vs Hitchens or when theists win<span id="description">Whenever there is a debate between theists and atheists, we expect theists to cower in defeat and atheists to emerge victorious (it may be different if you’re a religious person). But often times, the theists produce more persuasive arguments and it is atheists who cling to their “you can’t convince me” mantra in spite of all rational argumentation.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a title="I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist by Turek, Geisler | March 12, 2004 | 4.7 stars / 1085 reviews" href="https://amzn.to/2NiCazK" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" imageanchor="1"><img style="float: right; display: inline" border="0" alt="photo of Turek vs Hitchens debate linked to Turek's book" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyvZbg6gY_FNFlxMxIQq9AoPALxF0cBjNH9vKmQzGyl8mAQyr3eBNqUxQcjjzSQYv9QLMeoDqMwcWNkOAnZvAORNffOibrc_8HeMtTt1x-qmgrqRTTDSGWQqLjpokAEf2luLism5bsEM4/s200/hitchens-turek-debate-theistwins.jpg" width="200" align="right" height="200" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300"></a>My view is that a true debater should be able to debate any point of view, either pro or con. When the debaters are well informed, debates on religion can be very interesting and informative. Unfortunately, many religious “debaters” are poorly prepared and even while their atheist opponents are too arrogant to make a persuasive argument, still fail to persuade their audience. This appears to NOT have been the case in the Turek vs Hitchens debate.</p> <p>I’ve recently discovered the debate pictured while watching the “establishment reaction” to <a title="Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life - HD 1080p - Monty Python Life of Brian" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep9Vzb6R_58" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Life of Brian</a>, presented by BBC as a debate (<a title="John Cleese, Michael Palin & Richard Burridge 'Life of Brian' Debate Reflections (BBC Radio 4, 2013)" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od2ni3okcww" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">2013</a>, <a title="Life Of Brian 1979 Debate - complete" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYMpObbt2rs" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">full</a>, <a title="Friday Night, Saturday Morning - Monty Python's Life of Brian" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeKWVuye1YE" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">pew</a>, <a title="Life Of Brian- 1979 Debate (1/4) | nir0bateman" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ni559bHXDg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">1</a>, <a title="Life Of Brian- 1979 Debate (2/4)" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku3GcPrW9xg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">2</a>, <a title="Life Of Brian- 1979 Debate (3/4)" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGI9UevrzGc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">3</a>, <a title="Life Of Brian- 1979 Debate (4/4)" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXmJHlqMvvE" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">4</a>) between John Cleese & Michael Palin on the <a title="Monty Python And The Holy Grail 1975 HD" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qvXvDfGnh8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Monty</a> <a title="Channel 4 Monty Python Documentary 2006" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fincwtbDf8E" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">side</a> and <a title="Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge (24 March 1903 – 14 November 1990)[1] was an English journalist and satirist. His father was a prominent socialist politician and one of the early Labour Party Members of Parliament (for Romford in Essex). In his twenties, Muggeridge was attracted to communism but after living in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, he became a forceful anti-communist. During the Second World War he worked for the British government as a soldier and a spy, first in East Africa for two years, and then in Paris. In the aftermath of the war, as a hugely influential London journalist, he converted to Christianity and helped bring Mother Teresa to popular attention in the West. He was also a critic of the sexual revolution and of drug use. Muggeridge kept detailed diaries for much of his life (published in 1981 under the title Like It Was: The Diaries of Malcolm Muggeridge) and developed these into two volumes of a critically acclaimed and uncompleted autobiography Chronicles of Wasted Time." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Muggeridge" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Malcolm Muggeridge</a> & <a title="Arthur Mervyn Stockwood (27 May 1913 – 13 January 1995) was the Anglican Bishop of Southwark from 1959 to 1980." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mervyn_Stockwood" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mervyn Stockwood</a>, <a title="The Bishop of Southwark is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Southwark in the Province of Canterbury." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglican_Bishop_of_Southwark" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bishop of Southwark</a> on the reactionary side. The religious guys had an uphill battle and they do a terrible job at defending their side. It’s almost as if they know they are on a suicidal mission and don’t even bother taking live ammo.</p> <p>According to the <a title="Turek vs. Hitchens Debate: Does God Exist?" href="https://vimeo.com/1904911" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">vimeo</a> blurb, the subject of the debate (which, as I am writing this, I have yet to watch) is “Does God exist?”; it can also be found on YouTube under <a title="Does God Exist? (Frank Turek vs Christopher Hitchens)" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7WBEJJlYWU" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CrossExamined</a> (also blog, ce-ht) and also done with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg8XkzyXkg8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dawkins</a>, <a title="DEBATE: Atheist vs Christian (Richard Dawkins vs Cardinal George Pell)" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8hy8NxZvFY" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">by Dawkins</a>, and by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FofDChlSILU" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hitchens with William Lane Craig</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j3VU1T8ALU" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">with 4 Christians</a>, etc.</p> <p>My personal view is that the existence of God cannot be proved or disproved. Theists or atheists hoping to do so are inevitably wrong.</p> <p>I will update this article with my views once I manage to find the time to go through all this material.</p> <p>*(*This article is unfinished – it was scheduled to appear in the hope that it will be finished before, but since this message is here and until it is removed, the article is to be considered work in progress*)*.</p> <p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist Paperback | Mar 12 2004 by Norman L. Geisler (Author), Frank Turek (Author) | 5stars / 43 reviews" href="https://amzn.to/33H8NNm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">33H8NNm-TurekFaithBook</a>, <a title="Frank Turek vs. Christopher Hitchens Debate #2 MP3 Audio" href="https://apologetics315.com/2009/08/frank-turek-vs-christopher-hitchens-debate-2-mp3-audio/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">apo315</a>, <a title="On Tuesday night, I debated atheist Christopher Hitchens, author of God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, at Virginia Commonwealth University. The topic was, Does God Exist?" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j3VU1T8ALU" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ce-ht</a>, <a href="https://rudyhenkel.livejournal.com/2726.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">rhlj-review</a>, <a title="Turek vs Hitchens Debate: Does God Exist? | Christian Apologetics" href="https://sites.google.com/site/thepantheonofatheists/debates/turek-vs-hitchens-debate-does-god-exist-christian-apologetics" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">pantheon-hitchtur</a>, <a title="Full MP3 Audio here. (2 hours)" href="http://www.apologetics315.com/media/turek-hitchens-debate2.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">mp3</a>, <a title="Just finished Turek's opening statement. Ugh. These fast talking con-artists are getting worse." href="http://www.debunking-christianity.com/2009/02/christopher-hitchens-v-frank-turek.html#disqus_thread" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">comments-debunking</a></p> <div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:0ccb508e-f6f7-45b0-885c-048b7a100589" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" title="Edutarian" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=/debate" rel="tag">debate</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=/religion" rel="tag">religion</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=/theism" rel="tag">theism</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=/atheism" rel="tag">atheism</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=/god" rel="tag">god</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=/science" rel="tag">science</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=/argumentation" rel="tag">argumentation</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=/hitchens" rel="tag">hitchens</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-10920212466526055102013-12-12T15:07:00.001-05:002013-12-12T15:07:22.482-05:00Zamudio and CRT vs Harrison Bergeron<span id="description">My main beef with other libertarians is that so many of us (them?) seem to place a disproportionate emphasis on individualism in the sense that they see their own success as being the result of either their unique skills and / or talents and the failure of others as being the result of their respective lack of effort and “natural-born” abilities. </span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-v0-64w0fSuA/UqoXccsgIzI/AAAAAAAAVc0/bUau_Qjr1p4/s1600-h/Harrison-Bergeron-2081-stills%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img title="Harrison-Bergeron-2081-stills" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Harrison-Bergeron-2081-stills" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-FMdSKqoLjUc/UqoXeE7lbBI/AAAAAAAAVc4/UnF6dlFlZEc/Harrison-Bergeron-2081-stills_thumb%25255B12%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="484" align="right" height="484" /></a>There is quite a bit to explain here so I’ll use direct quotes from the originals. According to Wikipedia (wiki-harrison), it’s “a satirical and dystopian science-fiction short story written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and first published in October 1961. Originally published in <i>The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction</i>, the story was republished in the author's <i>Welcome to the Monkey House</i> collection in 1968. The satire raises a serious question concerning desirability of social equality and the extent to which society is prepared to go to achieve it.”</p> <p>This story has been the subject of numerous <a title="YouTube Video Playlist (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Harrison Bergeron 1995" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PL3FDEAA8E8AB8330F" rel="ytlist" target="tutub">adaptations for TV</a> and <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): 2081" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/F1eHkbmUJBQ?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">YouTube</a> as well as <a title="YouTube Video Playlist (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Watch editors Amy A. Kass, Leon R. Kass, and Diana Schaub converse with guest host James W. Ceaser (University of Virginia) about the story." href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLnoqVU41lD8dRPIRLuPCW7_aOGYFBg1Td" rel="ytlist" target="tutub">lively conversation</a>. You can find the text on <a title="HARRISON BERGERON by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr." href="http://jerri8me.tumblr.com/post/63510382369/harrison-bergeron-by-kurt-vonnegut-jr-the-year" target="_blank">tumblr</a> and many <a title="Harrison Bergeron" href="http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html" target="_blank">others</a>, even as <a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr." href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.wordfight.org/bnw/bnw-unit_packet.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">PDF</a>. Its ubiquity is due largely to being quite short.</p> <p>A less accessible but very similar message can be found in Ayn Rand’s work (ls-rand-wmn).</p> <blockquote> <p>In each book, the male alone, the perfect male (the one I firmly believe Rand would have been attracted to, were he alive), succeeds in fully changing society: rising above all expectations and pre-conceived patterns through his own individuality and self-confidence or by founding a private utopia to restore vitality and innovation to the world. He begins with incorruptible ideals and even she, his counter-part, must learn from him: to abandon society’s opinions and ignorance or it’s slovenly greed nestled behind altruism. He studies hard math or science (Roark – Civil Engineering; Galt – Physics and Philosophy); he is physically fit, tall, sharp-boned and striking. Galt at least, with his blond hair and blue eyes, could be Russian in physiognomy, by description. (Though not so, Howard Roark, whose most outstanding physical characteristic is his redheaded-ness.)</p> <p>In <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0451191145?ie=UTF8&tag=zamolxis-20&linkCode=as2&camp=15121&creative=390961&creativeASIN=0451191145">Atlas Shrugged</a>, in particular, Dagny overpowers men in almost every field. Except for that of sexuality. Here, she is submissive almost to a fault, seeking only to be used for the male protagonist’s pleasure. Even when Hank Rearden believes his desires towards her degrade her, she wishes only to be “degraded”. In Dominique’s case, she even wishes to be “raped” in order to feel more completely owned by Roark. This, perhaps, is Rand’s way of showing that sex is not disgraceful, that a woman may succeed within her career but still have womanly instincts. But must womanly instincts be also submissive instincts?</p> </blockquote> <p>It’s no surprise that many males, not all born to privilege, identify with the heroes in the stories above and see themselves as inherently superior beings who are “held back” by their inferior peers. To that, I would oppose Zamudio (et colab)’s words:</p> <blockquote> <p>The major critique of liberalism is that it constructs an image of society as fair and egalitarian where individuals rise and fall based on their own merits. Liberalism presents society as a meritocracy where individual actors compete on a level playing field. Liberalism sees inequality as a natural product of fair competition. Liberalism refuses to examine the structural causes of inequality (such as capitalism, racism, and patriarchy) that CRT [critical race theory] scholars highlight. Liberalism’s emphasis on individual rights precludes any consideration of special protections under the law for minority groups. In fact, liberalism rejects any consideration of the structural rather than natural or individual causes of inequality because it might lead to the transformation of unequal power relations (Daniels 2008), a prospect feared by those in power. Ultimately, the liberal perspective fails to consider the multiple power relationships that give some individuals much greater advantage over others, and that allow some people to be freer than others. <br />From the very beginning, liberal societies were constructed along the status lines of class, race, gender, and citizenship. In America, Blacks and indigenous people were denied even the most basic human rights. Women were relegated to second class status and denied the rights of citizenship. Birthrights, not human rights, protected only those privileged enough to be born white, landowning males. As a society, we have never practiced justice and liberty for all. Liberal societies use the slogans of equality to benefit an exclusive, privileged group. And while over the years liberal societies have extended legal and political rights to a greater number of people, they have never addressed the fundamental material inequality passed down through generations of modern capitalist development. From the very beginning, then, the ideal of equality in the abstract has been celebrated within a broader context of concrete inequality.</p> <p>— </p> <p>Zamudio et al., <em><a title="Zamudio et al., Critical Race Theory Matters: Education and Ideology" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004OBZXL2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004OBZXL2&linkCode=as2&tag=consumerd-20" target="_blank">Critical Race Theory Matters: Education and Ideology</a> (<a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: By Nicholas D. Hartlep - U of Wisconsin" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://ijep.icpres.org/2011/v5n1/ndhartlep.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">review</a>)</em></p> </blockquote> <p>There’s a bit more to be said about <a href="http://inbonobo.tumblr.com/tagged/meritocracy" target="_blank">meritocracy</a> and <a href="http://inbonobo.tumblr.com/post/69637255480/the-pictures-are-of-course-intended-to-incite" target="_blank">materialism</a>.</p> <p>Sources / More info: <a title="Critical Race Theory Matters: Education and Ideology - Margaret Zamudio" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004OBZXL2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004OBZXL2&linkCode=as2&tag=consumerd-20" target="_blank">amazon-zamudio-crt</a>, <a title="a satirical and dystopian science-fiction short story written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and first published in October 1961. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, the story was republished in the author's Welcome to the Monkey House collection in 1968. The satire raises a serious question concerning desirability of social equality and the extent to which society is prepared to go to achieve it." href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron" target="_blank">wiki-harrison</a>, <a title="Equality" href="http://www.whatsoproudlywehail.org/curriculum/the-meaning-of-america/equality" target="_blank">hail-equality</a>, <a href="http://loki-the-assgardian.tumblr.com/post/64063756122/get-to-know-me-meme-3-5-movies-2081-my-name" target="_blank">95-stills</a>, <a title="In the western culture, encouraged to value their interests and independence. People are taught not to limit themselves in what they can achieve. The short story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut and the movie Gattaca by Andrew Niccol clearly show how society can bury ones individuality. In both cases, the protagonists, Harrison Bergeron and Vincent Freeman, are not provided with opportunities to encourage their individuality and eventually resort to rebellion because of their forceful societies." href="http://abey27t.tumblr.com/post/65242060995/societys-effect-on-individuality-harrison-bergeron" target="_blank">bergeron-gattaca</a>, <a href="http://lindsaysscribblings.com/essays/ayn-rand-and-women">ls-rand-wmn</a>, <a href="http://inbonobo.tumblr.com/post/69801716470/the-major-critique-of-liberalism-is-that-it" target="_blank">zamudio-tmblr</a>, <a title="In Vonnegut’s novel God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965), protagonist Eliot Rosewater’s mansion, which he does not actually live in, is cleaned constantly in his absence by a 68-year-old woman named Diana Moon Glampers. She is rather unintelligent and unattractive and has thus lived a rather lonely and pathetic life. I thought it was funny that Vonnegut would reuse the name of…well, a dictator, basically…for such a hapless character. Then it hit me. I have no idea if this is on purpose or not, but I realized that the woman in the novel would benefit hugely from the system in the short story. She would probably be considered average in that 2081 and not have to wear any handicaps. I don’t know if this is what Vonnegut had in mind when he reused the name, but I sure think it’s a neat connection anyway." href="http://neversoma.tumblr.com/post/51853533198/in-which-i-realize-some-pretty-awesome-connections" target="_blank">diana-reuse-tmblr</a>, <a title="THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal" href="http://lets-burn-twishite.tumblr.com/post/51094539273/harrison-bergeron-kurt-vonnegut" target="_blank">bergeron-tmblr</a>,</p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:a5129ed2-b563-4fbe-9e3e-b1b3e8953ab2" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" rel="tag" title="Edutarian Tags">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=libertarian" rel="tag">libertarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=education" rel="tag">education</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=equality" rel="tag">equality</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=communism" rel="tag">communism</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=socialism" rel="tag">socialism</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=inequality" rel="tag">inequality</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=merit" rel="tag">merit</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=meritocracy" rel="tag">meritocracy</a> (Tags)</div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-59663320733157149732013-04-04T19:07:00.000-04:002013-04-04T21:23:53.539-04:00Adventures in Poetry<span id="description">One of the outcomes of the <a title="a harsh intro to Marin Sorescu" href="http://asa.zamo.ca/2013/01/a-harsh-intro-to-marin-sorescu.html">previously mentioned Space Jam</a> is getting to know a number of poems I didn't know. I shall list and discuss them here.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a title="We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion." href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/89067035c87f21946be43b6c1b491ed0/tumblr_mkjrl7Wice1rsyukao1_1280.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/89067035c87f21946be43b6c1b491ed0/tumblr_mkjrl7Wice1rsyukao1_1280.jpg" width="491" height="480" /></a>Poetry is something I enjoy, and you should too.</p> <details><summary>First, the hostess <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): T. S. Eliot - East Coker" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/icWQGrhdr7E?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">read “East Coker,"</a> from *The Four Quartets* by T. S. Eliot. It’s a “poem of late summer, earth and faith.” </summary> <blockquote> <pre>I.<br /><br />In my beginning is my end. In succession<br />Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended,<br />Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place<br />Is an open field, or a factory, or a by-pass.<br />Old stone to new building, old timber to new fires,<br />Old fires to ashes, and ashes to the earth<br />Which is already flesh, fur, and faeces,<br />Bone of man and beast, cornstalk and leaf.<br />Houses live and die: there is a time for building<br />And a time for living and for generation<br />And a time for the wind to break the loosened pane<br />And to shake the wainscot where the field mouse trots<br />And to shake the tattered arras woven with a silent motto.<br /><br /> In my beginning is my end. Now the light falls<br />Across the open field, leaving the deep lane <br />Shuttered with branches, dark in the afternoon,<br />Where you lean against a bank while a van passes,<br />And the deep lane insists on the direction <br />Into the village, in the electric heat<br />Hypnotized. In a warm haze the sultry light<br />Is absorbed, not reflected, by grey stone.<br />The dahlias sleep in the empty silence.<br />Wait for the early owl.<br /> In that open field<br />If you do not come too close, if you do not come too close,<br />On a summer midnight, you can hear the music <br />Of the weak pipe and the little drum<br />And see them dancing around the bonfire<br />The association of man and woman <br />In daunsinge, signifying matrimonie—<br />A dignified and commodiois sacrament.<br />Two and two, necessarye coniunction,<br />Holding eche other by the hand or the arm<br />Whiche betokeneth concorde. Round and round the fire<br />Leaping through the flames, or joined in circles,<br />Rustically solemn or in rustic laughter<br />Lifting heavy feet in clumsy shoes,<br />Earth feet, loam feet, lifted in country mirth<br />Mirth of those long since under earth<br />Nourishing the corn. Keeping time,<br />Keeping the rhythm in their dancing<br />As in their living in the living seasons<br />The time of the seasons and the constellations<br />The time of milking and the time of harvest<br />The time of the coupling of man and woman<br />And that of beasts. Feet rising and falling.<br />Eating and drinking. Dung and death.<br /> Dawn points, and another day<br />Prepares for heat and silence. Out at sea the dawn wind<br />Wrinkles and slides. I am here<br />Or there, or elsewhere. In my beginning.<br /><br /><br />II.<br /><br />What is the late November doing<br />With the disturbance of the spring<br />And creatures of the summer heat,<br />And snowdrops writhing under feet<br />And hollyhocks that aim too high<br />Red into grey and tumble down<br />Late roses filled with early snow?<br />Thunder rolled by the rolling stars<br />Simulates triumphal cars<br />Deployed in constellated wars<br />Scorpion fights against the sun<br />Until the Sun and Moon go down<br />Comets weep and Leonids fly<br />Hunt the heavens and the plains<br />Whirled in a vortex that shall bring<br />The world to that destructive fire<br />Which burns before the ice-cap reigns<br /><br /> That was a way of putting it—not very satisfactory<br />A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion,<br />Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle <br />With words and meanings. The poetry does not matter<br />It was not (to start again) what one had expected.<br />What was to be the value of the long looked forward to,<br />Long hope for calm, the autumnal serenity <br />And the wisdom of age? Had they deceived us <br />Or deceived themselves, the quiet-voiced elders,<br />bequeathing us merely a receipt for deceit?<br />The serenity only a deliberate hebitude,<br />The wisdom only the knowledge of dead secrets<br />Useless in the darkness into which they peered<br />Or from which they turned their eyes. There is, it seems to us,<br />At best, only a limited value<br />In the knowledge derived from experience.<br />The knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies,<br />For the pattern is new in every moment<br />And every moment is a new and shocking<br />Valuation of all we have been. We are only undeceived<br />Of that which, deceiving, could no longer harm.<br />In the middle, not only in the middle of the way<br />But all the way, in a dark wood, in a bramble,<br />On the edge of a grimpen, where is no secure foothold,<br />And menaced by monsters, fancy lights,<br />Risking enchantment. Do not let me hear<br />Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly,<br />Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession,<br />Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God.<br />The only wisdom we can hope to acquire <br />Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.<br /><br /> The houses are all gone under the sea.<br /><br /> The dancers are all gone under the hill.<br /><br /><br />III.<br /><br />O dark dark dark. They all go into the dark,<br />The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant,<br />The captains, merchant bankers, eminent men of letters,<br />The generous patrons of art, the statesmen and the rulers,<br />Distinguished civil servants, chairmen of many committees,<br />Industrial lords and petty contractors, all go into the dark,<br />And dark the Sun and Moon, and the Almanach de Gotha<br />And the Stock Exchange Gazette, the Directory of Directors,<br />And cold the sense and lost the motive of action.<br />And we all go with them, into the silent funeral,<br />Nobody's funeral, for there is no one to bury.<br />I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you<br />Which shall be the darkness of God. As, in a theatre, <br />The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed<br />With a hollow rumble of wings, with a movement of darkness on darkness,<br />And we know that the hills and the trees, the distant panorama<br />And the bold imposing facade are all being rolled away—<br />Or as, when an underground train, in the tube, stops too long between stations<br />And the conversation rises and slowly fades into silence<br />And you see behind every face the mental emptiness deepen<br />Leaving only the growing terror of nothing to think about;<br />Or when, under ether, the mind is conscious but conscious of nothing—<br />I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope<br />For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love<br />For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith<br />But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.<br />Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:<br />So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.<br />Whisper of running streams, and winter lightning.<br />The wild thyme unseen and the wild strawberry,<br />The laughter in the garden, echoed ecstasy<br />Not lost, but requiring, pointing to the agony <br />Of death and birth.<br /><br /> You say I am repeating<br />Something I have said before. I shall say it again,<br />Shall I say it again? In order to arrive there,<br />To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,<br /> You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.<br />In order to arrive at what you do not know<br /> You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.<br />In order to possess what you do not possess<br /> You must go by the way of dispossession.<br />In order to arrive at what you are not<br /> You must go through the way in which you are not.<br />And what you do not know is the only thing you know<br />And what you own is what you do not own<br />And where you are is where you are not.<br /><br /><br />IV.<br /><br />The wounded surgeon plies the steel<br />That questions the distempered part;<br />Beneath the bleeding hands we feel<br />The sharp compassion of the healer's art<br />Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.<br /><br /> Our only health is the disease<br />If we obey the dying nurse<br />Whose constant care is not to please<br />But to remind of our, and Adam's curse,<br />And that, to be restored, our sickness must grow worse.<br /><br /> The whole earth is our hospital<br />Endowed by the ruined millionaire,<br />Wherein, if we do well, we shall<br />Die of the absolute paternal care<br />That will not leave us, but prevents us everywhere.<br /><br /> The chill ascends from feet to knees,<br />The fever sings in mental wires.<br />If to be warmed, then I must freeze<br />And quake in frigid purgatorial fires<br />Of which the flame is roses, and the smoke is briars.<br /><br /> The dripping blood our only drink,<br />The bloody flesh our only food:<br />In spite of which we like to think<br />That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood—<br />Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.<br /><br /><br />V.<br /><br />So here I am, in the middle way, having had twenty years—<br />Twenty years largely wasted, the years of l'entre deux guerres<br />Trying to learn to use words, and every attempt <br />Is a wholly new start, and a different kind of failure<br />Because one has only learnt to get the better of words<br />For the thing one no longer has to say, or the way in which<br />One is no longer disposed to say it. And so each venture<br />Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate<br />With shabby equipment always deteriorating<br />In the general mess of imprecision of feeling,<br />Undisciplined squads of emotion. And what there is to conquer<br />By strength and submission, has already been discovered<br />Once or twice, or several times, by men whom one cannot hope<br />To emulate—but there is no competition—<br />There is only the fight to recover what has been lost<br />And found and lost again and again: and now, under conditions<br />That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss.<br />For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.<br /><br /> Home is where one starts from. As we grow older<br />The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated<br />Of dead and living. Not the intense moment <br />Isolated, with no before and after,<br />But a lifetime burning in every moment<br />And not the lifetime of one man only<br />But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.<br />There is a time for the evening under starlight,<br />A time for the evening under lamplight<br />(The evening with the photograph album).<br />Love is most nearly itself<br />When here and now cease to matter.<br /><br />Old men ought to be explorers<br />Here and there does not matter<br />We must be still and still moving<br />Into another intensity<br />For a further union, a deeper communion<br />Through the dark cold and empty desolation,<br />The wave cry, the wind cry, the vast waters<br />Of the petrel and the porpoise. In my end is my beginning.</pre><br /></blockquote><br /><br /><p>From Wikipedia: </p><br /><br /><blockquote><br /> <p>The poem discusses time and disorder within nature that is the result of humanity following only science and not the divine. Leaders are described as materialistic and unable to understand reality. The only way for mankind to find salvation is through pursuing the divine by looking inwards and realizing that humanity is interconnected. Only then can people understand the universe. (..) Despite the poem's doubt and darkness, a note of hope is struck by the first line of the fifth section, 'So here I am in the middle way'. This refers to the first line of Dante's Inferno, 'Midway in our life's journey, I went astray'. Although the descent is predicated on going astray, so also is persevering beyond it into the light.</p><br /></blockquote><br /></details><br /><br /><p>Let us continue on with Mike’s choice: <a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: Atlas Shrugged - the John Galt Speech" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://faculty.citadel.edu/sobel/Entrepreneurship%20Class%20Readings/11.%20Rand%20-%20John%20Galt's%20Speech%20Excerpt.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">Atlas Shrugged - The John Galt Speech</a>. I won’t explain it as, <a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: Atlas Shrugged and the Importance of Dramatizing Our Values" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://mises.org/journals/jls/21_4/21_4_5.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">Mises Institute</a>, <a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: Atlas Shrugged and the Moral Foundations" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://pix.cs.olemiss.edu/csci300/atlasShrugged.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">University of Mississippi</a>, <a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: Atlas Shrugged – America s Second Declaration of Independence" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.aynrand.org/site/DocServer/atlas_shrugged_2nd_dec_tea_party.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">Ayn Rand org</a> (<a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: Atlas Shrugged Teacher s Guide - The Ayn Rand Institute" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.aynrand.org/DocServer/Atlas_Shrugged_Teacher_Guide_2009-10.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">guide</a>), <a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: Re-Reading Atlas Shrugged" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.quebecoislibre.org/6-huebert.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">QL</a>, <a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: A Teacher's Guide to the Signet Edition of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged." href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.us.penguingroup.com/static/pdf/teachersguides/atlasshruggedTG.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">Penguin</a> <a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: Questions for discussion: Atlas Shrugged. 1. What and where is the 'utopia of greed'?" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.penguin.ca/static/cs/cn/0/bookclub/readingguides/guides/atlasshrugged_aynrand.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">Group</a> and <a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: Atlas Shrugged House Course" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://trinity.duke.edu/uploads/assets/Atlas%20Shrugged%20Syllabus.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">Duke U</a> do it for me.</p><br /><details><summary>Next came Helen with a rather interesting poem: <strong>Phenomenal Woman</strong> by <em>Maya Angelou</em>. What is interesting about this poem is the author’s fascinating existence: <em>Angelou's list of occupations includes pimp, prostitute, night-club dancer and performer, cast member of the opera Porgy and Bess, coordinator for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, author, journalist in Egypt and Ghana during the days of decolonization, and actor, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. Since 1982, she has taught at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she holds the first lifetime Reynolds Professorship of American Studies. She was active in the Civil Rights movement, and worked with both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Since the 1990s she has made around eighty appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Bill Clinton's inauguration</em> (via Wikipedia, link below).</summary> <br /><br /><blockquote><br /> <p>Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. <br /> <br />I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size <br /><br /> <br />But when I start to tell them, <br /><br /> <br />They think I'm telling lies. <br /><br /> <br />I say, <br /><br /> <br />It's in the reach of my arms <br /><br /> <br />The span of my hips, <br /><br /> <br />The stride of my step, <br /><br /> <br />The curl of my lips. <br /><br /> <br />I'm a woman <br /><br /> <br />Phenomenally. <br /><br /> <br />Phenomenal woman, <br /><br /> <br />That's me.</p><br /><br /> <p>I walk into a room <br /> <br />Just as cool as you please, <br /><br /> <br />And to a man, <br /><br /> <br />The fellows stand or <br /><br /> <br />Fall down on their knees. <br /><br /> <br />Then they swarm around me, <br /><br /> <br />A hive of honey bees. <br /><br /> <br />I say, <br /><br /> <br />It's the fire in my eyes, <br /><br /> <br />And the flash of my teeth, <br /><br /> <br />The swing in my waist, <br /><br /> <br />And the joy in my feet. <br /><br /> <br />I'm a woman <br /><br /> <br />Phenomenally. <br /><br /> <br />Phenomenal woman, <br /><br /> <br />That's me.</p><br /><br /> <p>Men themselves have wondered <br /> <br />What they see in me. <br /><br /> <br />They try so much <br /><br /> <br />But they can't touch <br /><br /> <br />My inner mystery. <br /><br /> <br />When I try to show them <br /><br /> <br />They say they still can't see. <br /><br /> <br />I say, <br /><br /> <br />It's in the arch of my back, <br /><br /> <br />The sun of my smile, <br /><br /> <br />The ride of my breasts, <br /><br /> <br />The grace of my style. <br /><br /> <br />I'm a woman <br /><br /> <br />Phenomenally. <br /><br /> <br />Phenomenal woman, <br /><br /> <br />That's me.</p><br /><br /> <p>Now you understand <br /> <br />Just why my head's not bowed. <br /><br /> <br />I don't shout or jump about <br /><br /> <br />Or have to talk real loud. <br /><br /> <br />When you see me passing <br /><br /> <br />It ought to make you proud. <br /><br /> <br />I say, <br /><br /> <br />It's in the click of my heels, <br /><br /> <br />The bend of my hair, <br /><br /> <br />the palm of my hand, <br /><br /> <br />The need of my care, <br /><br /> <br />'Cause I'm a woman <br /><br /> <br />Phenomenally. <br /><br /> <br />Phenomenal woman, <br /><br /> <br />That's me.</p><br /></blockquote><br /></details><br /><br /><p>Cheryl had 3 poems, of which we’ll mention only 2 (she hasn’t discussed the 3rd one, suggesting it was written by her).</p><br /><details><summary>Cheryl’s shortest poem was quite interesting: <strong>The Emperor of Ice Cream</strong> by <em>Wallace Stevens</em> [<a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): The Emperor of Ice Cream by Ben Breech. Courtesy of The Ringling College of Art + Design" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/J9BVtKGbdXo?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">animation</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Poem by American poet Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Flm_iA6rsF0?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">reading</a>]. The <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/stevens/emperor.htm" target="_blank">explanation</a> [<a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): One explanation is that this actually happened: an old lady died suddenly. " href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TrsspndTRXo?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">yt</a>] reminds me of <em>Faulkner</em>’s As I Lie Dying (<a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): As I lay Dying: Novel Summary (william Faulkner)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/N9PhE5J9FHM?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">summary</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Professor Wai Chee Dimock begins her discussion of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying by orienting the novel to the Great Depression in the South, as focalized through such famous texts as Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Once this macro history is established, she reads the narrative techniques of As I Lay Dying through two analytic lenses. First, she draws on Bakhtin's notion of social dialects to underscore the language that indexes poor whites as a Southern type. Second, she marshals Frank Kermode's idea of narrative secrecy to show how two secrets in As I Lay Dying -- Dewey Dell's illegitimate pregnancy and Jewel's illegitimate birth -- are gradually revealed to the reader through Faulkner's multiple narrators, each a speaker of a socially codified dialect, and each a practitioner of narrative secrecy in his or her own right." href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ax1QzmclDT0?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">course</a>).</summary> <br /><br /><blockquote><br /> <p>Call the roller of big cigars, <br /> <br />The muscular one, and bid him whip <br /><br /> <br />In kitchen cups concupiscent curds. <br /><br /> <br />Let the wenches dawdle in such dress <br /><br /> <br />As they are used to wear, and let the boys <br /><br /> <br />Bring flowers in last month's newspapers. <br /><br /> <br />Let be be finale of seem. <br /><br /> <br />The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream. <br /><br /> <br />Take from the dresser of deal. <br /><br /> <br />Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet <br /><br /> <br />On which she embroidered fantails once <br /><br /> <br />And spread it so as to cover her face. <br /><br /> <br />If her horny feet protrude, they come <br /><br /> <br />To show how cold she is, and dumb. <br /><br /> <br />Let the lamp affix its beam. <br /><br /> <br />The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.</p><br /></blockquote><br /></details><br /><br /><p>The longer poem has to do with a bloody and ultimately unsuccessful Irish rising against the British and is thus explained in Wikipedia (link below):<em> Although a committed nationalist, Yeats generally disapproved of violence as a means to securing Irish independence, and as a result had strained relations with some of the figures who eventually led the uprising. The deaths of these revolutionary figures at the hands of the British, however, were as much a shock to Yeats as they were to ordinary Irish people at the time, who did not expect the events to take a worse turn so soon. Yeats was working through his feelings about the revolutionary movement in this poem, and the insistent refrain that "a terrible beauty is born" turned out to be prescient, as the execution of the leaders of the Easter Rising by the British had the opposite effect to that intended. The brutal killings led to a reinvigoration of the Irish Republican movement rather than its dissipation</em>.</p><br /><details><summary>The poem <u>Easter, 1916</u> by William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) is in public domain [<a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): 'Easter 1916' by W.B. Yeats (poetry)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7RODe9l9SM0?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">reading</a>].</summary> <br /><br /><blockquote><br /> <p>I have met them at close of day   <br />Coming with vivid faces <br /><br /> <br />From counter or desk among grey   <br />Eighteenth-century houses. <br /><br /> <br />I have passed with a nod of the head   <br />Or polite meaningless words,   <br />Or have lingered awhile and said   <br />Polite meaningless words, <br /><br /> <br />And thought before I had done   <br />Of a mocking tale or a gibe   <br />To please a companion <br /><br /> <br />Around the fire at the club,   <br />Being certain that they and I   <br />But lived where motley is worn:   <br />All changed, changed utterly:   <br />A terrible beauty is born.</p><br /><br /> <p>That woman's days were spent   <br />In ignorant good-will, <br /><br /> <br />Her nights in argument <br /><br /> <br />Until her voice grew shrill. <br /><br /> <br />What voice more sweet than hers   <br />When, young and beautiful,   <br />She rode to harriers? <br /><br /> <br />This man had kept a school   <br />And rode our wingèd horse;   <br />This other his helper and friend   <br />Was coming into his force; <br /><br /> <br />He might have won fame in the end,   <br />So sensitive his nature seemed,   <br />So daring and sweet his thought. <br /><br /> <br />This other man I had dreamed <br /><br /> <br />A drunken, vainglorious lout. <br /><br /> <br />He had done most bitter wrong <br /><br /> <br />To some who are near my heart,   <br />Yet I number him in the song; <br /><br /> <br />He, too, has resigned his part <br /><br /> <br />In the casual comedy; <br /><br /> <br />He, too, has been changed in his turn,   <br />Transformed utterly: <br /><br /> <br />A terrible beauty is born.</p><br /><br /> <p>Hearts with one purpose alone   <br />Through summer and winter seem   <br />Enchanted to a stone <br /><br /> <br />To trouble the living stream. <br /><br /> <br />The horse that comes from the road,   <br />The rider, the birds that range   <br />From cloud to tumbling cloud,   <br />Minute by minute they change;   <br />A shadow of cloud on the stream   <br />Changes minute by minute;   <br />A horse-hoof slides on the brim,   <br />And a horse plashes within it;   <br />The long-legged moor-hens dive,   <br />And hens to moor-cocks call;   <br />Minute by minute they live:   <br />The stone's in the midst of all.</p><br /><br /> <p>Too long a sacrifice <br /> <br />Can make a stone of the heart.   <br />O when may it suffice? <br /><br /> <br />That is Heaven's part, our part   <br />To murmur name upon name,   <br />As a mother names her child   <br />When sleep at last has come   <br />On limbs that had run wild.   <br />What is it but nightfall? <br /><br /> <br />No, no, not night but death;   <br />Was it needless death after all? <br /><br /> <br />For England may keep faith   <br />For all that is done and said.   <br />We know their dream; enough <br /><br /> <br />To know they dreamed and are dead;   <br />And what if excess of love   <br />Bewildered them till they died?   <br />I write it out in a verse— <br /><br /> <br />MacDonagh and MacBride   <br />And Connolly and Pearse <br /><br /> <br />Now and in time to be, <br /><br /> <br />Wherever green is worn, <br /><br /> <br />Are changed, changed utterly:   <br />A terrible beauty is born.</p><br /><br /> <p>FOOTNOTES: <em>September 25, 1916</em></p><br /></blockquote><br /></details><br /><br /><p>If you had to pick a poem to recite, what would it be?</p><br /><br /><p>Sources / More info: <a href="/messages/conversation-id.339994366108205" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">fb</a>, <a title="'East Coker,' from *The Four Quartets*" href="http://oedipa.tripod.com/eliot-2.html" target="_blank">tse-ecoker</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Coker_(poem)" target="_blank">wiki-ec</a>, <a href="http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=7072" target="_blank">pa-tse-ec</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Galt" target="_blank">wiki-galt</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_angelou" target="_blank">wiki-MA</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter,_1916" target="_blank">wiki-1916</a>, </p><br /><br /><br /><br /><div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:c75376e4-0480-40c2-81d0-c7d46c92497b" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" rel="tag" title="Edutarian Tags">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=poem" rel="tag">poem</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=poetry" rel="tag">poetry</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=literature" rel="tag">literature</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=analysis" rel="tag">analysis</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=poezie" rel="tag">poezie</a></div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-52321922184847544992013-04-02T01:00:00.001-04:002023-02-03T15:50:53.159-05:00Where is best to be a single woman?<span id='description'>I’m supposed to do some work, but my thoughts are jumping around the world. <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Dean Martin - Let it Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/o2uvtl-1V70?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">The weather outside is frightful</a>: after an Easter week-end with temperatures of 10 C and over, today we’re close to 0, it’s snowing and the wind is pushing the window toward me. And I’m thinking of a woman. Maybe more.. </span> <a name='more'></a> <!--a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifujHMnpwRP2rLdzn2Y9Rh-B8OdD8nMyEmvxJ1beqMbmX7Sp3pbWdCNRtGgWCmchCpGUwpm4gk77TLtkHuLgv18SCeOyAwDjNu6eeJ0Cn8KUIOuZY_ONKx9SWwGdhAbrtzwMmnbc4Ol-fvbtBym0SpWag5mdtLOI0qIswvhw5lzb7-tF4V1slUp1s2/s727/pensivegrl.jpg"--><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a title="pensive #girl by InBonobo @ Instagram" href="http://instagram.com/p/W-k6Caq3VQ/" target="_blank" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="screenshot of Instagram photo" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="717" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifujHMnpwRP2rLdzn2Y9Rh-B8OdD8nMyEmvxJ1beqMbmX7Sp3pbWdCNRtGgWCmchCpGUwpm4gk77TLtkHuLgv18SCeOyAwDjNu6eeJ0Cn8KUIOuZY_ONKx9SWwGdhAbrtzwMmnbc4Ol-fvbtBym0SpWag5mdtLOI0qIswvhw5lzb7-tF4V1slUp1s2/s320/pensivegrl.jpg"/></a></div> <p>The idea is not to write about a specific person in particular – rather a composite, much like the previous article – but if you find yourself in it, please let me know. </p> <p>Before boring you with serious talk, let me start with the corrected Google translation of yet <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Alexandru Andries - O fata singura" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/56SsL9wYyNo?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">another song</a> from my childhood. I used to listen to it on a vinyl, way before CDs and DVDs, together with a bunch of other jazzy / rock / blues ditties. </p> <details><summary>The lyrics are superb and so is the music, if it’s evening and you already had a glass of good wine or lazy bourbon.</summary> <blockquote> <p><strong><u>A single girl</u> by <em>Alexandru Andries</em></strong></p> <p>She is now a single girl and does not know how to live like this: <br />Her boyfriend disappeared- the tall guy who kept waiting for her, <br />He said "Good evening," he said, "c ya soon" and then evaporated <br />And she, on the street, does not want another guy on her arm...</p> <p>She is now a single girl, week-end mornings she lays in bed and reads, <br />Half a day she makes phone calls, but her own phone does not ring <br />And the silence in the room increases … <br />She could go to the movies, she could call him herself  <br />But she knows with certainty from everyone that girls don’t... <br />They do not do that!</p> <p>The guys around her are beautiful because they suddenly become <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Sting - Fragile" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lB6a-iD6ZOY?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">fragile</a>: <br />Under velvet armor and cotton shirts <br />Clumsy soldiers are hiding... <br />They would like to fight the loneliness <br />Of her almond-shaped eyes, <br />But without a sword, and especially without shield, <br />How can they prevail?</p> <p>She is now a single girl in a bored universe, <br />And this lesson, so hard, is just that lesson she missed ... <br />She doesn’t know what to do with her hands, <br />With her way-too-long legs <br />In the bed where there’s nobody toward who <br />To extend your hand, <br />To extend your hand, and reach! ...</p> <p>Come, come, <br />You have beautiful eyes and <br />You're truly beautiful, <br />Come, come,  <br />You will not stay much longer home alone ...</p> <p>She is now a single girl: <br />Money, gather it from your pocket, <br />Run and buy a <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Prince - Little Red Corvette" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5bZSC-av8t4?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">Chevrolet</a> <br />Or at least <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Fortwo" target="_blank">something similar</a>,</p> <p>Go on, run! ...</p> </blockquote> </details> <p>I remember long, long time ago, when I had just arrived in Canada, watching a documentary about how <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Attitudes toward working women in the 1950s" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BA3uryDJzI0?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">after WW2</a>, Canada had become a major employer of women, drawing single women from Europe in search of freedom. One major employer was Bell Canada who needed <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Use of Women as Telephone Operators: Early History" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/njW70pofZsg?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">women phone operators for its expanding network</a>. I was actually working on a contract for Bell in 1998, when the idea to phase out human operators first surfaced and slowly but sure implemented, though strongly opposed by various factions.</p> <details><summary>Census data captures the full carnage of those years.</summary> <blockquote> <p>According to census data, women held about 80% of the jobs in this occupation [telephone operators] in 2006, a percentage that has been declining sharply since 1991 (89%). In 2005 part-time work was more common than for all occupations (40% vs 21%). In 2006 self-employment was practically non-existent in this occupation (less than 2% of jobs). Work hours include evenings and the weekend. The work is generally repetitive, sedentary and highly controlled, often with limited response time. The annual employment income ($28,925) shown in the "Characteristics" section of the "Statistics" applies only to the 36% of people in this occupation who worked full time and full-year in 2005. The average employment income for those who did not work full time and full-year was $11,958 in 2005. Because Bell Canada has transferred the telephone services for 411, teleconferencing and the Relay service for people with hearing impairments to Nordia in 1999 and 2000, the annual employment income increased only by 14% between 1990 and 2005, while it increased by 42% for all occupations.</p> </blockquote> </details> <p>Enough with that dying occupation, and let’s move on to what Canada is known for today. Less than a year ago, “a global poll of experts” found Canada to be the best place to be a woman among the world’s biggest economies (G20).</p> <details><summary>The hierarchy of this TrustLaw (Thomson Reuters Foundation) survey is based on polling 370 gender specialists, much like the <a title="Bulgaria devanseaza Romania in topul perceptiilor de coruptie" href="http://asa.zamo.ca/2009/11/bulgaria-devanseaza-romania-in-topul.html">Transparency International corruption survey</a>.</summary> <ol> <li>Canada </li> <li>Germany </li> <li>Britain </li> <li>Australia </li> <li>France </li> <li>United States </li> <li>Japan </li> <li>Italy </li> <li>Argentina </li> <li>South Korea </li> <li>Brazil </li> <li>Turkey </li> <li>Russia </li> <li>China </li> <li>Mexico </li> <li>South Africa </li> <li>Indonesia </li> <li>Saudi Arabia </li> <li>India </li> </ol> </details><details><summary>A more complex Index published by <abbr title="United Nations" style="border-bottom: navy 1px dotted">U.N.</abbr>, <abbr title="Gender Inequality Index" style="border-bottom: navy 1px dotted">GII</abbr>, paints a slightly different picture [<a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2011; Sustainability and Equity, 2011" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2011_EN_Complete.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">2011 PDF</a>] (ts-g20) with Canada alternatively on the 7th or 6th place.</summary> <blockquote> <p>The Gender Inequality Index (GII), which looks at reproductive health, the labour market and empowerment of women through education and politics, named the same three countries as the worst places for women, although Saudi Arabia ranked the absolute worst in the GII, followed by India. The GII, however, does not include gender-based violence or other elements such as the fact that many women carry additional burdens of caregiving and housekeeping. When it came to what country was best, the expert perception did not match U.N. data. The GII ranked Germany, France and South Korea as the top three countries, in that order. Canada came seventh and the United States was in tenth place.</p> </blockquote></details> <details><summary>A few publications, such as the Globe and Mail, Foreign Policy as well as the Independent have looked at various stats (including <a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: the World Economic Forum (WEF)'s 2011 ranking of 135 countries by the economic, educational, health, and political gaps between men and women" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GenderGap_Report_2011.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">WEF 2011</a> and <a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: The Global Gender Gap Report 2012 - World Economic Forum" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GenderGap_Report_2012.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">2012</a>, where Canada comes 21st out of 135 countries), coming up with some possibly surprising facts.</summary> <ul> <li>Philippines is 8th on the WEF’s list, being first in “educational attainment” and “health and survival” even though they’re not doing so great in terms of abortion and contraception [<a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: Childbearing, however, remains a contentious issue among Filipinos, 80 percent of whom are Catholics. Abortion is illegal, and access to contraception is not widespread. The World Bank estimates that 20 percent of Filipino women who want contraceptives can't get them." href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWDR2012/Resources/7778105-1299699968583/7786210-1315936222006/Complete-Report.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">World Bank</a>] </li> <li>71% of Latvia’s university grads are women [<a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: Latvia scores particularly high marks on education and health equality (United Nations survey, PDF)" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/julyhls/pdf10/latvia.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">UN</a>] and so are 50% of its Supreme Court judges as well as 45% of those in R&D. Still, there is .8:1 income inequality [<a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: Latvian women make roughly 80 cents, on average, for every dollar that their male counterparts take home" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWDR2012/Resources/7778105-1299699968583/7786210-1315936222006/Complete-Report.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">WB</a>] </li> <li>Cuba was 20th in WEF’s index, and first in Latin America and / or Caribbean, with 60% of technical workforce being female and 43% of parliamentarians (see also <a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: Cuba scholar Ilja Luciak has pointed out that there's an inverse relationship between the power of Cuban political institutions and women's presence in those organizations (the meek Cuban National Assembly, for instance, is 43 percent female, while the influential Central Committee and Politburo are less than 15 percent female); two cultural models are colliding in Cuba: 'a machista or male chauvinist model, which discriminates against women and still persists in society today, and a new model that values women's right to equal opportunity.'" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.oxfam.ca/sites/default/files/imce/women-social-change-cuba.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">Oxfam</a>). </li> <li>Egypt – smallest gender gap, at 82 cents to the dollar (in Canada, 35th, only 73 cents) </li> <li>Rwanda – most female politicians, with 45 of the 80 seats in Parliament; in Canada, 45th, men outnumber females 3:1 </li> <li>Japan – women live longest, 87:79.2 yrs; in Canada it’s 82.8:75 </li> <li>China – most female billionaires due to communism </li> <li>Denmark – least unpaid work, only 50 min - 5h+ in India </li> <li>Burundi – 92% of women have paid work, compared to 88% of men; Canada is 20th </li> <li>Jamaica – most women in positions of power 59% vs 41%; Canada is 31st, with 36% to 64% </li> <li>Estonia – significant incentives for female engineers, hence 2:1 or 68%; in Canada, 57% </li> <li>Estonia – safest to have a baby (lowest maternal mortality: 2 in 100000 vs 12 in 100000 in Canada. </li> <li>Germany – best to stay at home with kids (14 weeks off at 100% of wages; parental allowance of 67% of wages for 14 months, both parents 3 yrs of parental leave); Canada – 52 wks of maternity leave, EI </li> <li>USA – most female Nobel prize winners; Canada 0 </li> <li>Georgia – lowest rate of domestic violence, with a lifetime prevalence of abuse of 5%; Canada 2nd, with 7% </li> <li>French Polynesia – women marry at 33; Canada – 29 </li> <li>Norway – top country to be a single mother, only 4.1% children of single-parent families were deprived of quality of life measures; the last is Romania </li> </ul> </details> <p>How about safe travel only? Lonely Planet has a fresh survey for 2013, where Canada ranks 4th, after Japan, Iceland and New Zealand, respectively.</p> <p>There you have it. What measure is most important to you?</p> <p>Sources / More info: <a title="O fata singura by Alexandru Andries - lyrics" href="http://alexandries.free.fr/andries/documente/piesele/asteptandcarte.html#ofata" target="_blank">andries</a>, <a title="O fata singura - Trei Oglinzi" href="http://alexandries.free.fr/andries/documente/piesele/treioglinzi.html#ofatasingura" target="_blank">3o</a>, <a title="Analytical text 1424 - Telephone Operators" href="http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/qc/job_futures/statistics/1424.shtml" target="_blank">sg-gc</a>, <a title="Canada best G20 country to be a woman, India worst - TrustLaw poll" href="http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/poll-canada-best-g20-country-to-be-a-woman-india-worst/" target="_blank">tl-g20</a>, <a title="Canada best G20 country to be a woman, India worst" href="http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2012/06/13/canada_best_g20_country_to_be_a_woman_india_worst.html" target="_blank">ts-g20</a>, <a title="Gender Inequality Index" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_Inequality_Index" target="_blank">wiki-gii</a>, <a title="Revealed: The best and worst places to be a woman" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/revealed-the-best-and-worst-places-to-be-a-woman-7534794.html" target="_blank">Ind-mar8</a>, <a title="Gender geography: Where's the best place in the world to be a woman" href="http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/gender-geography-wheres-the-best-place-in-the-world-to-be-a-woman/article9488293/?service=mobile" target="_blank">gm-gg</a>, <a title="Five Surprisingly Good Places to Be a Woman" href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/03/07/five_surprisingly_good_places_to_be_a_woman" target="_blank">fp-5pl</a>, <a title="Lonely Planet Traveller’s Choice: the top destinations of 2013 by Mark Broadhead" href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blog/2013/02/26/lonely-planet-travellers-choice-the-top-destinations-of-2013-part-1/" target="_blank">lp-top2013</a></p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:8d95b168-e3da-4004-9c71-17019fc9da0e" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" rel="tag" title="Edutarian Tags">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=feminism" rel="tag">feminism</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=women" rel="tag">women</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=canada" rel="tag">canada</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=travel" rel="tag">travel</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=tourism" rel="tag">tourism</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=countries" rel="tag">countries</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=top" rel="tag">top</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=hierarchy" rel="tag">hierarchy</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=stats" rel="tag">stats</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=wef" rel="tag">wef</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=ranking" rel="tag">ranking</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=rank" rel="tag">rank</a></div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-13000764073789928972012-11-28T12:13:00.001-05:002012-11-28T12:43:44.213-05:00The Lesson by Eugene Ionesco<span id="description">I've recently had a chance to see The Lesson by Eugene Ionesco. I took it.</span><a name='more'></a> <p><a href="https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net/hprofile-ak-ash4/211145_376429915770858_1106599288_n.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="Ionesco-Lesson" border="0" alt="Ionesco-Lesson" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-KBoKVx0_UNw/ULZGJpNjD8I/AAAAAAAAUjQ/f7O7wM8WEjQ/Ionesco-Lesson%25255B10%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="327" height="296" /></a></p> <p>I really enjoyed this particular production. David Ferry, under the direction of Soheil Parsa makes a great role out of the increasingly dictatorial professor. Michelle Monteith has a great supporting performance, while Costa Tovarnisky reminds how somewhat of the <em>Cantatrice Chauve</em>, while his authentic Romanian accent, which he reveals at the very end while cajoling the Professor and taking over as the dominant character, is more than symbolic considering Ionesco’s own Romanian roots. This gender reversal is somewhat to be expected in this play, where as of late the pupil may be shown as a “dazed and confused” male while the teacher could be a feminazi. (cg link below)</p> <p>The mechanics of this production are minimalist but top notch. The Professor wears a full doctorate regalia, the decor is simple but fully functional, while the sound effects complement the movement and action perfectly. Before <a title="Document opens to the right if you are on the main site: The LESSON - script analysis" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://davidkaplanteacher.com/thelessonscript analysis.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tutub">discussing the play</a>, let us get to know its author.</p> <p>Born in Slatina, Romania, of a Romanian father and a French/Greek / possibly Jewish mother, Ionesco spent most of his life in France. He claims to have underwent a mystical / formative experience in Romania and that is not the only questionable claim about his past he’s ever made. According to Wikipedia, </p> <blockquote> <p>Much of his later work, reflecting this new perception, demonstrates a disgust for the tangible world, a distrust of communication, and the subtle sense that a better world lies just beyond our reach. Echoes of this experience can also be seen in references and themes in many of his important works: characters pining for an unattainable "city of lights" (<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killer_(play)" target="_blank">The Killer</a></i>, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chairs" target="_blank">The Chairs</a></i>) or perceiving a world beyond (<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A_Stroll_in_the_Air&action=edit&redlink=1" target="_blank">A Stroll in the Air</a></i>); characters granted the ability to fly (<i>A Stroll in the Air</i>, <i>Amédée</i>); the banality of the world which often leads to depression (the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros_(play)" target="_blank">Bérenger</a> character); ecstatic revelations of beauty within a pessimistic framework (<i>Amédée</i>, <i>The Chairs</i>, the Bérenger character); and the inevitability of death (<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit_the_King" target="_blank">Exit the King</a></i>).</p> </blockquote> <p>Much like Nietzsche, Ionescu did not have much respect for his intellectual forefathers, trying to make a name for himself by putting them down and criticizing them:</p> <blockquote> <p>Though best known as a playwright, plays were not his first chosen medium. He started writing poetry and criticism, publishing in several Romanian journals. Two early writings of note are <i>Nu</i>, a book criticizing many other writers, including prominent Romanian poets, and <i>Hugoliade, or, The grotesque and tragic life of Victor Hugo</i> a satirical biography mocking <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo" target="_blank">Victor Hugo</a>'s status as a great figure in French literature. The <i>Hugoliade</i> includes exaggerated retellings of the most scandalous episodes in Hugo's life and contains prototypes for many of Ionesco's later themes: the ridiculous authoritarian character, the false worship of language.</p> </blockquote> <p>Though he contributed theoretical works as well, his most innovative works are considered his early plays, of which The Lesson is the second:</p> <blockquote> <p> Ionesco's earliest works, and his most innovative, were one-act nonsense plays: <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bald_Soprano" target="_blank">La Cantatrice chauve</a></i> (1950), <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Le%C3%A7on" target="_blank">La Leçon</a></i> translated as <i>The Lesson</i> (1951), <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Chaises" target="_blank">Les Chaises</a></i> translated as <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chairs">The Chairs</a></i> (1952), and <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_ou_la_soumission" target="_blank">Jacques ou la soumission</a></i> translated as <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack,_or_The_Submission" target="_blank">Jack, or The Submission</a></i> (1955). These absurdist sketches, to which he gave such descriptions as "anti-play" (<i>anti-pièce</i> in French) express modern feelings of alienation and the impossibility and futility of communication with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealism" target="_blank">surreal</a> comic force, parodying the conformism of the bourgeoisie and conventional theatrical forms. In them Ionesco rejects a conventional story-line as their basis, instead taking their dramatic structure from accelerating rhythms and/or cyclical repetitions. He disregards psychology and coherent dialogue, thereby depicting a dehumanized world with mechanical, puppet-like characters who speak in <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_sequitur_(logic)" target="_blank">non-sequiturs</a></i>. Language becomes rarefied, with words and material objects gaining a life of their own, increasingly overwhelming the characters and creating a sense of menace. (..)</p> <p>Ionesco is often considered a writer of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_the_Absurd" target="_blank">Theatre of the Absurd</a>. This is a label originally given to him by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Esslin" target="_blank">Martin Esslin</a> in his book of the same name, placing Ionesco alongside such contemporary writers as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Beckett" target="_blank">Samuel Beckett</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Genet" target="_blank">Jean Genet</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Adamov" target="_blank">Arthur Adamov</a>. Esslin called them "absurd" based on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Camus" target="_blank">Albert Camus</a>' concept of the absurd, claiming that Beckett and Ionesco better captured the meaninglessness of existence in their plays than in work by Camus or Sartre. Because of this loose association, Ionesco is often mislabeled an existentialist. Ionesco claimed in <i>Notes and Counter Notes</i> that he was not an existentialist and often criticized existentialist figurehead <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre" target="_blank">Jean-Paul Sartre</a>. Although Ionesco knew Beckett and honored his work, the French group of playwrights was far from an organized movement. (..)</p> </blockquote> <p>Ionesco’s own comments further place the play in its logical and literary context (as quoted by Catherine Masson, whittier):</p> <blockquote> <p><i>The Lesson</i> embodies what he called a "pure" drama that represents an "exemplary action of a universal nature." It is an exemplary action of enough importance that he considered it in his notes on theatre: "I would like to be able, sometimes, for my part, to strip theatrical action of all that makes it a theatrical action; its plot, the accidental features of the characters, their names, their social status, their historical background, the apparent reasons of the dramatic conflict, all justifications, all explanations, all the logic of the conflict.... " (..)</p> <p>With <i>The Lesson</i>, Ionesco gives us a perfect example of a theatrical construction as he defines it: "A play is a construction, made up of a series of situations or states of consciousnesses which intensify, become increasingly dense, then knot themselves up, either to unravel or to end in unbearable complexity" (..)</p> <p>"I always had the impression that communication was impossible, an impression of loneliness, a gap; I write to fight against this imprisonment; I also write to shout out my fear of dying, the humiliation dying makes me feel" (..)</p> </blockquote> <p>Though Ionesco made a big deal out of his attempt to learn English through the Assimile method, which resulted, apparently, in disillusionment with language and meaning in general, while critics saw the obvious criticism of dictatorial tendencies in the societies he lived in as well as a certain discomfort with the educationvral experience in general.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-h-wB-HbEEoY/ULZGKmERQoI/AAAAAAAAUjY/Q8O957deFVI/s1600-h/The-Lesson---Soheil-Parsa%25255B9%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="The-Lesson---Soheil-Parsa" border="0" alt="The-Lesson---Soheil-Parsa" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-TgK0YSY3AuA/ULZGLxNSBRI/AAAAAAAAUjg/9zwGmR1tYNI/The-Lesson---Soheil-Parsa_thumb%25255B9%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="199" /></a>It is interesting that the director has the Pupil (Monteith) play her toothache more for tragedy than for comedy (as it is usually done), punctuating it even with a sound effect. This is most likely due to his Iranian background and the implicit sympathy for the victims of oppression. The director has difficulties making fun of authoritarianism, its memories are far too vivid in his mind, and he seems concerned that a Western audience would too easily dismiss it otherwise. Still, Hitler’s recording seems to be either a too narrow restriction on the symbolism of the play or simply an overdone an unnecessary explanation.</p> <p>One parallel that keeps this play universal and actual would be comparing the Professor’s seemingly misogynistic remarks to those of Larry Summers (Harvard’s former president) who was accused in 2005 of having made disparaging comments toward women while trying to stimulate discussion on the topic of female achievement in math (<a title="Harvard Chief Defends His Talk on Women" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/18/national/18harvard.html?_r=0" target="_blank">nyt</a>).</p> <p>The multiple possibilities of interpretation and of extracting meaning may leave some lost in the realm of knowledge. Writes Kelly Nestruck in Globe and Mail:</p> <blockquote> <p>English-speaking critics, especially those with leftish leanings, have long had a problem with the post-war metaphysical masterpieces lumped together as the “theatre of the absurd.” Just recently, the Guardian’s Michael Billington argued that absurdism was essentially irrelevant, “a movement that has lost its momentum and one that is of little help in explaining to us the complexities of today’s world.” Indeed, if you like your theatre to “explain” things, then you may find <em>The Lesson</em> frustrating. But the serious problem with that human desire for explanations delivered by artists or teachers, prophets or politicians, is one of the still-fresh themes of this early Eugène Ionesco work.</p> </blockquote> <p>We grasp more context from the same source:</p> <blockquote> <p>Written in 1951, <em>The Lesson</em> functions as a kind of dramatic companion to George Orwell’s famous essay on politics and language; it’s an attack on a degraded form of discourse that the Romanian-French writer Ionesco would later deride as “nothing but clichés, empty formulas, and slogans.” Nothing relevant to our public discourse today, of course.</p> <p>Like Orwell, Ionesco – whose father was a Nazi, then a Stalinist stooge – was opposed to totalitarianism, left or right. (His skepticism of socialist rhetoric was the subtext of his 1958 battle with the Brecht-loving British critic Kenneth Tynan.) Those concerns are clearest when the Professor’s maid – played here by a deliciously dry, cross-dressing Costa Tovarnisky – arrives on the scene late in the play to clean up her employer’s mess. She hands the gibbering teacher an armband: “If you’re afraid, wear this, then you won’t have anything to be afraid of.”</p> </blockquote> <p>It is particularly its vagueness and universal appeal that make this play forever actual and always relevant.</p> <p>Sources / More info: <a title="The Lesson: Irrelevant? That’s just absurd" href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/theatre-reviews/the-lesson-irrelevant-thats-just-absurd/article5369675/" target="_blank">gm</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/376429915770858/" target="_blank">fb</a>, <a title="Il faut aussi désintégrer.... C’est ça le progrès, la civilisation" href="http://www.stage-door.com/Theatre/Current_Reviews/Entries/2012/11/23_The_Lesson.html" target="_blank">sd</a>, <a href="http://www.nowtoronto.com/stage/story.cfm?content=189827" target="_blank">now</a>, <a title="Review: The Lesson" href="http://www.slotkinletter.com/site/?p=1809" target="_blank">sl</a>, <a href="http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/589121/29edf3cb4f/287801637/e8602740ca/" target="_blank">vr</a>, <a title="In The Lesson, it is not the story that matters, nor the characters Ionesco depicts." href="http://web.whittier.edu/mmchirol/LL-DiscussionUS.html" target="_blank">whittier</a>, <a title="It’s hardly news that Eugene Ionesco’s 1951 classic one-act comedy about an insane professor tutoring a brick-brained student helped usher in the Theater of the Absurd. Though an obsequious maid warns the professor not to get too carried away by frustration, the professor’s growing exasperation leads to his increasingly loopy teachings. The student simply cannot grasp the most remedial aspects of mathematics or philology and suffers growing head pains in direct proportion to the rising lunacy of the professor’s lectures, until their mutual rage ascends to a lethally deranged pitch. So much for the virtues of reason." href="http://www.citygarage.org/past-productions/the-lesson.html" target="_blank">cg</a>, <a title="'THE LESSON' By Eugène Ionesco" href="http://kuppret.blogspot.ca/2011/04/lesson-by-eugene-ionesco.html" target="_blank">pidhii</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Ionesco" target="_blank">wiki-ionesco</a>, <a href="http://sabillaaa.blogspot.ca/2011/04/lesson-by-eugene-ionesco.html" target="_blank">sabillaaa</a>, <a href="https://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/theatre/lesson.html" target="_blank">di</a>, <a title="Costa Tovarnisky" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2730842/" target="_blank">imdb-costa</a>, <a href="http://www.costatovarnisky.com/" target="_blank">ct</a></p> <p>Favorite quotes:</p> <ul> <li>Professor: “Il faut aussi désintégrer. C’est ça la vie. C’est ça la philosophie. C’est ça la science.  C’est ça le progrès, la civilisation”.</li> <li>Maid : [She takes out an armband with an insignia, perhaps the Nazi swastika] <br />Wait, if you’re afraid, wear this, then you won’t have anything more to be afraid of. <br />[She puts the armband around his arm] <br />…. That’s good politics.</li> </ul> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:0418f85e-c2bb-4e3f-b18d-b9a5440ded98" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" title="Edutarian" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=theater" rel="tag">theater</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=theatre" rel="tag">theatre</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=play" rel="tag">play</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=acting" rel="tag">acting</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=ionesco" rel="tag">ionesco</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=ionescu" rel="tag">ionescu</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=eugen+ionescu" rel="tag">eugen ionescu</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=eugene+ionesco" rel="tag">eugene ionesco</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=lesson" rel="tag">lesson</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=lectia" rel="tag">lectia</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=feminazi" rel="tag">feminazi</a> (Tags)</div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-3595860292081017852012-10-17T01:00:00.000-04:002012-10-17T01:00:00.867-04:00The Point 1971: crime and punishment, law and ethics<span id="description">Recently, I became reacquainted with Oblio as a friend on Facebook shared Liviu Mihaiu’s post that suggested a viewing of that famous little movie with Romanian subtitles.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p>I remembered I had mentioned Oblio in an article about the <a title="RSC, punctualitatea romaneasca si Oblio" href="http://asa.zamo.ca/2008/12/rsc-punctualitatea-romaneasca-si-oblio.html">Romanian Students Club and punctuality</a> where I had even published a <a title="YouTube Video Playlist (opens at the right if you are on the main site): Oblio in The Point" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLF5146A857268A4BD&hl=en_US?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">playlist containing the whole movie</a>. But that was a tangential treatment and much remains to be said about it.</p> <p><a href="http://magazinweb.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/poster-desene-animate-The-Point-Oblio.jpg" target="_blank"><img title="film de animatie, lung metraj american, aparut in 1971 in regia lui Fred Wolf. Scenariul: Carole Beers, Harry Nilsson ; Muzica: Harry Nilsson " style="float: right; display: inline" alt="The Point / Oblio poster: Oblio and his dog Arrow (Sageata)" align="right" src="http://magazinweb.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/poster-desene-animate-The-Point-Oblio-150x150.jpg" width="135" height="135" /></a>For starters, the version (starring Ringo Starr as the Father / Narrator) we’ve all known and come to love is not the original. The lesser-known <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): The Point Original 1971 - Dustin Hoffman Narration" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0Xl50qKVkqE?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">first version</a> featured <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Dustin Hoffman - Inside the Actor's Studio" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YaVwKN8DdkI?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">Dustin Hoffman</a> in that role.</p> <p>Incidentally, the <a href="magnet:?xt=urn:btih:6d20465121404d81fb47ce856fc342b8e1e312b2&dn=The+Point+%281971%29+x264+AC3-5.1+Eng+%28%2B+Rom+sub%29&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A80&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.publicbt.com%3A80&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.istole.it%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.ccc.de%3A80" target="_blank">torrent</a> of the movie also includes Romanian subtitles.</p> <p>Much like <a title="mit I: Miorita, balada hindusa? (GleznOscel)" href="http://asa.zamo.ca/2010/08/mit-i-miorita-balada-hindusa-gleznoscel.html" target="_blank">Anklebone (Gleznoscel)</a>, it’s a story of –maturity—(actually, the English language has a specific word that I cannot remember that better describes it than “maturity”; it’s not “homecoming” either). Though it’s in the “<a href="http://asa.zamo.ca/2010/08/mit-iii-eroul-de-o-mie-de-ori-fatarnic.html">Hero’s Journey</a>” genre, it is more about a journey of self-discovery. And that’s precisely what Oblio does. Plus, it has an element of “go with a smile”, that quintessential <a title="Concurs wikipedia - Daca esti OM, desigur.." href="http://asa.zamo.ca/2008/09/concurs-wikipedia-daca-esti-om-desigur.html">Victorian</a> / <a title="Protestantism–Religion Glossary III" href="http://www.edutarian.com/2011/12/protestantismreligion-glossary-iii.html" target="_blank">Protestant</a> quality.</p> <p>But aren’t there hidden meanings in this little gem? And if there are (of course there are!), are they <a href="http://asa.zamo.ca/2010/08/mit-iv-alti-derbedei-ai-mitologiei.html">universal</a>?</p> <p>Take for instance <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): The Rockman - The Point" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oC3uRgvum24?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">The Rockman</a>. A few lines of dialogue (as much as I could make out):</p> <ul> <li>Say, what’s happening with you, boy? You’ve been goofing with the [b?]eed? </li> <li>Well, us “stone” folks are everywhere. Just <em>open your eyes</em> and look around you. </li> <li>Naturally, baby. There’s a whole family of us, “rock” folk. </li> <li>Listen Jack, there ain’t nothing pointless about this gig. Just look around yourself. </li> <li>Mother Nature watches over the whole scene. And dig me, <em><a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Barack Obama 'I inhaled frequently' 'That was the point'" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cpBzQI_7ez8?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub"><em>taking it all in</em></a></em>. </li> <li>It’s the <strong>here and now</strong> that I’m talkin’ about. The smell of sweet life in the air, the warm feel of the sun… </li> <li>You see what you want to see. </li> <li>C’mon boy, out with it. Don’t get yourself all wrecked up and jammed. </li> <li>You got a question? Lay it on me. But let it out eaaasy. </li> <li><a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Reagan-Mondale debate: 'There you go again' again" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/It0Dtm1gFFQ?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">There you go again</a> (..). You gotta open your mind as well as your eyes. </li> <li>You don’t have to <em>have a point</em> to have a point. </li> <li>I fear you’ve been getting some negative vibration from some place. You gotta collect yourself. </li> <li>Be cool. Be steady as a rock. </li> <li><a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Papa Was A Rolling Stone" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0g7KawdsVSQ?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">Being a rock</a> is a very heavy life. </li> <li>Us rock folks are impervious to heat. We stay cool. Insusceptible to water. That's cool too. </li> <li>Now <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Ronald Reagan:There You Go Again - 1980 Debate Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter countering Carter attack" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Wi9y5-Vo61w?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">there you go again</a>, you’re tensing up. </li> <li>“Boy, I’ve never realized that rocks and stones are so..” – All you gotta do is open your mind along with your eyes. </li> <li>Play it eaasy. And remember as you make it through this forest, it ain’t necessary to possess a point or to have yourself a point. </li> </ul> <p>The “stone man” is full of meaning and to me he’s the quintessential stoner. Though one can attach other meanings to him, this is the one I like the most. I almost introduced it as an argument in the <a title="Deb8 I: Decriminalizarea (legalizarea?) Drogurilor" href="http://asa.zamo.ca/2010/10/deb8-i-legalizarea-drogurilor.html">drugs legalization debate</a>, but then I thought that this meaning, which is crystal clear to me, may not be shared by everybody.</p> <p><a title="You are free….to go to jail. Do not pass Go." href="http://inbonobo.tumblr.com/post/24555437429/ravenspyre-you-are-free-to-go-to-jail-do-not" target="_blank"><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4fneiE5TT1rtqsg0o1_500.jpg" /></a>Above, another thing happening in 1971, when the movie came out. Before blaming Nixon, a Republican even Republicans don’t like because he was too Democrat, let’s see hear what others had to say:</p> <ul> <li>In June 2011, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Commission_on_Drug_Policy" target="_blank">Global Commission on Drug Policy</a> released a critical report on the War on Drugs, declaring "The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world. Fifty years after the initiation of the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and years after President Nixon launched the US government’s war on drugs, fundamental reforms in national and global drug control policies are urgently needed." </li> <li>Although Nixon coined the term "War on Drug Abuse" in 1972, the policies that his administration implemented as part of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_Drug_Abuse_Prevention_and_Control_Act_of_1970" target="_blank">Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970</a> were a continuation of drug prohibition policies in the U.S., which started in 1914. Less well-known today is that the Nixon Administration also repealed the federal 2–10-year mandatory minimum sentences for possession of marijuana and started federal demand reduction programs and drug-treatment programs. Robert DuPont, the "Drug czar" in the Nixon Administration, stated it would be more accurate to say that Nixon ended, rather than launched, the "war on drugs". DuPont also argued that it was the proponents of drug legalization that popularized the term "war on drugs". </li> </ul> <p>DuPont was pretty much full of it. Even if it may be true that Nixon “relaxed” certain laws, he started, in our times, the train wreck of “tough talk” and blaming of marijuana / cocaine / heroine users of whom those convicted were overwhelmingly poor and black. Seizing the moment, Nelson Rockefeller, New York governor passed a couple of years later <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_drug_laws" target="_blank">the infamous laws that bear his name</a>.</p> <blockquote> <p>Under the Rockefeller drug laws, the penalty for selling two ounces (approximately 56 grams) or more of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin" target="_blank">heroin</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphine" target="_blank">morphine</a>, "raw or prepared <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium" target="_blank">opium</a>," <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a>, or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis" target="_blank">cannabis</a> or possessing four ounces (approximately 113 grams) or more of the same substances, was a minimum of 15 years to life in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison" target="_blank">prison</a>, and a maximum of 25 years to life in prison. (..)</p> <p>The adoption of the Rockefeller drug laws gave New York State the distinction of having the toughest laws of its kind in the entire United States — an approach soon imitated by the state of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan">Michigan</a>, which, in 1978, enacted a "650-Lifer Law," which called for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imprisonment" target="_blank">life imprisonment</a>, without the possibility of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parole">parole</a> for the sale, manufacture, or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_possession" target="_blank">possession</a> of at least 650 grams (approximately 1.45 pounds) of cocaine or any <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schedule_I_(US)" target="_blank">Schedule I</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schedule_II_(US)" target="_blank">Schedule II</a> opiate.</p> <p>Both the New York and Michigan statutes came under harsh criticism from both the political left and the political right. <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): William F. Buckley on Drugs (1-3)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qDWpdLEbc1s?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">William F. Buckley</a> (<a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): William F. Buckley on Drugs (2-3)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/s56YpdXxKNM?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">2</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): William F. Buckley on Drugs (3-3)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nMz1IQgZnps?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">3</a>), one of the most conservative public figures in America, was staunchly against it, as well as many in law enforcement, who saw inherent unfairness in placing the non-violent crime of drug trafficking on a par with murder. Economist <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Rothbard on the Drug War - Recorded at the 1989 Texas State Libertarian Conference." href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZiB3YfjCOjQ?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">Murray Rothbard</a> called the laws "draconian: long jail sentences for heroin pushers and addicts. The Rockefeller program, which of course proved finally to be a fiasco, was the epitome of the belief in treating a social or medical problem with jail and the billy club." The laws also drew intense opposition from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_rights">civil rights</a> advocates, who claimed that they were <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racist">racist</a>, as they were applied inordinately to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American">African-Americans</a> and, to a lesser extent, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latino">Latinos</a>.</p> </blockquote> <p>Needless to say, these aren’t either the only or the worst stupid laws ever passed, <a title="Ignorantia Legis Neminem Excusat" href="http://inbonobo.tumblr.com/post/33710530903/ignorantia-legis-neminem-excusat" target="_blank">thecriminallawyer has doodled quite a few more</a>.</p> <p>What’s more interesting is <a title="CONTINUED FROM 16 A - Which discussed the problems of overcriminalization, regulatory crimes and strict liability offenses." href="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8oqfocGtA1r3ynm3.png" target="_blank">the full illustrated history of how criminal law has become so idiotic, unknowable and intrusive</a>.</p> <p>Perhaps far more impactful on the rest of the world than the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_drugs" target="_blank">War on Drugs</a> was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_shock" target="_blank">Nixon Shock</a>, or the way <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon" target="_blank">Nixon</a> terminated, with the stroke of a pen, USD convertibility to gold, transforming it in fiat currency, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system" target="_blank">Bretton Woods</a> agreement which had been the basis of the entire world unprecedented prosperity up to that point. But that’s a story for another article.</p> <p>Much like <a title="1974 - anul cotiturii si dizidenta" href="http://asa.zamo.ca/2011/01/1974-anul-cotiturii-si-dizidenta.html" target="_blank">1974 marked a turning point in Romanian history</a>, so did 1971 in USA (though <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Gladwell on Income Inequality: We're Off the Cliff" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uskJWrOQ97I?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">Gladwell talks about 1975</a>).</p> <p><em>Keep your eyes open</em>, though that’s not <a href="http://asa.zamo.ca/2010/01/esentialul-este-invizibil-ochilor.html">how you see things</a>.</p> <p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067595/reviews" target="_blank">imdb</a>, <a title="Desene animate – The Point (Oblio) – 1971 – vedeti aici filmul" href="http://magazinweb.net/desene-animate-the-point-oblio-1971-vedeti-aici-filmul.html" target="_blank">Oblio -ro</a>, <a title="you-are-free-to-go-to-jail do not pass go" href="http://inbonobo.tumblr.com/post/24555437429/ravenspyre-you-are-free-to-go-to-jail-do-not" target="_blank">free2jail</a>, <a title="The Point (1971) x264 AC3-5.1 Eng (+ Rom sub) - Uploaded 04-08 2010, Size 975.4 MiB, ULed by FatFreddy69" href="magnet:?xt=urn:btih:6d20465121404d81fb47ce856fc342b8e1e312b2&dn=The+Point+%281971%29+x264+AC3-5.1+Eng+%28%2B+Rom+sub%29&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A80&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.publicbt.com%3A80&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.istole.it%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.ccc.de%3A80" target="_blank">magnet</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_drugs" target="_blank">wiki-wod</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_drug_laws" target="_blank">wiki-rl</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system" target="_blank">wiki-Bretton-Woods</a></p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:caa0d561-40db-4ccb-ac6a-bd6ffda0f00b" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" title="Edutarian">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=point" rel="tag">point</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=history" rel="tag">history</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=drugs" rel="tag">drugs</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=narcotics" rel="tag">narcotics</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=law" rel="tag">law</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=war+on+drugs" rel="tag">war on drugs</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=nixon" rel="tag">nixon</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=rockefeller" rel="tag">rockefeller</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=criminal" rel="tag">criminal</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=usa" rel="tag">usa</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=legislation" rel="tag">legislation</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=bretton+woods" rel="tag">bretton woods</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=drugs+war" rel="tag">drugs war</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=prohibition" rel="tag">prohibition</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=state" rel="tag">state</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=government" rel="tag">government</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=policing" rel="tag">policing</a> (Tags)</div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-68317921445610859232012-08-09T14:36:00.001-04:002012-08-09T14:42:38.331-04:00What’s in a handshake?<span id="description">People seem to place an undue importance on the handshakes of the powerful, rich and famous. Let us take a quick look at the American presidents and their different approach.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p>Let’s start with Obama, who is so popular with some people that they will <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Waiting on the President's handshake" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FiR8q9qWjGs?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">wait in line to shake his hand for a second time</a>:</p> <p><a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): George W Bush wipes a black man's handshake off Clinton's shirt" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0oHOUnQ0gYI?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub"><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7hk03k1ME1qdlh1io1_r1_400.gif" width="96" height="71" /></a>He displays a certain ease of being with people – the more the merrier – and is able to relate and enjoy the interaction. This, however, did not prevent his opposition from attempting to find faults in his too affable personality. For instance, when meeting the Saudi King, <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Obama bows in front of the Saudi King" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/A5XXL5IrvVA?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">Obama is alleged to have made a bow and kissed his hand</a>. Later on, when the King presented him with jewellery, <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Obama bows again to receive jewellery" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bTog9SarD5g?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">Obama had to bow again to receive it</a>. In the resulting fracas, some <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Obama Bows to the King of Saudi Arabia. But Not to Queen Elizabeth II. His Lord and Master?" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CseUglupmZk?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">commentators accused Obama of too much humility</a>, going even as far as claiming that <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Nixon did not meet Mao" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/B6GD8eCOUE8?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">Nixon did not meet Mao</a>. Yet what many forget is that Obama had to show the King, who holds the key to precious and needed oil resources as well as the American presence in the Arab world that he is as warm as <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Matthews Bashes Bush for Holding Saudi King's Hand in 2005, Ignores Obama's Bow to Same Man in 2009" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HYn8cEsMDDI?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">Bush, who is known to have held hands with the King</a> (albeit seeming uneasy, as he almost always did around people); <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): The Young Turks : TYT Episode 11/16/09" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uM6xzN4ECkE?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">he had also done the same with the Japanese Emperor</a> (<a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Barack Obama bows to Japan's Emperor Akihito" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/c0mZfpOfQYc?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">short</a>). Bush also <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Bush Winks at the Queen of England" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DWxNjo0Xs5o?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">winked at the Queen</a> after <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Bush Winks at the Queen of England" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xvw1blFWyVg?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">making her 200 years older</a>.</p> <p>In a common effort, Clinton tried to help Bush’s standing with the blacks by going in one of those “listening and schmoozing” tours he was famous for, but it did not seem to help Bush much, who appeared tense and at one point even <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): George W Bush wipes a black man's handshake off Clinton's shirt" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0oHOUnQ0gYI?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">wipes a black man’s handshake off Clinton’s shirt</a>. Is there any wonder that <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): George Bush Hates Black People (Kanye West)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PDMyArnIdzY?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">some accuse him of not caring</a>?</p> <details><summary>Obama was also given a <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): One of the tricks of monarchic protocol is to make it obscure enough to catch guests and make them feel lesser beings. That's the idea of monachy! Make everybody else feel lesser beings!" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7ZCsfyaOGdw?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">cold shoulder by the Queen</a> and she also <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Michelle Obama Touches Queen Elizabeth II on the Back, and does not Curtsy. British forgive her" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bG7FsJA18vI?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">avoided a hug by Michele Obama</a> (or <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): First lady's surprising hug from the Queen of England" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eU_0hyjXRaM?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">did she initiate the hug</a>?).</summary> <blockquote> <p>The Queen gives a cold shoulder to President Obama for breaking protocol offering a toast to Herself while they are playing HER SONG: 'God Save the Queen', of course. <br />Buckingham Palace entrapped the President by allowing the band to start early but the Queen should not have ignored a sincere offer of a toast by the US president, after all she's the copyright owner of the track. <br />An insult to all Americans. The Queen allowed Obama to suffer in silence his personal opprobrium. No way to treat a guest. <br />In the case of the Queen and other lesser royals when you have nothing to do all day pomp, protocol and etiquette becomes the only activity they care about. <br />So when somebody doesn't follow the 'rule' (their rule) they go cold not knowing what to do. The last time they did something trivial and intuitive was when they were born. <br />In the case of Obama he probably thought the music was a addition to the great words he was uttering. Like in a Hollywood movie. it was his Oscar bid. <br />In short, they were both thinking a lot about themselves at the time. <br />Americans should stay clear of Monarchy. It is stupid to pander to it for votes in America. Americas should feel proud of their history. After all, weren't the 'French-speaking French' that took American's side during Independence? <br />The best of America is that we are not a bunch of elitist royals obsessed with 'etiquette' - so a few privileged rulers can be separated from the many underprivileged. <br />A great Queen would've acted swiftly and toasted. A sad moment for democracy. As usual. <br />The BBC and many networks including US ones at first did not make any mention of the gaffe in their main news programmes. Some did mention it but did not show the president's face after the snub.</p> </blockquote> </details> <p>A few years ago, in the dark and dreary Bush years, people were scrambling to find <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Illuminati, freemason and mormonism - handshakes and secret societies" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BkeRPcq1P3c?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">hidden meanings</a> in the “bully’s” <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Bush and Cheney handshakes" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mWOYHCdrGC4?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">handshakes</a>, but <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): Obama secret handshake" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hX20f_omoik?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">even Obama had to suffer those allegations</a> <img alt="Tongue" src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/10.gif" />. Then, toward the end of his presidency, we’ve seen a famous moment brought to us by Rick Sanchez @ CNN, where we can see <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): No handshake for President George W. Bush" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-hhMn3WINx8?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">Bush attending a South American summit and reciprocally avoiding to shake hands with the other dignitaries</a>.</p> <p>There is a documentary on a civil rights movement icon called <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you are on the main site): One Handshake at a time Trailer" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5qxRBDlviyg?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">One Handshake at a Time</a>. </p> <details><summary>According to Wikipedia, the East seems to prefer weaker handshakes while in the West a firm handshake is preferred.</summary> <ul> <li>In Anglophone countries is heavily used in business situations. In casual non-business situations, men are more likely to shake hands than women. </li> <li>In Belgium, handshakes are done more often, especially on meetings. </li> <li>In Switzerland, it may be expected to shake the women's hands first. </li> <li>Austrians shake hands when meeting, often including with children. </li> <li>In some Muslim countries (such as Turkey or the Arabic-speaking Middle East), handshakes aren't as firm as in North America and Europe. Consequently, a grip which is too firm will be considered as rude. </li> <li>Moroccans also give one kiss on each cheek (to corresponding genders) together with the handshake. Also, in some countries, a variation exists where instead of kisses, after the handshake the palm is placed unto the heart. </li> <li>In China, where a weak handshake is also preferred, people shaking hands will often hold on to each other's hands for an extended period after the initial handshake. </li> <li>In Japan, it is appropriate to let the Japanese initiate the handshake, and a weak handshake is preferred. </li> <li>In Norway, where a firm handshake is preferred, people will most often shake hands when agreeing on deals, both in private and business relations. </li> <li>In South Korea, a senior person will initiate a handshake, where it is preferred to be weak. It is a sign of respect to grasp the right arm with the left hand when shaking hands. </li> <li>The Hand Hug is a type of handshake popular with politicians, as it can present them as being warm, friendly, trustworthy and honest. This type of handshake involves covering the clenched hands with the remaining free hand, creating a sort of "cocoon." </li> </ul> </details> <p>The handshake ritual may have originated in Ancient Greece. It’s here to stay as a quick, sanitary way of making contact and conveying a message of understanding.</p> <p>Sources / More info: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handshake" target="_blank">wiki</a></p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:647c6a20-76a4-426d-a65c-7ee991ca45ac" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" title="Edutarian">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=handshake" rel="tag">handshake</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=bush" rel="tag">bush</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=obama" rel="tag">obama</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=george+w" rel="tag">george w</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=queen+elizabeth" rel="tag">queen elizabeth</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=elisabeth" rel="tag">elisabeth</a> (Tags)</div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-37918948621751052022012-07-25T10:21:00.001-04:002012-07-25T11:37:05.474-04:00Rudyard Kipling, jingoism and Victorian ideals<span id="description">If by Rudyard Kipling was one of my favourite poems in my childhood. Since then, my views have changed. It seems that the story behind the poem is not all that compelling.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><img title="Rudyard-Kipling, aged 60, on the cover Time, 1926-09-27" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Rudyard-Kipling-on-Time" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-CAwNhIP0vUY/UBAA8xb78GI/AAAAAAAAUAg/4hQzesVZXts/Rudyard-Kipling-on-Time%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="224" height="294" />There are lots of recitals of this poem on YouTube: [<a title="Typography: IF Rudyard Kipling by George Horne" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1tTeZNfwesg?autoplay=1&rel=0" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">typographic</a>] [<a title="Typography: IF by Rudyard Kipling by George Horne (proof.is)" href="http://player.vimeo.com/video/1305608?autoplay=1&amp;loop=1" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">vimeo</a>] [<a title="good writeup" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tK4HDCIr_E8?autoplay=1&rel=0" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">simple</a>] [<a title="I Don't Believe In 'If' Anymore - Roger Whittaker" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PbfR2l0LzfI?autoplay=1&rel=0" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">no if</a>] [<a title="Dennis Hopper forgets the line in the first stanza" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ySRA0cNICuY?autoplay=1&rel=0" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">DH1</a>] [<a title="Dennis Hopper reads a poem on The Johnny Cash Show September 30, 1970" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xlfnm9gV52w?autoplay=1&rel=0" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">DH0</a>] [<a title="Rainer Maria Rilke's Poem by Dennis Hopper" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZU6VD-VCagE?autoplay=1&rel=0" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">DH2</a>] [<a title="Rudyard Kipling's Poem 'If' Read By Federer & Nadal" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vEeLh5ItQcY?autoplay=1&rel=0" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">Federer Nadal</a>] [<a title="14 - If (Rudyard Kipling) - Harvey Keitel.mpg" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6p7Agy4emqU?autoplay=1&rel=0" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">Harvey Keitel</a>] [<a title="'IF' Rudyard Kipling/Dennis Hopper/Phillip Glass" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HNcTL10fZ-o?autoplay=1&rel=0" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">DH / Phillip Glass</a>] [<a title="Rudyard Kipling 'If' Poem animation" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/21Y8tGw8sxE?autoplay=1&rel=0" rel="ytvid" target="tutub">animated</a>]. It is also translated in many languages, often without proper attribution (e.g., <a title="Concurs wikipedia - Daca esti OM, desigur..." href="http://asa.zamo.ca/2008/09/concurs-wikipedia-daca-esti-om-desigur.html" target="_blank">Romanian</a>).</p> <details><summary>The poem still has certain inspiring qualities and it is a good “prep talk” when the situation calls for it.</summary> <blockquote> <p>IF you can keep your head when all about you <br />Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, <br />If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, <br />But make allowance for their doubting too; <br />If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, <br />Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, <br />Or being hated, don't give way to hating, <br />And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:</p> <p>If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; <br />If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; <br />If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster <br />And treat those two impostors just the same; <br />If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken <br />Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, <br />Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, <br />And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:</p> <p>If you can make one heap of all your winnings <br />And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, <br />And lose, and start again at your beginnings <br />And never breathe a word about your loss; <br />If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew <br />To serve your turn long after they are gone, <br />And so hold on when there is nothing in you <br />Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'</p> <p>If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, <br />' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, <br />if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, <br />If all men count with you, but none too much; <br />If you can fill the unforgiving minute <br />With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, <br />Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, <br />And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!</p> </blockquote> </details><details><summary>In short, it seems that Rudyard Kipling pulled some strings to get his son in the army, as his sight was quite poor and he couldn’t enrol all by himself. His son then died in battle (wikipedia):</summary> <blockquote> <p>Kipling had scorn for those men who shirked duty in the First World War. In <a href="http://www.archive.org/stream/newarmyintrainin00kiplrich/newarmyintrainin00kiplrich_djvu.txt" target="_blank">"The New Army in Training"</a> published by Macmillan and Co., Limited, in London, 1915, Kipling concluded the piece by saying:</p> <blockquote> <p><i>This much we can realise, even though we are so close to it, the old safe instinct saves us from triumph and exultation But what will be the position in years to come of the young man who has deliberately elected to outcaste himself from this all-embracing brotherhood? What of his family, and, above all, what of his descendants, when the books have been closed and the last balance struck of sacrifice and sorrow in every hamlet, village, parish, suburb, city, shire, district, province, and Dominion throughout the Empire ?</i></p> </blockquote> <p>Exultation and triumph was what Kipling had in mind as he actively encouraged his young son to go to war. Kipling's son John died in World War I, at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Loos" target="_blank">Battle of Loos</a> in September 1915, at age 18. John had initially wanted to join the Royal Navy, but having had his application turned down after a failed medical examination due to poor eyesight, he opted to apply for military service as an officer. But again, his eyesight was an issue during the medical examination. In fact, he tried twice to enlist, but was rejected. His father had been lifelong friends with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Roberts,_1st_Earl_Roberts" target="_blank">Lord Roberts</a>, commander-in-chief of the British Army, and colonel of the Irish Guards, and at Rudyard's request, John was accepted into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Guards" target="_blank">Irish Guards</a>. He was sent to Loos two days into the battle in a reinforcement contingent. He was last seen stumbling through the mud blindly, screaming in agony after an exploding shell ripped his face apart. A body identified as his was not found until 1992, although that identification has been challenged.</p> <p>After his son's death, Kipling wrote, "If any question why we died/ Tell them, because our fathers lied." It is speculated that these words may reveal his feelings of guilt at his role in getting John a commission in the Irish Guards. John's death has been linked to Kipling's 1916 poem "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Boy_Jack_(poem)" target="_blank">My Boy Jack</a>", notably in the play <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Boy_Jack_(play)" target="_blank">My Boy Jack</a></i> and its subsequent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Boy_Jack_(film)" target="_blank">television adaptation</a>, along with the documentary <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudyard_Kipling:_A_Remembrance_Tale" target="_blank">Rudyard Kipling: A Remembrance Tale</a></i>. However, the poem was originally published at the head of a story about the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jutland" target="_blank">Battle of Jutland</a> and appears to refer to a death at sea; the 'Jack' referred to is probably a generic '<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Tar" target="_blank">Jack Tar</a>'. Kipling was said to help assuage his grief over the death of his son through reading the novels of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Austen" target="_blank">Jane Austen</a> aloud to his wife and daughter.</p> </blockquote> </details><details><summary>To understand Victorian ideals and the “stiff upper lip” attitude, one needs to read his “White Man’s Burden” (1899).</summary> <blockquote> <p>Take up the White Man's burden— </p> <p>Send forth the best ye breed— </p> <p>Go bind your sons to exile </p> <p>To serve your captives' need; </p> <p>To wait in heavy harness, </p> <p>On fluttered folk and wild— </p> <p>Your new-caught, sullen peoples, </p> <p>Half-devil and half-child. </p> <p> </p> <p>Take up the White Man's burden— </p> <p>In patience to abide, </p> <p>To veil the threat of terror </p> <p>And check the show of pride; </p> <p>By open speech and simple, </p> <p>An hundred times made plain </p> <p>To seek another's profit, </p> <p>And work another's gain. </p> <p> </p> <p>Take up the White Man's burden— </p> <p>The savage wars of peace— </p> <p>Fill full the mouth of Famine </p> <p>And bid the sickness cease; </p> <p>And when your goal is nearest </p> <p>The end for others sought, </p> <p>Watch sloth and heathen Folly </p> <p>Bring all your hopes to nought. </p> <p> </p> <p>Take up the White Man's burden— </p> <p>No tawdry rule of kings, </p> <p>But toil of serf and sweeper— </p> <p>The tale of common things. </p> <p>The ports ye shall not enter, </p> <p>The roads ye shall not tread, </p> <p>Go mark them with your living, </p> <p>And mark them with your dead. </p> <p> </p> <p>Take up the White Man's burden— </p> <p>And reap his old reward: </p> <p>The blame of those ye better, </p> <p>The hate of those ye guard— </p> <p>The cry of hosts ye humour </p> <p>(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:— </p> <p>"Why brought he us from bondage, </p> <p>Our loved Egyptian night?" </p> <p> </p> <p>Take up the White Man's burden— </p> <p>Ye dare not stoop to less— </p> <p>Nor call too loud on Freedom </p> <p>To cloke your weariness; </p> <p>By all ye cry or whisper, </p> <p>By all ye leave or do, </p> <p>The silent, sullen peoples </p> <p>Shall weigh your gods and you. </p> <p> </p> <p>Take up the White Man's burden— </p> <p>Have done with childish days— </p> <p>The lightly proffered laurel, </p> <p>The easy, ungrudged praise. </p> <p>Comes now, to search your manhood </p> <p>Through all the thankless years </p> <p>Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom, </p> <p>The judgment of your peers!</p> </blockquote> </details><details><summary>George Orwell’s essay about his colleague Kipling is even more edifying.</summary> <blockquote> <p><a name="c1"></a>It was a pity that Mr. Eliot should be so much on the defensive in the long essay with which he prefaces this selection of Kipling’s poetry <sup><a href="#n1"><font size="1">1</font></a></sup>, but it was not to be avoided, because before one can even speak about Kipling one has to clear away a legend that has been created by two sets of people who have not read his works. Kipling is in the peculiar position of having been a byword for fifty years. During five literary generations every enlightened person has despised him, and at the end of that time nine-tenths of those enlightened persons are forgotten and Kipling is in some sense still there. Mr. Eliot never satisfactorily explains this fact, because in answering the shallow and familiar charge that Kipling is a ‘Fascist’, he falls into the opposite error of defending him where he is not defensible. It is no use pretending that Kipling’s view of life, as a whole, can be accepted or even forgiven by any civilized person. It is no use claiming, for instance, that when Kipling describes a British soldier beating a ‘nigger’ with a cleaning rod in order to get money out of him, he is acting merely as a reporter and does not necessarily approve what he describes. There is not the slightest sign anywhere in Kipling’s work that he disapproves of that kind of conduct—on the contrary, there is a definite strain of sadism in him, over and above the brutality which a writer of that type has to have. Kipling <i>is</i> a jingo imperialist, he is morally insensitive and aesthetically disgusting. It is better to start by admitting that, and then to try to find out why it is that he survives while the refined people who have sniggered at him seem to wear so badly.</p> <p>And yet the ‘Fascist’ charge has to be answered, because the first clue to any understanding of Kipling, morally or politically, is the fact that he was <i>not</i> a Fascist. He was further from being one than the most humane or the most ‘progressive’ person is able to be nowadays. An interesting instance of the way in which quotations are parroted to and fro without any attempt to look up their context or discover their meaning is the line from ‘Recessional’, ‘Lesser breeds without the Law’. This line is always good for a snigger in pansy-left circles. It is assumed as a matter of course that the ‘lesser breeds’ are ‘natives’, and a mental picture is called up of some pukka sahib in a pith helmet kicking a coolie. In its context the sense of the line is almost the exact opposite of this. The phrase ‘lesser breeds’ refers almost certainly to the Germans, and especially the pan-German writers, who are ‘without the Law’ in the sense of being lawless, not in the sense of being powerless. The whole poem, conventionally thought of as an orgy of boasting, is a denunciation of power politics, British as well as German. Two stanzas are worth quoting (I am quoting this as politics, not as poetry):</p> <ul> <li>If, drunk with sight of power, we loose </li> <li>Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe, </li> <li>Such boastings as the Gentiles use, </li> <li>Or lesser breeds without the Law – </li> <li>Lord God of hosts, be with us yet, </li> <li>Lest we forget – lest we forget! </li> <li></li> <li>For heathen heart that puts her trust </li> <li>In reeking tube and iron shard, </li> <li>All valiant dust that builds on dust, </li> <li>And guarding, calls not Thee to guard, </li> <li>For frantic boast and foolish word – </li> <li>Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord! </li> </ul> <p>Much of Kipling’s phraseology is taken from the Bible, and no doubt in the second stanza he had in mind the text from Psalm CXXVII: ‘Except the lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.’ It is not a text that makes much impression on the post-Hitler mind. No one, in our time, believes in any sanction greater than military power; no one believes that it is possible to overcome force except by greater force. There is no ‘Law’, there is only power. I am not saying that that is a true belief, merely that it is the belief which all modern men do actually hold. Those who pretend otherwise are either intellectual cowards, or power-worshippers under a thin disguise, or have simply not caught up with the age they are living in. Kipling’s outlook is prefascist. He still believes that pride comes before a fall and that the gods punish <i>hubris</i>. He does not foresee the tank, the bombing plane, the radio and the secret police, or their psychological results.</p> <p>But in saying this, does not one unsay what I said above about Kipling’s jingoism and brutality? No, one is merely saying that the nineteenth-century imperialist outlook and the modern gangster outlook are two different things. Kipling belongs very definitely to the period 1885-1902. The Great War and its aftermath embittered him, but he shows little sign of having learned anything from any event later than the Boer War. He was the prophet of British Imperialism in its expansionist phase (even more than his poems, his solitary novel, <i>The Light that Failed,</i> gives you the atmosphere of that time) and also the unofficial historian of the British Army, the old mercenary army which began to change its shape in 1914. All his confidence, his bouncing vulgar vitality, sprang out of limitations which no Fascist or near-Fascist shares.</p> <p>Kipling spent the later part of his life in sulking, and no doubt it was political disappointment rather than literary vanity that account for this. Somehow history had not gone according to plan. After the greatest victory she had ever known, Britain was a lesser world power than before, and Kipling was quite acute enough to see this. The virtue had gone out of the classes he idealized, the young were hedonistic or disaffected, the desire to paint the map red had evaporated. He could not understand what was happening, because he had never had any grasp of the economic forces underlying imperial expansion. It is notable that Kipling does not seem to realize, any more than the average soldier or colonial administrator, that an empire is primarily a money-making concern. Imperialism as he sees it is a sort of forcible evangelizing. You turn a Gatling gun on a mob of unarmed ‘natives’, and then you establish ‘the Law’, which includes roads, railways and a court-house. He could not foresee, therefore, that the same motives which brought the Empire into existence would end by destroying it. It was the same motive, for example, that caused the Malayan jungles to be cleared for rubber estates, and which now causes those estates to be handed over intact to the Japanese. The modern totalitarians know what they are doing, and the nineteenth-century English did not know what they were doing. Both attitudes have their advantages, but Kipling was never able to move forward from one into the other. His outlook, allowing for the fact that after all he was an artist, was that of the salaried bureaucrat who despises the ‘box-wallah’ and often lives a lifetime without realizing that the ‘box-wallah’ calls the tune.</p> <p>But because he identifies himself with the official class, he does possess one thing which ‘enlightened’ people seldom or never possess, and that is a sense of responsibility. The middle-class Left hate him for this quite as much as for his cruelty and vulgarity. All left-wing parties in the highly industrialized countries are at bottom a sham, because they make it their business to fight against something which they do not really wish to destroy. They have internationalist aims, and at the same time they struggle to keep up a standard of life with which those aims are incompatible. We all live by robbing Asiatic coolies, and those of us who are ‘enlightened’ all maintain that those coolies ought to be set free; but our standard of living, and hence our ‘enlightenment’, demands that the robbery shall continue. A humanitarian is always a hypocrite, and Kipling’s understanding of this is perhaps the central secret of his power to create telling phrases. It would be difficult to hit off the one-eyed pacifism of the English in fewer words than in the phrase, ‘making mock of uniforms that guard you while you sleep’. It is true that Kipling does not understand the economic aspect of the relationship between the highbrow and the blimp. He does not see that the map is painted red chiefly in order that the coolie may be exploited. Instead of the coolie he sees the Indian Civil Servant; but even on that plane his grasp of function, of who protects whom, is very sound. He sees clearly that men can only be highly civilized while other men, inevitably less civilized, are there to guard and feed them.</p> <p>How far does Kipling really identify himself with the administrators, soldiers and engineers whose praises he sings? Not so completely as is sometimes assumed. He had travelled very widely while he was still a young man, he had grown up with a brilliant mind in mainly philistine surroundings, and some streak in him that may have been partly neurotic led him to prefer the active man to the sensitive man. The nineteenth-century Anglo-Indians, to name the least sympathetic of his idols, were at any rate people who did things. It may be that all that they did was evil, but they changed the face of the earth (it is instructive to look at a map of Asia and compare the railway system of India with that of the surrounding countries), whereas they could have achieved nothing, could not have maintained themselves in power for a single week, if the normal Anglo-Indian outlook had been that of, say, E.M. Forster. Tawdry and shallow though it is, Kipling’s is the only literary picture that we possess of nineteenth-century Anglo-India, and he could only make it because he was just coarse enough to be able to exist and keep his mouth shut in clubs and regimental messes. But he did not greatly resemble the people he admired. I know from several private sources that many of the Anglo-Indians who were Kipling’s contemporaries did not like or approve of him. They said, no doubt truly, that he knew nothing about India, and on the other hand, he was from their point of view too much of a highbrow. While in India he tended to mix with ‘the wrong’ people, and because of his dark complexion he was wrongly suspected of having a streak of Asiatic blood. Much in his development is traceable to his having been born in India and having left school early. With a slightly different background he might have been a good novelist or a superlative writer of music-hall songs. But how true is it that he was a vulgar flagwaver, a sort of publicity agent for Cecil Rhodes? It is true, but it is not true that he was a yes-man or a time-server. After his early days, if then, he never courted public opinion. Mr. Eliot says that what is held against him is that he expressed unpopular views in a popular style. This narrows the issue by assuming that ‘unpopular’ means unpopular with the intelligentsia, but it is a fact that Kipling’s ‘message’ was one that the big public did not want, and, indeed, has never accepted. The mass of the people, in the nineties as now, were anti-militarist, bored by the Empire, and only unconsciously patriotic. Kipling’s official admirers are and were the ‘service’ middle class, the people who read <i>Blackwood’s</i>. In the stupid early years of this century, the blimps, having at last discovered someone who could be called a poet and who was on their side, set Kipling on a pedestal, and some of his more sententious poems, such as <a href="http://4umi.com/kipling/if/"><i>‘If’</i></a>, were given almost biblical status. But it is doubtful whether the blimps have ever read him with attention, any more than they have read the Bible. Much of what he says they could not possibly approve. Few people who have criticized England from the inside have said bitterer things about her than this gutter patriot. As a rule it is the British working class that he is attacking, but not always. That phrase about ‘the flannelled fools at the wicket and the muddied oafs at the goal’ sticks like an arrow to this day, and it is aimed at the Eton and Harrow match as well as the Cup-Tie Final. Some of the verses he wrote about the Boer War have a curiously modern ring, so far as their subject-matter goes. ‘Stellenbosch’, which must have been written about 1902, sums up what every intelligent infantry officer was saying in 1918, or is saying now, for that matter.</p> <p>Kipling’s romantic ideas about England and the Empire might not have mattered if he could have held them without having the class-prejudices which at that time went with them. If one examines his best and most representative work, his soldier poems, especially <a href="http://4umi.com/kipling/ballads/" target="_blank">Barrack-Room Ballads</a><i></i>, one notices that what more than anything else spoils them is an underlying air of patronage. Kipling idealizes the army officer, especially the junior officer, and that to an idiotic extent, but the private soldier, though lovable and romantic, has to be a comic. He is always made to speak in a sort of stylized Cockney, not very broad but with all the aitches and final ‘g’s’ carefully omitted. Very often the result is as embarrassing as the humorous recitation at a church social. And this accounts for the curious fact that one can often improve Kipling’s poems, make them less facetious and less blatant, by simply going through them and transplanting them from Cockney into standard speech. This is especially true of his refrains, which often have a truly lyrical quality. Two examples will do (one is about a funeral and the other about a wedding):</p> <ul> <li>So it’s knock out your pipes and follow me! <a href="http://4umi.com/kipling/ballads/2#576" target="_blank">(*)</a> </li> <li>And it’s finish up your swipes and follow me! </li> <li>Oh, hark to the big drum calling, </li> <li>Follow me – follow me home! </li> </ul> <p>and again:</p> <ul> <li>Cheer for the Sergeant’s wedding – </li> <li>Give them one cheer more! </li> <li>Grey gun-horses in the lando, </li> <li>And a rogue is married to a whore! </li> </ul> <p>Here I have restored the aitches, etc. Kipling ought to have known better. He ought to have seen that the two closing lines of the first of these stanzas are very beautiful lines, and that ought to have overriden his impulse to make fun of a working-man’s accent. In the ancient ballads the lord and the peasant speak the same language. This is impossible to Kipling, who is looking down a distorting class-perspective, and by a piece of poetic justice one of his best lines is spoiled—for ‘follow me ’ome’ is much uglier than ‘follow me home’. But even where it makes no difference musically the facetiousness of his stage Cockney dialect is irritating. However, he is more often quoted aloud than read on the printed page, and most people instinctively make the necessary alterations when they quote him.</p> <p>Can one imagine any private soldier, in the nineties or now, reading <i>Barrack-Room Ballads</i>and feeling that here was a writer who spoke for him? It is very hard to do so. Any soldier capable of reading a book of verse would notice at once that Kipling is almost unconscious of the class war that goes on in an army as much as elsewhere. It is not only that he thinks the soldier comic, but that he thinks him patriotic, feudal, a ready admirer of his officers and proud to be a soldier of the Queen. Of course that is partly true, or battles could not be fought, but ‘What have I done for thee, England, my England?’ is essentially a middle-class query. Almost any working man would follow it up immediately with ‘What has England done for me?’ In so far as Kipling grasps this, he simply sets it down to ‘the intense selfishness of the lower classes’ (his own phrase). When he is writing not of British but of ‘loyal’ Indians he carries the ‘Salaam, sahib’ motif to sometimes disgusting lengths. Yet it remains true that he has far more interest in the common soldier, far more anxiety that he shall get a fair deal, than most of the ‘liberals’ of his day or our own. He sees that the soldier is neglected, meanly underpaid and hypocritically despised by the people whose incomes he safeguards. ‘I came to realize’, he says in his posthumous memoirs, ‘the bare horrors of the private’s life, and the unnecessary torments he endured’. He is accused of glorifying war, and perhaps he does so, but not in the usual manner, by pretending that war is a sort of football match. Like most people capable of writing battle poetry, Kipling had never been in battle, but his vision of war is realistic. He knows that bullets hurt, that under fire everyone is terrified, that the ordinary soldier never knows what the war is about or what is happening except in his own corner of the battlefield, and that British troops, like other troops, frequently run away:</p> <ul> <li>I ’eard the knives be’ind me, but I dursn’t face my man, <a href="http://4umi.com/kipling/ballads/2#304" target="_blank">(*)</a> </li> <li>Nor I don’t know where I went to, ’cause I didn’t stop to see, </li> <li>Till I ’eard a beggar squealin’ out for quarter as ’e ran, </li> <li>An’ I thought I knew the voice an’ – it was me! </li> </ul> <p>Modernize the style of this, and it might have come out of one of the debunking war books of the nineteen-twenties. Or again:</p> <ul> <li>An’ now the hugly bullets come peckin’ through the dust, </li> <li>An’ no one wants to face ’em, but every beggar must; </li> <li>So, like a man in irons, which isn’t glad to go, </li> <li>They moves ’em off by companies uncommon stiff an’ slow. </li> </ul> <p>Compare this with:</p> <ul> <li>Forward the Light Brigade! </li> <li>Was there a man dismayed? </li> <li>No! though the soldier knew </li> <li>Someone had blundered. </li> </ul> <p>If anything, Kipling overdoes the horrors, for the wars of his youth were hardly wars at all by our standards. Perhaps that is due to the neurotic strain in him, the hunger for cruelty. But at least he knows that men ordered to attack impossible objectives <i>are</i> dismayed, and also that fourpence a day is not a generous pension.</p> <p>How complete or truthful a picture has Kipling left us of the long-service, mercenary army of the late nineteenth century? One must say of this, as of what Kipling wrote about nineteenth-century Anglo-India, that it is not only the best but almost the only literary picture we have. He has put on record an immense amount of stuff that one could otherwise only gather from verbal tradition or from unreadable regimental histories. Perhaps his picture of army life seems fuller and more accurate than it is because any middle-class English person is likely to know enough to fill up the gaps. At any rate, reading the essay on Kipling that Mr. Edmund Wilson has just published or is just about to publish <a name="c2"></a><a href="#n2"><sup><font size="1">2</font></sup></a>, I was struck by the number of things that are boringly familiar to us and seem to be barely intelligible to an American. But from the body of Kipling’s early work there does seem to emerge a vivid and not seriously misleading picture of the old pre-machine-gun army—the sweltering barracks in Gibraltar or Lucknow, the red coats, the pipeclayed belts and the pillbox hats, the beer, the fights, the floggings, hangings and crucifixions, the bugle-calls, the smell of oats and horsepiss, the bellowing sergeants with foot-long moustaches, the bloody skirmishes, invariably mismanaged, the crowded troopships, the cholera-stricken camps, the ‘native’ concubines, the ultimate death in the workhouse. It is a crude, vulgar picture, in which a patriotic music-hall turn seems to have got mixed up with one of Zola’s gorier passages, but from it future generations will be able to gather some idea of what a long-term volunteer army was like. On about the same level they will be able to learn something of British India in the days when motor-cars and refrigerators were unheard of. It is an error to imagine that we might have had better books on these subjects if, for example, George Moore, or Gissing, or Thomas Hardy, had had Kipling’s opportunities. That is the kind of accident that cannot happen. It was not possible that nineteenth-century England should produce a book like <i>War and Peace,</i> or like Tolstoy’s minor stories of army life, such as<i>Sebastopol</i> or <i>The Cossacks,</i> not because the talent was necessarily lacking but because no one with sufficient sensitiveness to write such books would ever have made the appropriate contacts. Tolstoy lived in a great military empire in which it seemed natural for almost any young man of family to spend a few years in the army, whereas the British Empire was and still is demilitarized to a degree which continental observers find almost incredible. Civilized men do not readily move away from the centres of civilization, and in most languages there is a great dearth of what one might call colonial literature. It took a very improbable combination of circumstances to produce Kipling’s gaudy tableau, in which Private Ortheris and Mrs. Hauksbee pose against a background of palm trees to the sound of temple bells, and one necessary circumstance was that Kipling himself was only half civilized.</p> <p>Kipling is the only English writer of our time who has added phrases to the language. The phrases and neologisms which we take over and use without remembering their origin do not always come from writers we admire. It is strange, for instance, to hear the Nazi broadcasters referring to the Russian soldiers as ‘robots’, thus unconsciously borrowing a word from a Czech democrat whom they would have killed if they could have laid hands on him. Here are half a dozen phrases coined by Kipling which one sees quoted in leaderettes in the gutter press or overhears in saloon bars from people who have barely heard his name. It will be seen that they all have a certain characteristic in common:</p> <ul> <li>East is East, and West is West. <a href="http://4umi.com/kipling/eastandwest">(*)</a> </li> <li>The white man’s burden. <a href="http://4umi.com/kipling/burden">(*)</a> </li> <li>What do they know of England who only England know? </li> <li>The female of the species is more deadly than the male. </li> <li>Somewhere East of Suez. </li> <li>Paying the Dane-geld. </li> </ul> <p>There are various others, including some that have outlived their context by many years. The phrase ‘killing Kruger with your mouth’, for instance, was current till very recently. It is also possible that it was Kipling who first let loose the use of the word ‘Huns’ for Germans; at any rate he began using it as soon as the guns opened fire in 1914. But what the phrases I have listed above have in common is that they are all of them phrases which one utters semi-derisively (as it might be ‘For I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May’), but which one is bound to make use of sooner or later. Nothing could exceed the contempt of the <i>New Statesman,</i> for instance, for Kipling, but how many times during the Munich period did the <i>New Statesman</i> find itself quoting that phrase about paying the Dane-geld <a name="c3"></a><a href="#n3"><sup><font size="1">3</font></sup></a>? The fact is that Kipling, apart from his snack-bar wisdom and his gift for packing much cheap picturesqueness into a few words (’palm and pine’—‘east of Suez’—‘the road to Mandalay’), is generally talking about things that are of urgent interest. It does not matter, from this point of view, that thinking and decent people generally find themselves on the other side of the fence from him. ‘White man’s burden’ instantly conjures up a real problem, even if one feels that it ought to be altered to ‘black man’s burden’. One may disagree to the middle of one’s bones with the political attitude implied in ‘The Islanders’, but one cannot say that it is a frivolous attitude. Kipling deals in thoughts which are both vulgar and permanent. This raises the question of his special status as a poet, or verse-writer.</p> <p>Mr. Eliot describes Kipling’s metrical work as ‘verse’ and not ‘poetry’, but adds that it is ‘<i>great</i>verse’, and further qualifies this by saying that a writer can only be described as a ‘great verse-writer’ if there is some of his work ‘of which we cannot say whether it is verse or poetry’. Apparently Kipling was a versifier who occasionally wrote poems, in which case it was a pity that Mr. Eliot did not specify these poems by name. The trouble is that whenever an aestheticjudgement on Kipling’s work seems to be called for, Mr. Eliot is too much on the defensive to be able to speak plainly. What he does not say, and what I think one ought to start by saying in any discussion of Kipling, is that most of Kipling’s verse is so horribly vulgar that it gives one the same sensation as one gets from watching a third-rate music-hall performer recite ‘The Pigtail of Wu Fang Fu’ with the purple limelight on his face, <i>and yet</i> there is much of it that is capable of giving pleasure to people who know what poetry means. At his worst, and also his most vital, in poems like ‘Gunga Din’ or ‘Danny Deever’, Kipling is almost a shameful pleasure, like the taste for cheap sweets that some people secretly carry into middle life. But even with his best passages one has the same sense of being seduced by something spurious, and yet unquestionably seduced. Unless one is merely a snob and a liar it is impossible to say that no one who cares for poetry could get any pleasure out of such lines as:</p> <ul> <li>For the wind is in the palm trees, and the temple bells they say, <a href="http://4umi.com/kipling/ballads/2#304">(*)</a> </li> <li>‘Come you back, you British soldier, come you back to Mandalay!’ </li> </ul> <p>and yet those lines are not poetry in the same sense as ‘Felix Randal’ or ‘When icicles hang by the wall’ are poetry. One can, perhaps, place Kipling more satisfactorily than by juggling with the words ‘verse’ and ‘poetry’, if one describes him simply as a good bad poet. He is as a poet what Harriet Beecher Stowe was as a novelist. And the mere existence of work of this kind, which is perceived by generation after generation to be vulgar and yet goes on being read, tells one something about the age we live in.</p> <p>There is a great deal of good bad poetry in English, all of it, I should say, subsequent to 1790. Examples of good bad poems—I am deliberately choosing diverse ones—are ‘The Bridge of Sighs’, ‘When all the world is young, lad’, ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’, Bret Harte’s ‘Dickens in Camp’, ‘The Burial of Sir John Moore’, ‘Jenny Kissed Me’, ‘Keith of Ravelston’, ‘Casabianca’. All of these reek of sentimentality, and yet—not these particular poems, perhaps, but poems of this kind, are capable of giving true pleasure to people who can see clearly what is wrong with them. One could fill a fair-sized anthology with good bad poems, if it were not for the significant fact that good bad poetry is usually too well known to be worth reprinting.</p> <p>It is no use pretending that in an age like our own, ‘good’ poetry can have any genuine popularity. It is, and must be, the cult of a very few people, the least tolerated of the arts. Perhaps that statement needs a certain amount of qualification. True poetry can sometimes be acceptable to the mass of the people when it disguises itself as something else. One can see an example of this in the folk-poetry that England still possesses, certain nursery rhymes and mnemonic rhymes, for instance, and the songs that soldiers make up, including the words that go to some of the bugle-calls. But in general ours is a civilization in which the very word ‘poetry’ evokes a hostile snigger or, at best, the sort of frozen disgust that most people feel when they hear the word ‘God’. If you are good at playing the concertina you could probably go into the nearest public bar and get yourself an appreciative audience within five minutes. But what would be the attitude of that same audience if you suggested reading them Shakespeare’s sonnets, for instance? Good bad poetry, however, can get across to the most unpromising audiences if the right atmosphere has been worked up beforehand. Some months back Churchill produced a great effect by quoting Clough’s ‘Endeavour’ in one of his broadcast speeches. I listened to this speech among people who could certainly not be accused of caring for poetry, and I am convinced that the lapse into verse impressed them and did not embarrass them. But not even Churchill could have got away with it if he had quoted anything much better than this.</p> <p>In so far as a writer of verse can be popular, Kipling has been and probably still is popular. In his own lifetime some of his poems travelled far beyond the bounds of the reading public, beyond the world of school prize-days, Boy Scout singsongs, limp-leather editions, pokerwork and calendars, and out into the yet vaster world of the music halls. Nevertheless, Mr. Eliot thinks it worth while to edit him, thus confessing to a taste which others share but are not always honest enough to mention. The fact that such a thing as good bad poetry can exist is a sign of the emotional overlap between the intellectual and the ordinary man. The intellectual is different from the ordinary man, but only in certain sections of his personality, and even then not all the time. But what is the peculiarity of a good bad poem? A good bad poem is a graceful monument to the obvious. It records in memorable form—for verse is a mnemonic device, among other things—some emotion which very nearly every human being can share. The merit of a poem like ‘When all the world is young, lad’ is that, however sentimental it may be, its sentiment is ‘true’ sentiment in the sense that you are bound to find yourself thinking the thought it expresses sooner or later; and then, if you happen to know the poem, it will come back into your mind and seem better than it did before. Such poems are a kind of rhyming proverb, and it is a fact that definitely popular poetry is usually gnomic or sententious. One example from Kipling will do:</p> <ul> <li>White hands cling to the bridle rein, </li> <li>Slipping the spur from the booted heel; </li> <li>Tenderest voices cry ‘Turn again!’ </li> <li>Red lips tarnish the scabbarded steel: </li> <li>Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne, </li> <li>He travels the fastest who travels alone. </li> </ul> <p>There is a vulgar thought vigorously expressed. It may not be true, but at any rate it is a thought that everyone thinks. Sooner or later you will have occasion to feel that he travels the fastest who travels alone, and there the thought is, ready made and, as it were, waiting for you. So the chances are that, having once heard this line, you will remember it.</p> <p>One reason for Kipling’s power as a good bad poet I have already suggested—his sense of responsibility, which made it possible for him to have a world-view, even though it happened to be a false one. Although he had no direct connexion with any political party, Kipling was a Conservative, a thing that does not exist nowadays. Those who now call themselves Conservatives are either Liberals, Fascists or the accomplices of Fascists. He identified himself with the ruling power and not with the opposition. In a gifted writer this seems to us strange and even disgusting, but it did have the advantage of giving Kipling a certain grip on reality. The ruling power is always faced with the question, ‘In such and such circumstances, what would you<i>do?</i>’, whereas the opposition is not obliged to take responsibility or make any real decisions. Where it is a permanent and pensioned opposition, as in England, the quality of its thought deteriorates accordingly. Moreover, anyone who starts out with a pessimistic, reactionary view of life tends to be justified by events, for Utopia never arrives and ‘the gods of the copybook headings’, as Kipling himself put it, always return. Kipling sold out to the British governing class, not financially but emotionally. This warped his political judgement, for the British ruling class were not what he imagined, and it led him into abysses of folly and snobbery, but he gained a corresponding advantage from having at least tried to imagine what action and responsibility are like. It is a great thing in his favour that he is not witty, not ‘daring’, has no wish to <i>épater les bourgeois.</i> He dealt largely in platitudes, and since we live in a world of platitudes, much of what he said sticks. Even his worst follies seem less shallow and less irritating than the ‘enlightened’ utterances of the same period, such as Wilde’s epigrams or the collection of cracker-mottoes at the end of <i>Man and Superman</i>.</p> <p><i>1942.</i></p> <hr /> <h5>Notes</h5> <ol> <li><a href="#c1">^ </a><i>A Choice of Kipling’s Verse</i>, made by T. S. Eliot (Faber & Faber, 82. 6d.) </li> <li><a href="#c2">^ </a>1945. Published in a volume of Collected Essays, <i>The Wound and the Bow</i> (Secker & Warburg) </li> <li><a href="#c3">^ </a>On the first page of his recent book, <i>Adam and Eve,</i> Mr. Middleton Murry quotes the well-known lines: <ul> <li>‘There are nine and sixty ways <a href="http://4umi.com/kipling/neolithic#40" target="_blank">(*)</a> </li> <li>Of constructing tribal lays, </li> <li>And every single one of them is right.’ </li> </ul> <p>He attributes these lines to Thackeray. This is probably what is known as a ’Freudian error’. A civilized person would prefer not to quote Kipling—i.e. would prefer not to feel that it was Kipling who had expressed his thought for him.</p> </li> </ol> <hr /> <h5>Roots</h5> <p><i><b>Rudyard Kipling</b></i> by George Orwell, first published February 1942 in <i>Horizon</i> magazine. <br />Reprinted: <br />1946: Critical Essays / Dickens, Dali, and Others <br />1956: The Orwell Reader, Fiction, Essays, and Reportage <br />1961: Collected Essays <br />1965: Decline of the English Murder and Other Essays <br />1968: Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell <br />ocr-ed and html-ed: O. Dag, MSK (8 April 2003), 4umi.</p> </blockquote> </details> <p>The part that re-ignited my interest in Rudyard Kipling, leading me to change my views on him, is his assistance in developing the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ritual_of_the_Calling_of_an_Engineer" target="_blank">The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer</a>" – I thus learned about the controversies surrounding his legacy as well as his Freemasonry.</p> <p>I don’t think he was a fascist or a Nazi sympathizer, but rather a naive man who at first did not understand the profit motives of imperialism and later on, when he did, he had no choice but to downplay them in favour of some rather silly Victorian ideals. Though he paid dearly for his naïveté with the death of his son, he never fully came to terms with reality, finding refuge in an even older novel.</p> <p>Sources / More info: <a title="4 Son's death in First World War" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudyard_Kipling#Son.27s_death_in_First_World_War" target="_blank">wiki-RK</a>, <a title="Rudyard Kipling" href="http://4umi.com/orwell/kipling" target="_blank">Orwell</a>,</p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:8617b716-8121-4dd0-bbbd-bde8e4f42ef2" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" title="Edutarian">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=what" rel="tag">what</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=jingoism" rel="tag">jingoism</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=imperialism" rel="tag">imperialism</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=nationalism" rel="tag">nationalism</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=swastika" rel="tag">swastika</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=british" rel="tag">british</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=victorian" rel="tag">victorian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=ideals" rel="tag">ideals</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=morality" rel="tag">morality</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=ethics" rel="tag">ethics</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=freemasonry" rel="tag">freemasonry</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=heroism" rel="tag">heroism</a> (Tags)</div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-80850738597616967882011-12-13T18:33:00.001-05:002011-12-13T22:30:48.461-05:00Protestantism–Religion Glossary III<span id="description">Understanding religion is tough even for those who were lucky enough to receive a non-abusive education. Navigating the numerous inadequacies and misunderstandings that surround this subject is a multidisciplinary endeavour, involving psychology, history, economics and to a certain extent, religion.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p>Martin Luther, a German, was the first priest to publicly criticize the Catholic tenets in a coherent, convincing and ultimately “viral” fashion, apparently incensed by the selling of indulgences. While he believed in salvation through good works, John Calvin, a Frenchman who came 26 years after, was either seduced by “predestination” (salvation cannot be made dependent on human decisions) or was simply trying to find some middle ground with Catholic orthodoxy. While Luther thought the Church should be subordinated to the state yet separated, Calvin disagreed considering the Church superior and independent, but this may simply be a matter of circumstance:</p> <blockquote> <p>Calvin, who began writing nearly twenty years after, did not have to face the question of separation. The breach was a fact. He simply knew that Rome persecuted "Lutherans," that she handed them over to the state to be burned, and that she accused them falsely of subversion.</p> </blockquote> <p>After the excommunication of Luther and condemnation of the Reformation by the Pope, Calvin’s writings brought a certain unity to the various splinter groups. It was, in a way, an attempt to reconcile with the <em>tradition</em> strongly rejected by Luther. The other significant difference was on how the two interpreted the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, or what the Catholics called the <em>transubstantiation</em> dogma.</p> <h3><a name="antisemitism"></a>antisemitism</h3> <p>Luther was the son of a farmer turned miner, was jovial, quick-tempered and did not mince his words. In his early life he hoped that he could convert all Jews to Christianity, but in the latter part of his life he became a grumpy old bigot. He would often engage in what today would be called “trolling”; for instance, in <em>On the Jews and Their Lies</em>, he says, among other things (cf wikipedia):</p> <blockquote> <p>In the treatise, Luther describes Jews as a "base, whoring people, that is, no people of God, and their boast of lineage, circumcision, and law must be accounted as filth." Luther wrote that they are "full of the devil's feces ... which they wallow in like swine," and the synagogue is an "incorrigible whore and an evil slut".</p> </blockquote> <p>Such trolling inspired the Nazis, Henry Ford’s <em>The International Jew</em> and influenced Germany’s attitude toward its Jewish citizens since the Reformation and until the Holocaust. However, he did recognize early on that Jews could not possibly convert out of hatred:</p> <blockquote> <p>In 1519 Luther challenged the doctrine <i>Servitus Judaeorum</i> ("Servitude of the Jews"), established in <i>Corpus Juris Civilis</i> by Justinian I in 529. He wrote: "Absurd theologians defend hatred for the Jews. ... What Jew would consent to enter our ranks when he sees the cruelty and enmity we wreak on them—that in our behavior towards them we less resemble Christians than beasts?"</p> </blockquote> <p>In the 1523 essay <i>That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew</i>, he went even further:</p> <blockquote> <p>If I had been a Jew and had seen such dolts and blockheads govern and teach the Christian faith, I would sooner have become a hog than a Christian. They have dealt with the Jews as if they were dogs rather than human beings; they have done little else than deride them and seize their property. When they baptize them they show them nothing of Christian doctrine or life, but only subject them to popishness and monkery... If the apostles, who also were Jews, had dealt with us Gentiles as we Gentiles deal with the Jews, there would never have been a Christian among the Gentiles ... When we are inclined to boast of our position [as Christians] we should remember that we are but Gentiles, while the Jews are of the lineage of Christ. We are aliens and in-laws; they are blood relatives, cousins, and brothers of our Lord. Therefore, if one is to boast of flesh and blood the Jews are actually nearer to Christ than we are...If we really want to help them, we must be guided in our dealings with them not by papal law but by the law of Christian love. We must receive them cordially, and permit them to trade and work with us, that they may have occasion and opportunity to associate with us, hear our Christian teaching, and witness our Christian life. If some of them should prove stiff-necked, what of it? After all, we ourselves are not all good Christians either.</p> </blockquote> <h3><a name="personalities"></a>personalities</h3> <p>After an emotionally tumultuous youth, Luther seems to have understood that <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): MontyPython: Always Look On The Bright Side of Life" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WlBiLNN1NhQ?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">salvation</a> came not through works, but through grace and by faith (Rom. 1:17). In 1519, Luther underwent what he called his "tower experience," when he suddenly became convinced of the truth of the certainty of the gospel - the unforgettable experience of switching from despair and uncertainty to true faith and conviction. This experience was decisive in his life, and dramatically symbolizes his discovery of the Gospel.</p> <p>In contrast to Luther’s mercurial, explosive personality, Calvin was calm and collected:</p> <blockquote> <p>Many think of Calvin as a cold, judgmental, and inflexible theocrat. The 19th century historian, John Fiske described Calvin as "the constitutional lawyer of the Reformation, with vision as clear, with head as cool, with soul as dry, as any old solicitor in rusty black ...His sternness was that of the judge who dooms a criminal to the gallows." But historical evidence shows that Calvin attracted many, varied, and warmly attached friends who spoke of the sensitiveness and the charm that were beneath his shy and withdrawn manner in public life. And judging by his correspondence, he was a caring man. If one thing stands, out especially from Calvin's letters, it is his concern for people and their salvation.</p> </blockquote> <h3><a name="currents"></a>currents</h3> <p>The basic tenets of Calvinism are <strong><abbr style="border-bottom: navy 1px dotted" title="'BY SCRIPTURE ALONE' contains the four main doctrines on the Bible: that its teaching is needed for salvation (necessity); that all the doctrine necessary for salvation comes from the Bible alone (sufficiency); that everything taught in the Bible is correct (inerrancy); and that, by the Holy Spirit overcoming sin, believers may read and understand truth from the Bible itself, though understanding is difficult, so the means used to guide individual believers to the true teaching is often mutual discussion within the church (clarity)."><strong>Sola Scriptura</strong></abbr></strong>, <em>Sola Fide, Solus Christus, Sola Gratia, Soli Deo Gloria.</em> <strong>Justification through faith <u>alone</u></strong> is a concept first espoused by Pelagius around 400 AD. Augustine was more prolific and managed to drown opposition to his pessimistic views which, nonetheless, gained the Pope’s support.</p> <p><a title="Evolution of major branches and movements within Protestantism" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Protestantbranches.svg" target="_blank"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 3px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Protestantism" border="0" alt="Protestantism" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Mha6gJb3UgU/TufgsjaDX4I/AAAAAAAASkA/WFAgT8gOWtQ/Protestantism13.jpg?imgmax=800" width="605" height="389" /></a></p> <p>If the above chronology is hard to read, you might want to have a look at the excellent presentation <a title="Document opens below: Protestant Reformation Through Maps. Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.pptpalooza.net/PPTs/EHAP/ProtReformationThroughMaps.ppt&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tvtub">The Protestant Reformation Through Maps</a>. Alternatively, have a look at <a title="An interesting look at the religions and language groups that are elements of division (and union) in Europe. The mapmaker wanted to make a point by indicating three ‘core areas’ where a certain language group and religion overlap – resulting in an area that is Germanic+Protestant, another one that’s Slavic+Orthodox and one that is Romance+Catholic. I’m not sure which point" href="http://strangemaps.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/euopedivides2.jpg" target="_blank">Europe’s divides</a> and <a title="Map of the religious affiliations of European cultures" href="http://euroheritage.net/europeanreligions.jpg" target="_blank">European Religions</a> (full links below). Says James Mayfield, the Chairman of European Heritage Library:</p> <blockquote> <p>Although the Netherlands, like most countries in Europe and also the United States, is overall secular, statistics typically indicate that the largest single church is Catholic, despite the fact that Protestantism has been the prime mover of Dutch history.</p> </blockquote> <p>The original Reformers, aka part of the “Magisterial Reformation” did not want to break the Catholic church, but felt that the Catholic bureaucracy had become far too cumbersome and expensive to fulfill its role and, to add insult to the injury, had deviated from Jesus’ teachings. Having failed to change the Catholic church, they were excommunicated but did obtain significant support from the moneyed classes and from their own governments, in whole or in part. This caused numerous civil wars and massacres. There were also other reformers who relied more on Reason and pushed the requested changes further than their governments were willing to support them – they were called “Radical Reformers”. The Radicals called Lutheran theologians “papists” and suffered significant persecutions in both Catholic as well as Protestant countries.</p> <p>This new emphasis on self-study and self-determination is considered by Max Webber and many others to be the basis of the development advantage of Protestant countries over their Catholic brethren (and to a larger extent over the rest of the obedient Orthodox Christianity). It may also explain why many Christian Orthodox people have such an aversion toward NGOs. In Romania for instance, people do not donate the 2% of income allowed by law even though it is fully tax deductible. On the other hand, the change and “awakening” from an amorphous mass waiting for the priest to fart before raising their eyes to look up to the stars was not all that peachy (cf <em>Gale Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World</em>):</p> <blockquote> <p>Traditionally placed after Lutheranism as the second major part of magisterial Protestantism, "Calvinism" is now used by experts as a somewhat old-fashioned shorthand for something they prefer to call the Reformed theological tradition, which spawned a cluster of different but doctrinally related churches scattered across several disconnected parts of Europe and its colonies; it included many other Protestant theologians from several European countries, including places where this type of church never flourished. The Reformed tradition preceded John Calvin (1509–1564), who was simply its single most influential exponent; indeed, "Calvinist" was an insult coined in 1553 to describe Protestants who were willing to burn other non-Catholic Christians as heretics. (..) Experts often prefer to begin the history of Calvinism not with Calvin himself, but with Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531) and the early Reformed tradition in Switzerland. By the time Calvin became a Protestant theologian and reached Geneva, the Protestant movement begun in Zurich by Zwingli and continued by Heinrich Bullinger (1504–1575) after Zwingli's early death at the battle of Kappel in 1531 had deeply colored the theological and political backgrounds where Calvin worked. Bullinger's forty-four years in Zurich over-lapped Calvin's ministry in Geneva (1536–1564) on both ends; fortunately for the Reformed church, his relations with Calvin were entirely amicable. Bullinger's influence on Calvin is difficult to assess: Bullinger's writings saw about three-fourths as many sixteenth-century editions as Calvin's; and Bullinger was a prodigious letter writer, with a corpus of about fifteen thousand extant letters (roughly three times as many as Calvin), so extensive that no scholar has yet managed to read all of them.</p> </blockquote> <p>It seems that Bullinger was much like a prolific blogger: his genius was too thinly spread. Here’s the most important difference between Luther and Calvin and also one that explains many self-unaware deists’ incongruities:</p> <blockquote> <p>Calvin's <strong>emphasis on predestination</strong> bothered Bullinger and other fellow Protestant theologians, who agreed with most of the theory but thought it was imprudent to preach in public. However, this doctrine did not necessarily frighten Calvin's local audience. One of them, Michel Roset (1534–1613), a Genevan chronicler, claimed that "great and small spoke of the subject" and called it "a singular grace and counsel of God, who by this means made this subject of predestination (previously obscure and almost inaccessible for the most part) most familiar in this church for the consolation and assurance of its children, who know that their salvation is founded on his eternal and unchangeable judgement" (quoted in Benedict, p. 303). <strong>To an optimist, it provided a source of comfort, rather than anxiety, in troubled times</strong>.</p> </blockquote> <p>The “Calvinist conspiracy” was in full swing in the 16th century and quickly found that it needed its own bureaucracy:</p> <blockquote> <p>The most famous institution associated with Calvin, the Genevan consistory, was undoubtedly central to his purpose of reforming Geneva's inhabitants into correctly educated Christians who behaved as such. Bullinger, his indispensable ally in Zurich, expressed uneasiness about its "excessive sharpness" and its independence from the magistracy. Nevertheless, Calvin's consistory was widely admired and copied because early Reformed churches needed some way to maintain discipline over their members so that the Lord's Supper—their only important ceremony, usually celebrated only four times a year—could be properly administered. The elders, who staffed and implemented proper Christian discipline, comprised the third of Calvin's four orders of a Reformed ministry, ranking behind the rather ill-defined teaching ministry and ahead of the deacons who were responsible primarily for social welfare. (The four orders are preachers, teachers, elders, and deacons.) (..) By year's end, although most people were summoned for faulty doctrine or failure to attend sermons, others were accused of quarrelling in public, fornication, blasphemy, gambling, singing parodies of hymns, using superstitious cures, or even being disobedient to their parents. Although the consistory occasionally investigated doctrinal issues, such behavioural problems preoccupied it by the mid-1540s and remained predominant until Voltaire's day.</p> </blockquote> <h3><a name="morality"></a>morality</h3> <p>Did this work? Absolutely!</p> <blockquote> <p>Only after a hard struggle in the mid-1550s was Calvin able to impose the consistory's autonomous power to excommunicate obstinate sinners. Its activities multiplied prodigiously. At its statistical peak in the late 1560s, Geneva's consistory summoned almost one adult in eight every year for reprimands. Nearby rural parishes, which were far slower to become "Calvinist," saw many people excommunicated for superstition, dancing, singing lewd songs, or fornication. Urban misbehaviour was different, mainly involving quarrels with family or neighbours and a huge range of "scandals," including such trivial offenses as a woman urinating in a cooking pot or a man urinating in the street without turning his back. No other place in Europe, Protestant or Catholic, even remotely approached these levels of official moral surveillance.</p> <p>Such <strong>extreme measures apparently got results</strong>. For example, some bits of statistical evidence support the claim of John Knox (c. 1510–1572) that Calvin's Geneva became "the most perfect school of Christ seen on earth since the days of the apostles." One indication comes from <em>baptisms of illegitimate children</em>, which were recorded throughout Europe in this era. At Geneva, they <em>reached the lowest levels yet found by demographic historians</em>: barely one illegitimate child per thousand live births, a ratio that seems unimaginably low anywhere in the world today. Another indication gains value because it comes from an extremely hostile source, an Italian Jesuit who visited Geneva in 1580. "What caused me some surprise," he noted, "was that during the three days I was in Geneva, I never heard any blasphemy, swearing, or indecent language, which," he hastened to add, "I attributed to diabolic cunning to deceive the simpleminded by having the appearance of a reformed life" (quoted in Benedict, p. 103).</p> </blockquote> <p>What Calvin has managed to do was to “cleanse” the very moral fibre of his fellow city dwellers. He did so by simply using the human monkeys’ desire to be part of the group (which has distinct and obvious <a title="Chomsky, FMI si Psihologia Evolutionara" href="http://www.google.ro/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=site%3Aalsosprachzamolxis.com%20evolutionary&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCgQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alsosprachzamolxis.com%2F2010%2F08%2Fchomsky-fmi-si-psihologia-http://www.alsosprachzamolxis.com/2010/08/chomsky-fmi-si-psihologia-evolutionara.html">evolutionary</a> roots) and the universal fear of death, sublimated in the desire to “attain salvation”.</p> <p>So why did Calvinism spread so readily, how was it different from Luther’s teachings and why did it succeed in replacing it in some places but failed in others?</p> <blockquote> <p>Although no early "Calvinist" churches adopted exactly the same confession of faith, they shared many common features. One easy and simple way to distinguish them from other Protestants is by considering what sixteenth-century theologians called<i> notae,</i> or marks of the true church. Luther—and every other Protestant leader—insisted that preaching the Word of God correctly was the very first requirement. Nearly all of them added a second mark: the correct administration of the sacraments (Protestants agreed that there were only two, baptism and the Eucharist, but disagreed vehemently from the outset about how to perform them). Beyond these two, Luther occasionally mentioned other signs of a true church, including proper discipline; some of his more radical rivals added even more (the founder of the Mennonites had six, while other Anabaptists went up to a dozen). In general, churches within Calvin's Reformed tradition acknowledged only three<i> notae,</i> placing a correct form of church discipline immediately after correct preaching and administration of both sacraments. Interestingly, Calvin himself, despite the care he lavished on creating and maintaining Geneva's consistory, never insisted that discipline was a necessary mark of the true church. But many early official confessions of Reformed churches, including those made during Calvin's lifetime between 1560 and 1562 in Scotland, Belgium, and Hungary, made discipline their third and final mark. It was clearly a fundamental aspect of mainstream Calvinism and remained so.</p> </blockquote> <p>After the Augsburg peace (1555) most rulers adopted the famous formula <em><abbr style="border-bottom: navy 1px dotted" title="the religion of the prince determines the religion of his people"><em>cuius regio, eius religio</em></abbr></em> and consequently the spread of Calvinism was moderated by such attitudes. In Scandinavian countries, which to this date keep crosses on their flags, Calvinism did not spread but Luther’s teachings were strongly anchored.</p> <blockquote> <p>In the Netherlands, a powerful but distant and unpopular sovereign ultimately failed to prevent Calvinism from triumphing in half of his lands—although not in the regions where it had originated. (..) In eastern Europe, state power was far weaker, and the Reformed church acquired a different configuration. The widespread use of Latin among the nobility and literate minority enabled Calvin and Bullinger to get their message across in Polish- or Magyar-speaking lands. Calvin sent numerous letters to Poland's king and leading noblemen in 1555, and local Protestant churches invited him to come and advise them. Before the tide began turning against them after 1580 and exposed the shallowness of their roots, over 250 Reformed churches had been established in Poland and another 225 in the Lithuanian parts of the kingdom; at that moment, Calvinists formed the largest single religious group in the Polish Senate. Meanwhile, Calvinism sank much deeper roots in the kingdom of Hungary, shattered by a Turkish victory that left Budapest under Ottoman occupation for 150 years. By 1600, the Reformed church claimed almost half of Hungary's population, and they even proselytized among the Orthodox Romanians. Many of Hungary's Reformed churches, like those in the Palatinate, managed to survive despite political persecutions in the seventeenth century.</p> </blockquote> <p>Perhaps in the 17th century, when the Reform suffered setbacks and peacefully lost ground to Catholicism, do we find the source of that misinformed Romanian official accusation of <a title="base S BS I" href="http://www.alsosprachzamolxis.com/2011/12/base-s-bs-i.html" target="_blank">Calvinist conspiracy</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>Historians still debate the extent to which an <em>international Calvinist conspiracy provoked the Thirty Years' War</em> in 1618 by encouraging the ill-fated adventure of the elector palatine Frederick V, who became Bohemia's "Winter King." It was a last gasp, like the final Huguenot rebellion in France, which broke out in 1621 and ended with Cardinal Richelieu's capture of the greatest Huguenot stronghold, La Rochelle, in 1628. Ironically, the only successful military rising by seventeenth-century Calvinists came against a Protestant ruler, Charles I of England, in 1639. In places where it had become established, like the Netherlands or Scotland, Reformed church membership continued to increase, and Calvinism sank much deeper roots among the population. But elsewhere, it often receded into insignificance. Even in Calvin's native France, where the Reformed church seemed safely protected by the Edict of Nantes after 1598, its seventeenth-century membership eroded slowly before it was formally abolished by Louis XIV in 1685. Most historians consider the seventeenth century the apogee of a "confessionalized" Europe, and Calvinism fits this pattern perfectly. (..)</p> <p>The most important features linking the practices of Europe's various "confessionalized" Reformed churches—and simultaneously separating them from other Protestant as well as Catholic traditions—revolved around their methods of disciplining church members for various forms of misbehavior. Wherever the Reformed faith became an official church, as in Scotland, the Netherlands, or the Palatinate, its organizations for ecclesiastical discipline operated hand in glove with public authorities. Records from such institutions in various parts of Europe enable us to form some general impressions about how <strong>Calvinist discipline</strong> actually worked in the heyday of confessionalism. The first thing to notice is that no established Reformed church even remotely approached the levels of investigation or punishments found in Calvin's Geneva. Consistories in Scotland or French Switzerland summoned between one adult in thirty and one in sixty each year, while those in Holland or France excommunicated no more than one adult in one hundred fifty each year; both ratios were roughly six times higher in Calvin's Geneva.</p> <p>Another distinctive feature of Reformed Protestantism was its <strong>remarkably small number of official holidays</strong>. Calvin himself saw no need and no scriptural basis for any holiday other than Sunday, and Reformed Protestants usually celebrated extremely few of them. (..) The mainstream of established Calvinism, the Reformed churches of Zurich, Bern, France, the Netherlands, and the Palatinate, celebrated four holidays besides Sundays: Christmas, Easter, Ascension Day, and Pentecost; the Dutch and the Palatinate also added New Year's Day. Keeping only a handful of holy days marked an enormous departure from Catholic practices, which in most places celebrated anywhere from forty to sixty holidays each year. Other mainstream Protestants were far less radical than Calvinists: Lutherans kept a large number of holy days, while the Church of England became a target for Puritan scorn by observing a total of twenty-seven holidays. Early Massachusetts went further and took the most extreme Calvinist position about the Christian calendar: not only did the colony ban all holidays, but its General Court briefly reformed the "pagan" names of the months as well, dating by "first month," "second month," and so forth.</p> <p>Many Calvinists compensated for this paucity or absence of other holidays with a <strong>strict observance of Sunday</strong>, almost in an exact correlation.</p> </blockquote> <p>This is, in my view, the reason why Netherlands appears to be the least “generous” Christmas giver, suggesting that Scrooge was Dutch:</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-o2murXAyG5s/TufgtGVLLxI/AAAAAAAASkI/n04k0rInlAM/s1600-h/Christmas-Gifts-Economist%25255B1%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="Christmas-Gifts-Economist" border="0" alt="Christmas-Gifts-Economist" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-TvR04dfD2EA/TufgtgZXFEI/AAAAAAAASkQ/MkBvf6IJMd0/Christmas-Gifts-Economist_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="599" height="425" /></a>Despite this signature austerity or perhaps because of it, Calvinism spread to the new colonies of South Africa and New Amsterdam. According to wikipedia, it layed the foundations of Capitalism:</p> <blockquote> <p>One school of thought attributes Calvinism with setting the stage for the later development of capitalism in northern Europe. In this view, elements of Calvinism represented a revolt against the medieval condemnation of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usury" target="_blank">usury</a> and, implicitly, of profit in general.<sup> </sup>Such a connection was advanced in influential works by R. H. Tawney (1880–1962) and by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber" target="_blank">Max Weber</a> (1864–1920).</p> <p>Calvin expressed himself on usury in a 1545 letter to a friend, Claude de Sachin, in which he criticized the use of certain passages of scripture invoked by people opposed to the charging of interest. He reinterpreted some of these passages, and suggested that others of them had been rendered irrelevant by changed conditions. He also dismissed the argument (based upon the writings of Aristotle) that it is wrong to charge interest for money because money itself is barren. He said that the walls and the roof of a house are barren, too, but it is permissible to charge someone for allowing him to use them. In the same way, money can be made fruitful.</p> <p>He qualified his view, however, by saying that money should be lent to people in dire need without hope of interest, while a modest interest rate of 5% should be permitted in relation to other borrowers.</p> </blockquote> <p>Just when Calvinism was starting to dominate Reform, a largely unknown professor at Leyden University voiced some sharp criticism of the mainstream Dutch views:</p> <blockquote> <p>Arminius taught that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predestination_(Calvinism)" target="_blank">Calvinist predestination</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconditional_election" target="_blank">unconditional election</a> made God the author of evil. Instead, Arminius insisted, God's election was an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditional_election" target="_blank">election of believers</a><i></i> and therefore was <i>conditioned on faith</i>. Furthermore, Arminius argued, God's exhaustive foreknowledge did not require a doctrine of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determinism" target="_blank">determinism</a>.</p> </blockquote> <p>After Arminius’ death, the doctrine crystallized in Remonstrance:</p> <ol> <li>election was conditional on faith</li> <li>Christ’s atonement was unlimited in extent</li> <li>total depravity</li> <li>prevenient and resistible grace</li> <li>possibility of apostasy</li> </ol> <p>Remonstrants believed in the supremacy of civil authorities over church matters. It eventually evolved into Methodism, while Presbyterians find their roots in Calvinism.</p> <h3><a name="conclusion"></a>conclusion</h3> <p>Even though it is debatable to what extent was Calvinism suffocating to its followers, few would question its positive effect on individuality and individualism:</p> <blockquote> <p>Calvinism's distinctive cultural contributions to the modern world seem more problematic than they did fifty years ago, when historians confidently assumed that Reformed churches had consistently opposed tyranny and fostered individualism. They seem vastly more problematic than they did a century ago, when the German sociologist Max Weber asserted a causal connection between Calvinist self-discipline, which he called "other-worldly asceticism," and economic success. The best way to approach such major issues today is by noting that although Calvinism's various European branches were mostly stable or defensive after 1650, they remained dynamic in Europe's overseas colonies and former colonies until the twentieth century. The consequences seem peculiarly paradoxical in America, where advanced education has become entirely secular, while a crypto-Calvinist "salvation- ist" evangelical Protestantism maintains an enduring hold over much of the population.</p> <p>Few readers today will swallow the assertion that New England's Calvinist Puritanism "produced a type of human being that no just and informed mind can think of without admiration" (Mc Neill, pp. 340–341). Nevertheless, Calvinism, argues its most prominent recent historian, "still merits a prominent role in certain metanarratives of Western modernization" (Benedict, p. 542). By shrinking beliefs about holy days and seasons to a minimum, it affected a more thorough, although incomplete, "disenchantment of the world" than its rivals, and its strict codes of individual conduct powerfully reinforced individual consciences.</p> </blockquote> <p>The interested reader would be well advised to “absorb” the following comparison table among different doctrines:</p> <table style="border-bottom: #333 1px solid; border-left: #333 1px solid; margin: auto; width: 75%; border-top: #333 1px solid; border-right: #333 1px solid"><tbody> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr style="background: #cedff2"> <td><b>Topic</b></td> <td><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//Lutheranism" target="_blank">Lutheranism</a></b></td> <td><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism" target="_blank">Calvinism</a></b></td> <td><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arminianism" target="_blank">Arminianism</a></b></td> </tr> <tr style="background: #ededed"> <td><b>Human will</b></td> <td>Total Depravity without free will until spiritual regeneration</td> <td>Total Depravity without free will permanently due to the nature of divine sovereignty</td> <td>Total depravity, with prevenient grace, does not preclude free will</td> </tr> <tr> <td><b>Election</b></td> <td>Unconditional election to salvation only</td> <td>Unconditional election to salvation with those outside the elect foreordained to damnation (<i>double-predestination</i>)</td> <td>Conditional election on the basis of foreseen faith or unbelief</td> </tr> <tr style="background: #ededed"> <td><b>Justification</b></td> <td>Justification of all people made available at Christ's death</td> <td>Justification is limited to those predestined to salvation, completed at Christ's death</td> <td>Justification made possible for all through Christ's death, but only completed upon placing faith in Jesus (<i>hypothetical universalism</i>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td><b>Conversion</b></td> <td>Monergistic, through the means of grace, resistible</td> <td>Monergistic, through the inner calling of the Holy Spirit, irresistible</td> <td>Synergistic, resistible due to the common, sufficient grace of free will</td> </tr> <tr style="background: #ededed"> <td><b>Preservation and apostasy</b></td> <td>Falling away is possible, but reflection on one's faith provides assurance of preservation</td> <td>Perseverance of the saints: the eternally elect in Christ will necessarily persevere in faith and subsequent holiness until the end</td> <td>Preservation is conditional upon continued faith in Christ; reflection on one's faith provides assurance</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>According to Johan D. Tangelder, in a letter which Calvin wrote to Luther, but which he never received or read, for Luther's friend Melachton, did not think it advisable to deliver it to him, Calvin asked Luther's opinion about a certain matter which gave him much trouble. Beautiful and magnificent is the ending of this letter. "For I would preferably converse with you personally, not only on this matter, but also on other matters. But that which is not granted to us on earth, will presently, I hope, be imparted to us in the Kingdom of God. Hail to you, most excellent man, servant of Christ, and honoured father. May God bless you always through his Spirit until the end, to the mutual well being of his church."</p> <p>Sources / More info: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism" target="_blank">wiki-protestantism</a>, <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/calvinism" target="_blank">answers-calvinism</a>, <a title="Google Answers Q: Luther vs. Calvin" href="http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=289064" target="_blank">ga-lvc</a>, <a title="12 - Europe's divides" href="http://bigthink.com/ideas/21061" target="_blank">bt-eu-div</a>, <a title="Map of the religious affiliations of European cultures" href="http://euroheritage.net/europeanreligionsmap.shtml" target="_blank">euh-relmap</a>, <a title="Which nation is the most generous giver of Christmas presents? WHEN it became an independent nation in the seventeenth century, the Netherlands pioneered what today would be called austerity chic: think of the plain interiors painted by Vermeer or ruddy-faced merchants in their black smocks by Frans Hals. Today's chart, which shows a correlation between Christmas spending (culled from various sources) and wealth (in purchasing-power parity terms), suggests that the disapproval of those Amsterdam merchants still has some sway over their descendants. Lightly-taxed Luxemborgers, by contrast, are exceedingly generous outliers. Footloose readers would be well advised to head there for December 25th." href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2011/12/daily-chart-1" target="_blank">eco-gifts</a>, <a title="Reformed Reflections: Martin Luther and John Calvin" href="http://www.reformedreflections.ca/faith-and-life/martin-luther-john-calvin.html" target="_blank">rr-luther-v-calvin</a> (<a title="Document opens below: Martin Luther and John Calvin" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.reformedreflections.ca/faith-and-life/martin-luther-john-calvin.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tvtub">pdf</a>), <a title="Document opens below: ay Diamond, Larry. Plattner, Marc F. and Costopoulos, Philip J. World Religions and Democracy. 2005" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/bmoraski/Democratization/Woodberry04_JOD.pdf&embedded=true" rel="gdoc" target="tvtub">Church & Democracy PDF</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transsubstantiation" target="_blank">wiki-trans</a>, <a title="John Calvin and Martin Luther – some simplified differences" href="http://lexloiz.wordpress.com/2009/01/15/john-calvin-and-martin-luther-%E2%80%93-some-differences/" target="_blank">lexloiz-calvin-luther</a>, <a title="The Relation Between the Lutheran and Calvin Reformation By Prof. H. Hanko" href="http://www.hopeprc.org/pamphlets/reformation.htm" target="_blank">hanko-lvc</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Calvinist-Arminian_debate" target="_blank">wiki-ca</a></p> <p align="center"><iframe name="tvtub" align="center" title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="500" height="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/--iC5KHqaZk?iv_load_policy=3" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:e034a269-3cc3-42ef-9729-2d75d68d938c" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" title="Edutarian" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=religion" rel="tag">religion</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=faith" rel="tag">faith</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=protestantism" rel="tag">protestantism</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=history" rel="tag">history</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=istorie" rel="tag">istorie</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=religie" rel="tag">religie</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=calvinism" rel="tag">calvinism</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=luther" rel="tag">luther</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=lutheranism" rel="tag">lutheranism</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=arminism" rel="tag">arminism</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=salvation" rel="tag">salvation</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=apostasy" rel="tag">apostasy</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=apostolic" rel="tag">apostolic</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=unity" rel="tag">unity</a> (Tags)</div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-39207228322051642072011-08-20T12:30:00.001-04:002011-08-20T12:30:03.906-04:00Donald E Cameron and the German Collective Guilt<span id="description">Most people who travel extensively through Europe will inevitably come to the conclusion that most German people they meet seem to still feel, five decades post-Holocaust, a sense of collective guilt for their parents’ and grandparents’ crimes. I always wondered where is that coming from.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="WWI_propaganda_poster" border="0" alt="WWI_propaganda_poster" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-J7ZDmgO0Xf8/Tk_hCtai2JI/AAAAAAAASDA/hDeIUqaxLe0/WWI_propaganda_poster%25255B15%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="147" height="222" />This is particularly unsettling as the idea of collective guilt, apart from making no sense at all, was what the dogs of war use to incite their nations at state sponsored violence. Back in the 20s and 30s, Goebbels agitated against the Jews as they needed imaginary enemies to rally their troops against. Later on, as countries entered into wars, citizens of “unhealthy” origins, such as the Japanese were collectively interned in complete violation of their rights.</p> <p>I think such a discussion is extremely important. Back then, wars were still more or less symmetrical; today we no longer have this luxury. “Justice” is dictated by the victor and furthermore, no regime, victorious or not, can survive if it gives the impression that is too weak and does not adequately punish dissidents. With that in mind, I uncovered the following fragments from the Wikipedia article on Dr. D. E. Cameron, who is seen as the father of psychiatry in Canada and also conducted the CIA mind experiments (MKULTRA) at McGill.</p> <blockquote> <p>Cameron focused primarily on biological descriptive psychiatry and applied the British and European schools and models of the practice. Cameron followed these schools of psychiatry in demanding that mental disturbances were diseases and are somatic in nature. All psychological illness were thus hardwired and a product of the body and the direct result of the patients biological structure rather than caused by social, societal or family relationships. The characteristics were thus diagnosed as syndromes, emerging from the brain. It is at this juncture that Cameron began to more and more interested with how he could effectively manipulate the brain in order to control and understand the processes of memory. Cameron furthermore, wanted to understand the problems of memory caused by aging. He believed that the aged brain suffered from psychosis and thus would need to prematurely age brains in order to observe the effect.</p> </blockquote> <p>He also provided the basis for the “science” of Nuremberg trial. It is very troubling for me to discover that “racial” arguments were used to counter rasism.</p> <blockquote> <p>Before his arrival in Nuremberg Cameron wrote a paper titled The Social Reorganization of Germany. Cameron argued that German culture and its individual citizens would have to be transformed and reorganized. His analysis of German culture was that it is made up of people who had the need for status, that they worshiped strict order and regimentation, desired authoritarian leadership and had a hostile fear of other countries. The paper continued to state that German culture and its people will have offspring that in 30 years from 1945, would be the biggest threat to world peace. As a consequence the West would have to take measures to reorganize German society to prevent the coming of the offspring that would threaten world peace and order. Cameron focused on destroying the social organization of Germany which throughout history had repeatedly given birth to fearsome aggression. Cameron wanted to remove the social order of Germany that continually gave rise to the monstrosities of World War II. His arguments made it precisely a problem particular to the people of Germany and of the German race. Other psychiatric diagnoses of Germany took place at the same time such as Richard Max Brickner's, Is Germany Incurable(1943), Paul Winkler's, The thousand-year conspiracy: secret Germany behind the mask(1943), Fredrick Martin Stern, The Junker Meanace(1945), Sebastian Haffner's, Germany: Jekyll and Hyde: An Eyewitness Analysis of Nazi Germany(1941) and Sigrid Lillian Schultz, Germany will try it again(1944). Along with Cameron's own testament to the experiences of life in World War II Germany, these texts gave the West both a historical and psychological picture of the Germans and the German race. Brickner asked the newly formed United Nations to look at Germany as "the ward of the world". It was Cameron's expertise in biological psychiatric practice that was able to win the interpretation of the necessary measures to enforce against the German people after World War II and to be applied by the allied occupying forces in Germany. Furthermore, it is through Cameron's expertise at the Nuremberg trials and the Red Cross, that we are given the knowledge of the Medical regime in Germany during World War II. Cameron's purpose in Germany was to make sure that the country would never rise as a military threat after the war. In short, it was left to Donald Ewen Cameron to be the expert to tell the world what race of people could be likely to commit the crimes of WWII. He would be the one with authority to determine who made the crimes.</p> </blockquote> <p>It seems to me that he set the basis for “German collective guilt”. Furthermore, some of the “triumph of the Will” crap seems to have rubbed off him:</p> <blockquote> <p>Cameron started to distinguish populations between the weak and the strong. Those with anxieties or insecurities, those who had trouble with the state of the world were labeled as the weak. Those with social problems and issues, those who could not cope with life, had to be isolated from society by the strong. The mentally ill were then labeled not only as sick but as weak. Cameron further argued that the weak must not influence children. He promoted a philosophy where chaos could be prevented by removing the weak from society. This resembles the sociobiology of the late 19th and early 20th century and the emerging psychiatric understanding of the entirety of society. People needed to be known through psychiatric analysis in order to thwart a violent and chaotic society.</p> </blockquote> <p>The ideas of Cameron appear to be closely aligned with those of Mengele:</p> <blockquote> <p>For Cameron, political and national agendas reflected the genetics of a race of people, therefore, politics and nationalities were genetically based and societies that selected for the political and social aptness, were selecting the right genes. For example Cameron might suggest immigration policies and those immigration policies would be selecting for the correct genes, for political inclinations were an expression of genetics. For Cameron, mental conditions and illnesses were contagious and mechanism in society could both prevent and cause mental illness. If one came into contact with something or someone known to cause mental illness, was a sign one would begin to produce the symptoms of a mental disease. For example something like rock music could be created by mentally ill people and would produce mentally disturbed or ill people through infection which in turn would be transmitted to the genes. Thus this group would have to be studied and controlled as a contagious social disease. Although, mental illness is genetic, environmental factors can transform genes through infection. Coming into contact with the mentally ill, without proper authority, results in an infection of mental disease. Police, Hospitals, Government, and Schools, would need to utilize the correct psychiatric authority to stop mental contagions from spreading. Cameron hoped also to generate families capable of utilizing authority and techniques to take measures against mental illness, this would come to be apparent in Cameron's MK Ultra and Delta experiments. Everyday people would learn to help police and quarantine the aspects and persons of society deemed as leading to mental illness. Inside hospitals nurses would be given the authority to establish the mental characteristics of the parents and the new born baby, in terms of genetic, national and racial orientation as well as the personal histories of the parents. This is part of Donald Ewen Cameron's contribution of psychiatric authority to contemporary hospital practice in society and is closely linked to some hospital practices of forced sterilization. Cameron's idea for a societal cure differs from Freud's, where Freud proposed a talking cure, Cameron did not believe in a cure but a form of quarantine and extermination. Cameron wanted better societal functions, to expose mental deficiencies, environments that might frustrate the mentally weak, however help to reinforce the authority of the psychiatric society. Where Freud saw symptoms of repression, Cameron saw genetic weakness, biological determination and symptoms of social contamination as causes for mental illness. Cameron's elemental construction of society is not based on repression or the unconscious, id, ego and superego, but is socio-biologically determined as founded on genetics. Cameron's own use of authority, discipline and control is not seen as any materialization of an unconscious drive. However, it is unclear how Ewen Cameron's own Presbyterian upbringing, the fact that his own Father was a minister, may have factored into his psychiatric theory on social deviance.</p> </blockquote> <p>In short, Cameron does not seem to be in any way different than those he helped prosecute and execute. He is only different in that he played for the winning tribe:</p> <blockquote> <p>Donald Ewen Cameron is best known for his MK-ULTRA-related mind-control and behavior modification research for the CIA. Cameron was President of the American Psychiatric Association in 1952-1953. Cameron lived and worked in Albany, New York, and was involved in experiments in Canada for Project MKULTRA, a United States based CIA-directed mind control program which eventually led to the publication of the KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation manual.</p> <p>Naomi Klein states in her book "The Shock Doctrine" that Dr Cameron's research and his contribution to the MKUltra project was actually not about mind control and brainwashing, but "to design a scientifically based system for extracting information from 'resistant sources.' In other words, torture.", and citing a book from Alfred W. McCoy it further says that "Stripped of its bizarre excesses, Dr. Cameron's experiments, building upon Dr. Donald O. Hebb's earlier breakthrough, laid the scientific foundation for the CIA's two-stage psychological torture method."</p> <p>It was during this era that Cameron became known worldwide as the first chairman of the World Psychiatric Association as well as president of the American and Canadian psychiatric associations. Cameron had also been a member of the Nuremberg medical tribunal in 1946–47.</p> </blockquote> <p>It doesn’t matter if you’re an elitist bigot as long as you work for the victor. The very same ideas about the German folk seem to be stated in a recent White Ribbon. However, he has repeatedly stated that although localized, it is meant to be a <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): NYFF '09: Michael Haneke discusses THE WHITE RIBBON" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/T_8XEXROjGA?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">universal critique</a> of radicalism and moral constipation.</p> <p>Sources / More info: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Ewen_Cameron" target="_blank">wiki-cameron</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0887801595/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=consuconsu08-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0887801595">Father, Son and CIA (Goodread Biographies)</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Shepherd_(film)" target="_blank">Good Shepherd</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Ribbon" target="_blank">white ribbon</a>, <a title="Pre-1933 Nazi Propaganda" href="http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/pre1933.htm" target="_blank">Nazi propaganda</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_propaganda" target="_blank">wiki-nazi</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Nazi_boycott_of_1933" target="_blank">wiki-boycott</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_internment" target="_blank">wiki-jap</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mkultra" target="_blank">wiki-mkultra</a></p> <p align="center"><iframe name="tvtub" align="center" title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="500" height="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/g4iwMY7RxLw?iv_load_policy=3" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:9ec70a61-a817-40ea-a5ee-3e86cd42bc18" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" title="Edutarian" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=film" rel="tag">film</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=war" rel="tag">war</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=warlike" rel="tag">warlike</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=germany" rel="tag">germany</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=usa" rel="tag">usa</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=pacifism" rel="tag">pacifism</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=jingoism" rel="tag">jingoism</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=propaganda" rel="tag">propaganda</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=rasism" rel="tag">rasism</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=racism" rel="tag">racism</a> (Tags)</div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-29523700498482665322011-07-03T19:48:00.001-04:002011-07-03T19:48:04.246-04:00Marriage and Joy. Division.<span id="description">A friend's link posted on Facebook about fidelity, monogamy and marriage reminded me of a famous Joy Division song.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a title="Ian Curtis - Love Will Tear Us Apart tombstone" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3187/2692438031_76e1e6bddc_o.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Ian-Curtis-Love" border="0" alt="Ian-Curtis-Love" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-xalLAM0N0EY/ThD_r1SFeCI/AAAAAAAARe4/gq1zUal0Z7E/Ian-Curtis-Love%25255B8%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="265" height="265" /></a>Perhaps not surprisingly, the article title reminds me of <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Transmission & She's Lost Control & Interview - Joy Division on Something Else" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4rncRusrr88?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Joy Division</a>’s famous song, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Love will tear us apart - Joy Division" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3Ii8m1jgn_M?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Love Will Tear Us Apart</a>. It starts with the author describing his wife’s reaction to Wiener wiener tweeting:</p> <blockquote> <p>..I asked which would upset her more: to learn that I was sending racy self-portraits to random women, Weiner-style, or to discover I was having an actual affair. She paused, scrunched up her mouth as if she had just bitten a particularly sour lemon and said: “An affair is at least a normal human thing. But tweeting a picture of your crotch is just <em>weird.</em>”</p> </blockquote> <p>The wife’s answer seems to emphasize two ideas that some of us have:</p> <ol> <li>Women are far less interested in men’s <a title="arson and nerd laughs" href="http://www.verbavolant.info/2011/01/arson-and-nerd-laughs.html">penis</a>es than men seem to think. This happens to be the best way to identify men who pose as women wanting to “flirt” online. Men are generally too focused on “penises”, “dicks” etc and “holes” whereas women prefer less striking, more vague descriptions and words. (Except for certain times, would a certain <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): radio joke" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/udT4WaUMAKI?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">water boatman</a> beg to differ.) </li> <li>Cheating is seen more as a societal faux-pas than a betrayal; how others perceive it is thus of paramount importance in the eyes of the betrayed party. </li> </ol> <p>The author continues by quoting Dan Savage on unmasking the hypocrisy inherent in monogamy:</p> <blockquote> <p><a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Dan Savage: Why Monogamy Is Ridiculous" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/w8SOQEitsJI?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Savage believes monogamy</a> is right for many couples. But he believes that our discourse about it, and about sexuality more generally, is dishonest. <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Dan Savage on Swinging and Monogamy" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Fm9Bwpxy4V0?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Some people need more than one partner</a>, he writes, just as some people need flirting, others need to be whipped, others need lovers of both sexes. We can’t help our urges, and we should not lie to our partners about them. In some marriages, talking honestly about our needs will forestall or obviate affairs; in other marriages, the conversation may lead to an affair, but with permission. In both cases, honesty is the best policy.</p> <p>“I acknowledge the advantages of monogamy,” Savage told me, “when it comes to sexual safety, infections, emotional safety, paternity assurances. But people in monogamous relationships have to be willing to meet me a quarter of the way and acknowledge the drawbacks of monogamy around boredom, despair, lack of variety, sexual death and being taken for granted.”</p> </blockquote> <p>I concur. So do Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Bernard Summer, Stephen Morris / Joy Division, apparently. The following are the lyrics for <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Joy division love will tear us apart lyrics" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/I-2i2SR_OsU?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Love Will Tear Us Apart</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>When routine bites hard, <br />And ambitions are low, <br />And resentment rides high, <br />But emotions won't grow, <br />And we're changing our ways, <br />Taking different roads.</p> <p>Then love, love will tear us apart again. <br />Love, love will tear us apart again.</p> <p>Why is the bedroom so cold? <br />You've turned away on your side. <br />Is my timing that flawed? <br />Our respect runs so dry. <br />Yet there's still this appeal <br />That we've kept through our lives.</p> <p>But love, love will tear us apart again. <br />Love, love will tear us apart again.</p> <p>You cry out in your sleep, <br />All my failings exposed. <br />And there's a taste in my mouth, <br />As desperation takes hold. <br />Just that something so good <br />Just can't function no more.</p> <p>But love, love will tear us apart again. <br />Love, love will tear us apart again. <br />Love, love will tear us apart again. <br />Love, love will tear us apart again.</p> </blockquote> <p>This famous song has been covered/massacred by <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): The Cure - Love Will Tear Us Apart cover to Joy Division song" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/njMpVKSPddg?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">The</a> <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): THE CURE - Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division COVER)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Kc1TZ-VSjj4?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Cure</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Radiohead cover Joy Division/New Order" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rF9xO2Tpwzs?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Radiohead</a> / <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Thom Yorke / Atoms for Peace - LOVE WILL TEAR US APART" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_xhON-JjCn0?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Yorke</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Björk - Love Will Tear Us Apart - Nordic House, Reykjavík - karaoke" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZUuFtDuiFAA?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Björk</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Swans - Love will tear us apart (cover)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PiQsv3Q5P8Y?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Swans</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): U2 + Arcade Fire - Love Will Tear Us Apart Again" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fSBsMcJb9CQ?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">U2 + Arcade Fire</a> (also <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Bono on Joy Division, 1980, RTE radio, Ireland." href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xQrJYzzGN2A?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Bono interview</a>), <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode) Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division Cover" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5Ne1usQOVE8?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode)</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Nouvelle Vague - Love will tear us apart (LIVE)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/l4efME9Vnlc?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Nouvelle Vague</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Honeyroot- Love will tear us apart (Cover Joy Division)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Yht4Anc4Vdk?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Honeyroot</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Moonspell - Love will tear us Apart ( rare Joy division cover)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-8bD0aBoP0A?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Moonspell</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Love Will Tear Us Apart - Nerina Pallot" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ega_kJQF0GY?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Nerina Pallot</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Evelyn Evelyn - 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' - Oberon, Cambridge MA" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZJQcsk99dWA?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Evelyn Evelyn</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Fall out Boy- Love Will Tear Us Apart Cover" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Mnz45ssz0no?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Fall out Boy</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Winhara. Cover of Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7loDthNUwes?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Winhara</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Moneypenny - Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division Cover)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-Xal-5SI-kc?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">moneypenny</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Love Will Tear Us Apart - Centre Excuse" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/o4T9OQu9kAI?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">CentreExcuse</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Simple Minds - Love Will Tear Us Apart" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IbQonscY1Rw?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Simple Minds</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): PAUL YOUNG - LOVE WILL TEAR US APART - LIVE - CHRISTMAS 1983" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7OqO3hH6KEY?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Paul Young</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Calexico - Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division Cover)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SEhFUm5qy1w?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Calexico</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Gavin Rossdale Covering Love Will Tear Us Apart" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/W39je5sUF5w?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Gavin Rossdale</a> etc. There are some who prefer <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Nine Inch Nails - Dead Souls (Joy Division cover)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-3ulfmCfT94?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">NIN’s Dead Souls</a> to <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Joy Division - Dead Souls" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KKe-lq8VZFo?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">the original</a>.</p> <p>In 2007 the movie <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Official Control Trailer [Anton Corbijn]" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7c2_B_cWK_M?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Control</a> came out, based on a book by <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): RIP Ian Curtis - Reading from 'Touching From A Distance'" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RVTv60ij43Q?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Deborah Curtis</a>, his ex-wife: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0571239560/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=consuconsu08-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0571239560" target="_blank">Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Ian Curtis Dancing" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/G5ELh_9aPbE?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Curtis</a> was staying at his parents' house at this time and attempted to talk his wife into staying with him on 17 May 1980, to no avail. He told her to leave him alone in the house until he caught his train to Manchester the next morning. In the early hours of 18 May 1980, Curtis hanged himself in the kitchen of his house in Macclesfield. He had just viewed <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Werner Herzog gets shot by LA sniper during interview" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ylXqc8TQ15w?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Werner Herzog</a>'s film <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Stroszek Trailer 1977" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1cMUfqaa55o?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub"><i></i></a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroszek">Stroszek</a></a></a><i></i> and listened to <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Iggy Pop describes the making of The Idiot" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xWXmuJjbENI?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Iggy Pop</a>'s <i><a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Iggy pop-The Idiot-Funtime" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NIUZjSIXmyg?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub"><i>The Idiot</i></a></i>. At the time of his death, his health was failing as a result of the epilepsy and attempting to balance his musical ambitions with his marriage, which was foundering in the aftermath of <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Members of Joy Division talk about Ian Curtis's Dancing (lost in music)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/G5ELh_9aPbE?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">his affair</a> with journalist <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): FilmCatcher: Control interview- Director Anton Corbijn - Alexandra Maria Lara discusses her sympathetic portrayal of Annik Honore, whose affair with Curtis ended his marriage shortly before his 1980 suicide" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/210xn06D8Gc?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Annik</a> <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): I've lost control - I AM HONORÉ is Aimee Honoré's one man project. Aimee, daughter of Annik Honoré and Ian Curtis, was born in Bruxelles in November of 1980." href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UlKjhx6sxCM?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Honoré</a>. His wife found his body the next morning. In a 1987 <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Ian Curtis & Stephen Morris interviewed by Richard Skinner" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6fdlUyd4b5o?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">interview</a> with <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Option_(magazine)" target="_blank">Option</a></i>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Stephen Morris interview clips" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nUyxq9N7u1w?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">Stephen Morris</a> commented on how he would <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Ian Curtis interview, 1979. - and Transmission and before Curtis's relationship with Annik Honore, the recording of Closer in April 1980 and his death on May 18" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5LK-7dnuk8M?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">describe Curtis</a> to those who asked what he was like: "An ordinary bloke just like you or me, liked a bit of a laugh, a bit of a joke."</p> </blockquote> <p>At the time of his suicide he was plagued by <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Ian Curtis epilepsy dance" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1FDLwxODZt0?autoplay=1&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3" rel="ytvid" target="tvtub">epilepsy</a>.</p> <p>Sources / More info: <a title="New Stone by Carl D. Patterson - A new stone is now in place after the old one was stolen. @ flickr CC NC SA" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carldpatterson/2692438031/" target="_blank">flickr</a>, <a title="Married, With Infidelities By MARK OPPENHEIMER" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/magazine/infidelity-will-keep-us-together.html" target="_blank">nyt-infidelity-will-keep-us-together</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Curtis" target="_blank">wiki-curtis</a>, <a title="Bug’s Penis Makes Loudest Animal Sound" href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/07/insect-penis-sound" target="_blank">bug penis</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421082" target="_blank">control-2007</a></p> <p align="center"><iframe class="youtube-player" title="YouTube video player" height="385" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3Ii8m1jgn_M?iv_load_policy=3" frameborder="0" width="480" name="tvtub" align="center" type="text/html"></iframe></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:560c3897-5b1c-4cdd-9f6f-05cfb8872630" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" title="Edutarian" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=monogamy" rel="tag">monogamy</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=sexuality" rel="tag">sexuality</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=relationships" rel="tag">relationships</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=polyamory" rel="tag">polyamory</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=polygamy" rel="tag">polygamy</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=honesty" rel="tag">honesty</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=communication" rel="tag">communication</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=psychology" rel="tag">psychology</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=new+order" rel="tag">new order</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=warszaw" rel="tag">warszaw</a> (Tags)</div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-73760728654264746392011-03-23T06:06:00.001-04:002022-03-13T13:33:58.046-04:00Extremophiles–Gaia’s seeds<span id="description">The wide discovery and acceptance of the existence of extremophiles of the last decade is opening the gate for a wider acceptance of the idea that life can travel through cosmos and can be found on other planets, in conditions we previously thought inhospitable and not conducive to life. </span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0tTEKuKCx_USWf4ipfyl-qY1vZKqL8OpKcsOGjrdRsFPBSUxaWRo4r-uwvaNLIJClOudeRgk1aBNSK8YNp-3BQSCl1vNu-9_kExNOSFm-NXaRlIH7r9o99xMOm93sBEvnnL8pneJ6RudgEmPPkBdymyWKGn7eUMZvlrvGxt1yMgXRk2fl3nSzkf5M=s860" title="Originally, this article contained photos from the Ontario Science Centre but they have been, sadly, unpublished"><img alt="blind mud crab scuttling across cavern floor" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="435" data-original-width="860" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0tTEKuKCx_USWf4ipfyl-qY1vZKqL8OpKcsOGjrdRsFPBSUxaWRo4r-uwvaNLIJClOudeRgk1aBNSK8YNp-3BQSCl1vNu-9_kExNOSFm-NXaRlIH7r9o99xMOm93sBEvnnL8pneJ6RudgEmPPkBdymyWKGn7eUMZvlrvGxt1yMgXRk2fl3nSzkf5M=s320"/></a>A few years ago, perhaps less than a decade, a friend of mine invited me to Ontario Science Centre to watch a 3D documentary under the Dome. It was about an expedition to the bottom of the ocean where some organisms capable to live in conditions previously thought to be impossible. These organisms were called <em>extremophiles</em>, as they seem to like some very <em>extreme</em> conditions. One image that I found almost unbelievable was a plethora of bugs that came to feed on lava that was gushing out of a crevice. So drawn they were to the stream of nutrients that they seemed oblivious to the fact that their feet were being burned.</p> <blockquote> <p>“Every time you get a hydrothermal system, it’s wet and hot, and you get water and rocks interacting. Wherever this happens on the seafloor, life takes advantage,” said geophysicist Chris German of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. “Every time you find seawater interacting with volcanic rock, there’s weird and wonderful life associated with it.”</p> </blockquote> <p>NASA’s Max Coleman goes further:</p> <blockquote> <p>“Most life on Earth is sustained by food chains that begin with sunlight as their energy source. That’s not an option for possible life deep in the ocean of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, prioritized by NASA for future exploration. However, organisms around the deep vents get energy from the chemicals in hydrothermal fluid, a scenario we think is similar to the seafloor of Europa, and this work will help us understand what we might find when we search for life there.”</p> </blockquote> <p>After the show, as we left earlier, we had a chance encounter with one of the scientists who made the documentary and had a chance to ask a number of questions. That was to me an eye opener. I did not know that lava could be “nutritious” to some, I had always assumed that it was not only far too hot, but also highly toxic, as it contained numerous elements (Hg, Pb etc.) in unknown and often dangerous concentrations. Yet there were organisms clearly feasting on it. It seemed as if Gaia was taking care of and feeding its offspring. This was a paradigm shift in my beliefs, as I always assumed that there’s no way that either Jules Verne’s <em>Journey to the Center of the Earth</em> or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s <em>Lost World</em> had any chance of being true. I thus took a renewed interest in geology and the Gaia Hypothesis.</p> <p>I then learned that extremophiles could be everywhere, even in cosmos (osc-cavern):</p> <blockquote> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNauF45WSZ96tKE_ArkXFXYuJ8ajsRZeb_Len9DVfxYeAT6xfJjILHp-hmjvetic2YMQjP0Id9A3kd297bDGif-DhZHJO8NJWJbuIGoUUbnVHrO_pVR8Ih30wOgP3ZF0798OtyrHIgOc1wbVg7W8N_QFv3JZqqi2kcdvkl4Ou5B_LCBE5WCdwyf3xi=s1920" title="Ocean Networks Canada photo, source and link below"><img alt="Deep-sea spider crab observed at a depth of 2230m at Endeavour." border="0" width="320" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNauF45WSZ96tKE_ArkXFXYuJ8ajsRZeb_Len9DVfxYeAT6xfJjILHp-hmjvetic2YMQjP0Id9A3kd297bDGif-DhZHJO8NJWJbuIGoUUbnVHrO_pVR8Ih30wOgP3ZF0798OtyrHIgOc1wbVg7W8N_QFv3JZqqi2kcdvkl4Ou5B_LCBE5WCdwyf3xi=s320"/></a></div> <!--p><img style="display: inline; float: right" title="Photo courtesy of: National Undersearch Research Program (NURP)/National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)" alt="Deep-sea spider crab" align="right" src="https://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/scizone/brainz/hamilton/assets/cavern/crab2.jpg" width="259" height="198" /></p--> <p>In southern Romania near the shores of the Black Sea, researchers have stumbled upon one of the most bizarre and isolated ecological niches of the world. The cave of Movile harbours an ecosystem that exists completely independently of photosynthesis-the only such terrestrial ecosystem known. The 300-meter-long cave was discovered by Romanian scientists in 1986, and has no natural entrance. Scientists believe that the cave has been isolated from the photosynthetic world for approximately 5 million years, and the entire ecosystem is chemoautotropic in nature-instead of sunlight, the energy source for the ecosystem comes from microbes exploiting sulphur in the caves' water.</p> <p>To date, they've identified 48 different invertebrate species thriving in this subterranean environment, 33 of which have been found no where else in the world. Many of them are sightless anthropods-blind spiders, predatory leeches and water scorpions. These organisms have followed different evolutionary paths than their aboveground cousins; they've lost their pigmentation, grown extensive antennae, and dispensed with not just their vision, but also (in some cases) their eyes.</p> <!--p><img style="display: inline; float: left" title="photo: ROPOS NeMO Project/National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)" alt="Deep-sea spider crab" align="left" src="https://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/scizone/brainz/hamilton/assets/cavern/crab1.jpg" width="231" height="150" /></p--> <p>Underground hot springs, rich in hydrogen sulphide, provide the energy and nutrient sources upon which this ecosystem thrives. The situation in Movile is remarkably similar to those found at several locations on the ocean floor, along the mid-oceanic ridges at depths of 2 kilometres or more. Researchers in small submersibles were shocked to discover thriving ecosystems clustered around deep-sea hydrothermal vents. The mineral- and sulphide-rich water is heated by the underlying magma and spews upwards through cracks in the ocean floor. Temperatures are in excess of 350°C. These columns of superheated water are black in colour and can extend to great heights, like underwater Old Faithfuls. The colour lends them their name: "black smokers". Inside and all around these columns live sulphide-eating bacteria that thrive at high temperatures. Like the bacteria in the Movile cave, these black-smoker bacteria form the base of a food chain entirely independent of photosynthesis. The 3-metre-long tube worms, along with the mussels and shrimp that thrive here, depend upon the chemosynthesis of these bacteria to exist. In many cases, the organisms rely upon a symbiotic relationship with the sulphide-munching bacteria found in the specialised organs that have replaced their digestive systems. Over 300 different organisms in these strange environments have been identified so far. Some scientists hypothesise that geothermal vents such as these may have been the initial incubators where life first developed.</p> </blockquote> <p>In the meantime, some scientists found an arsenic-loving bacteria that could “even use it in place of phosphorus in the backbone of its DNA double helix”, only to be later rebuked. “Water bears”, however, can survive the rigors of space travel, as tested by the European Space Agency:</p> <blockquote> <p>[T]hey prefer to spend their days in water, perhaps on a beach or a dewy patch of moss. But when the water dries up, the millimetre-long ‘bears’ can contract into a dried-out state and survive like that for years. They are also one of the few animals that survive year-round on continental Antarctica, and are among the most radiation-resistant animals known. (natnews)</p> </blockquote> <p>But that’s not all. A bacteria was resurrected after 120000 years of slumber in a Greenland glacier. </p> <blockquote> <p>The <em>Herminiimonas glaciei</em> bug is not the oldest to ever be resurrected, but it’s the first “ultramicrobacteria” to be revived. Ultramicrobacteria, tiny even by bacterial standards, are about 10 to 50 times smaller than the common human intestinal microbe <em>E. coli.</em> Their diminutive size could give the bacteria a survival advantage over other microorganisms. <em>H. glaciei</em>, for example, is thought to have survived in thin capillaries of nutrient-rich water in the Greenland glacier that would have been too tight a fit for larger bacteria (natgeo).</p> </blockquote> <p>New Scientist tells us about yet another journey to the Earth’s crust:</p> <blockquote> <p>On a hypothetical journey to the centre of the Earth starting at the sea floor, you would travel through sediment, a layer of basalt, and then hit the gabbroic layer, which lies directly above the mantle. Drilling expeditions have reached this layer before, but as the basalt is difficult to pierce it happens rarely.</p> </blockquote> <p>To circumvent the Herculean task of drilling through basalt, the expedition, called the Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme, headed out to sea to find an easier drilling location, such as the Atlantis Massif in the central Atlantic Ocean where seismic forces have pushed the deep layer, known as the gabbroic layer, to within 230 feet of the ocean floor making it easier to reach. Here’s a look at the earth’s internal structure:</p> <p><a href="https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/File:Earth_internal_structure.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="Earth-internal-structure" border="0" alt="Earth-internal-structure" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Earth_internal_structure.png" width="498" height="313" /></a></p> <p>Here’s another illustration:</p> <p><a title="Earth cutaway from core to exosphere." href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Earth-crust-cutaway-english.svg/350px-Earth-crust-cutaway-english.svg.png" target="_blank"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Earth-crust-cutaway-english.svg/350px-Earth-crust-cutaway-english.svg.png" /></a></p> <p>The organisms living there in the deepest part of the crust were strikingly different that the populations in other rock layers, the team says in a study published in PLoS One.</p> <blockquote> <p>One key difference was that archaea were absent in the gabbroic layer. Also, genetic analysis revealed that unlike their upstairs neighbours, many of the gabbroic bugs had evolved to feed off hydrocarbons like methane and benzene. This is similar to the bacteria found in oil reservoirs and contaminated soil, which could mean that the bacteria migrated down from shallower regions rather than evolving inside the crust, the team says. </p> </blockquote> <p>This has obvious repercussions for our perception of chances of life elsewhere:</p> <blockquote> <p>Our results raise the intriguing possibility that hydrocarbons in very deep ocean rocks support microbial communities…. Our findings, particularly regarding the presence of genes coding for methane cycling, have implications not only for Earth’s subsurface, but also for other planets such as Mars. Methane on Mars is concentrated in some equatorial regions of the atmosphere, which suggests that it is derived from localized geological sources. Although the exact mechanism by which methane forms on Mars is not known, serpentinization reactions in the Martian subsurface have recently been proposed. Therefore, similar to the Atlantis Massif, the Martian subsurface may harbor methane-consuming prokaryotes.</p> </blockquote> <p>Now onto doomsday theories re: human extinction (because, as it should be obvious by now, life will most likely survive; it’s only us who might extinguish ourselves).</p> <p>Sources / More info: <a href="https://flic.kr/p/ciUy3j" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">flckr-onca</a>, <a href="https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/education/crab-toolkit.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">NOAA</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_World_(Conan_Doyle_novel)" target="_blank">wiki-lostw</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Journey_to_the_Center_of_the_Earth" target="_blank">wiki-verne</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis" target="_blank">wiki-gaia</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremophile" target="_blank">wiki-extremo</a>, <a title="Weird Life by Devon Hamilton PhD - Senior Scientist / Physics 26/10/01" href="https://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/scizone/brainz/hamilton/cavern.asp" target="_blank">osc-cavern</a>, <a title="Wild Things: The Most Extreme Creatures" href="http://www.livescience.com/133-wild-extreme-creatures.html" target="_blank">wild-extreme</a>, <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/tag/extremophiles/" target="_blank">disc-extremophiles</a>, <a title="Extremophiles" href="http://www.theguardians.com/Microbiology/gm_mbm04.htm" target="_blank">theguardians</a>, <a title="Alien Ocean Anthropological Voyages in Microbial Seas, by Stefan Helmreich" href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/32496908/Alien-Ocean-Anthropological-Voyages-in-Microbial-Seas-by-Stefan-Helmreich" target="_blank">scribd-anthropology</a>, <a title="Deep-Sea Vent Discovery Sets Hydrothermal Life’s New Depth Record" href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/07/deepest-hydrothermal-vent/" target="_blank">wired-hydro</a>, <a title="Natural News" href="http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080908/full/news.2008.1087.html" target="_blank">natnews</a>, <a title="National Geographic News" href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/06/090617-revived-microbe.html" target="_blank">natgeo</a>, <a title="New Scientist - Life is found in deepest layer of Earth's crust" href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827874.800-life-is-found-in-deepest-layer-of-earths-crust.html" target="_blank">newsci</a>, <a title="Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme" href="http://www.iodp.org/" target="_blank">iodp</a>, <a title="Atlantis Massif" href="http://www.lostcity.washington.edu/science/geology/atlantis_mountain.html" target="_blank">atlnts</a>, <a title="PLoS One" href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0015399" target="_blank">plos1</a>, <a title="bacteria found in oil reservoirs and contaminated soil" href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19345-gulf-spill-is-the-oil-lurking-underwater.html" target="_blank">newsci-oil</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asthenosphere" target="_blank">wiki-astheno</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crust_(geology)" target="_blank">wiki-crust</a></p> <p align="center"><iframe name="tvtub" align="center" title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="500" height="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/y3GF3PFNx8Y" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:9b252db9-b484-41d7-ab2e-f25f6352849b" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" title="Edutarian" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=bio" rel="tag">bio</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=biology" rel="tag">biology</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=gaia" rel="tag">gaia</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=gaya" rel="tag">gaya</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=extreomophile" rel="tag">extreomophile</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=extremophiles" rel="tag">extremophiles</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=extremophilia" rel="tag">extremophilia</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=extremofile" rel="tag">extremofile</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=life" rel="tag">life</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=biodome" rel="tag">biodome</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=biosphere" rel="tag">biosphere</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=extraterrestrial+life" rel="tag">extraterrestrial life</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=live" rel="tag">live</a> (Tags)</div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-75555490461437593432011-02-10T14:11:00.001-05:002011-02-10T14:11:14.495-05:00Cuchet Cave and Radon Gas<span id="description">There is a relatively recently discovered cave in France that has some astounding prehistoric paintings on its walls, most likely the oldest in the world. It also has, as most caves, a high concentration of the toxic Radon gas.</span><a name='more'></a> <p><a title="File:Chauvet cave, paintings.JPG" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chauvet_cave,_paintings.JPG" target="_blank"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="cuchet cave painting" border="0" alt="cuchet cave painting" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TVQ4S2eUTtI/AAAAAAAARGE/m5b8i5aIhCI/cuchet%20cave%20painting%5B8%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="224" height="226" /></a>This amazing cave is probably the clearest proof in favor of the argument that an artist must be high in order to create. Recently discovered, the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave is believed to be perfectly preserved since the last human stepped inside some 27000-26000 years ago. The walls are filled with the artistic expressions of the hallucinations induced by CO<font size="1">2</font> and <strong>radon gas</strong>. The final room, 1312-feet underground is filled with monsters and is believed to be the last stage in what seems to be a ritualistic descent into madness. The paintings show incredible sophistication, some with even 3D details, suggesting that intoxication may indeed sharpen artistic skills.</p> <p>Predatory animals cover the walls of the cave: lions, panthers, bears, owls, rhinos, hyenas and the legs & genitals of a woman.</p> <p>Visiting the cave is dangerous, but the acclaimed purveyor of atavism, Werner Herzog has made a 3D documentary, which he released at TIFF ‘10 (<a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Cave of Forgotten Dreams intro at TIFF '10" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/geBDHJtrt-s?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">intro</a>, Q&A <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): TIFF 10: 'Cave Of Forgotten Dreams' Q&A (Part 1" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Turskwv5qnc?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">1</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): TIFF 10: 'Cave Of Forgotten Dreams' Q&A (Part 2" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/y-Lb7k3S4Bc?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">2</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Herzog 'Cave of Forgotten Dreams' at NYU" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_HACkH-Qzsg?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">nyu</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Werner Herzog- The cave of the forgotten dreams" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NF3nf9oBU8k?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">afi</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): What I saw in the cave - Werner Herzog discusses his current 3-D film about the Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc. Filmed by Roger Ebert at the 2010 TIFF" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7H-VodcRG4o?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">ebert</a>).</p> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Romania_stamp_2001_2400L_Steppe_Wisent_Chauvet_Cave.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="Romanian Post Cuchet Cave" border="0" alt="Romanian Post Cuchet Cave" align="left" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TVQ4TVtIGKI/AAAAAAAARGI/32sGE6Uli9E/Romanian%20Post%20Cuchet%20Cave%5B10%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="156" height="111" /></a>The cave is carefully preserved and the general public is not allowed to enter. Herzog received special permission from the French minister of culture to film inside the cave. Having received permission, Herzog nonetheless had heavy restrictions while filming inside the cave. All people authorized to enter must wear special suits and shoes which have had no contact with the exterior. Because of near-toxic levels of radon and carbon dioxide, nobody can stay in the cave for more than a few hours at a time.</p> </blockquote> <p>Aren’t you glad he went there instead of you? <img alt="Hypnotized" src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/43.gif" /><img alt="Cowboy" src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/48.gif" /> In any event, Herzog used 3D only for <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Cave of Forgotten Dreams trailer" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eNlxiJFvwUA?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">this documentary</a> and has no plans to ever use it again – he felt that only thus could he accurately portray the vision of the original artists.</p> <p>Interestingly, those who seek toxic pleasures similar to this speleological adventure could find it in their own home (cbc-radon):</p> <blockquote> <p>On July 21, 2009, a United Nations committee said radon gas in homes is directly linked to a small risk of lung cancer. Based on the report, the World Health Organization and other agencies are in the process of revising their recommendations on maximum radiation doses for homes and workplaces. According to an earlier report by a government committee that was set up to review Canada's radon guidelines, lung cancer caused by exposure to radon gas killed 1,589 Canadians in 2001. It accounted for more deaths that year than accidental poisonings, homicides and drownings — combined.</p> </blockquote> <p>Apparently, the levels of exposure to radon in Canada were five times higher than in the rest of the world – similar to levels considered safe for uranium miners and were only recently revised down:</p> <blockquote> <p>On June 8, 2007 — 15 months after the Federal-Provincial Territorial Radiation Protection Committee received a <a title="Document opens below: Report of the Radon Working Group on a New Radon Guideline for Canada (.pdf)" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/health/pdf/WG_Report_2006-03-10_en.pdf&embedded=true" target="tvtub">report</a> recommending tightening the guidelines — the federal government announced a new standard of 200 Bq per cubic metre. That's a level considered safe by most industrialized countries, including Russia, the Czech Republic and China. The United States recommends a level of 150 Bq per cubic metre.</p> </blockquote> <p>Here’s the situation in Canada:</p> <table><tbody> <tr> <td colspan="2"><strong>Causes of Death in Canada - 1997</strong> </td> <td colspan="2"><strong>Lifetime risks to a smoker exposed to radon</strong> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>All causes of death </td> <td>215,669</td> <td>Lung cancer risk for lifetime exposure to radon at 800 Bq per cubic metre </td> <td>30%</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Diseases of the circulatory system</td> <td>79,457</td> <td>Lung cancer risk for lifetime exposure to radon at 200 Bq per cubic metre </td> <td>17%</td> </tr> <tr> <td>All malignant neoplasms including lung </td> <td>58,703</td> <td>Lung cancer risk for no exposure to radon (i.e., at outdoor levels)</td> <td>12%</td> </tr> <tr> <td>All lung cancers </td> <td>15,439</td> <td colspan="2"><strong>Lifetime risks to a non-smoker exposed to radon</strong> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Suicides</td> <td>3,681</td> <td>Lung cancer risk for lifetime exposure to radon at 800 Bq per cubic metre </td> <td>5%</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Motor vehicle accidents </td> <td>3,026</td> <td>Lung cancer risk for lifetime exposure to radon at 200 Bq per cubic metre</td> <td>2%</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Accidental falls </td> <td>2,622</td> <td>Lung cancer risk for no exposure to radon</td> <td>1%</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Infectious and parasitic diseases </td> <td>2,482</td> <td colspan="2"></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Estimated lung cancers attributable to radon </td> <td>1,589</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Accidental poisonings </td> <td>703</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Homicides</td> <td>440</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Drownings</td> <td>283</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Fires </td> <td>272</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Air transport accidents </td> <td>73</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Adverse reactions to therapeutic drugs </td> <td>64</td> <td colspan="2"><em><< ^Source: <a title="Document opens below: Report of the Radon Working Group on a New Radon Guideline for Canada" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/health/pdf/WG_Report_2006-03-10_en.pdf&embedded=true" target="tvtub">Report of the Radon Working Group on a New Radon Guideline for Canada</a></em> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Railway accidents </td> <td>47</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Electrocution</td> <td>30</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Lightning</td> <td>6</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>You might wonder, how can you assess your home and are you <a title="Document opens below: Effects of Exposure to Radon Gas, UNSCEAR" href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.unscear.org/docs/reports/2006/09-81160_Report_Annex_E_2006_Web.pdf&embedded=true" target="tvtub">affected</a>?</p> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TVQ4T-WazEI/AAAAAAAARGM/EqwyU2y-xb0/s1600-h/EPA%20-%20radon%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="EPA - radon" border="0" alt="EPA - radon" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TVQ4UXOY3HI/AAAAAAAARGQ/zrtg36BY_qo/EPA%20-%20radon_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="171" height="244" /></a>The Canadian report that recommended tighter guidelines noted that as people make their homes tighter and more energy efficient, they may also be inadvertently raising radon levels. The report suggested the government should explore a system of grants and subsidies to help homeowners with the costs of testing and cleaning up radon gas.</p> </blockquote> <p>Steps you can take inside your home include:</p> <ul> <li>Sealing all cracks and openings in the walls and floors of your basement as well as around drains and pipes. </li> <li>If your basement floor has a sub-floor, make sure it is ventilated. </li> <li>Replace an earth floor with a concrete floor. </li> <li>Increase the ventilation in your basement or other enclosed space where radon may accumulate. </li> <li>Paint basement floors and walls. Use a sealant on top of the paint and add polyethylene sheets to basement walls. </li> </ul> <p>More videos: [<a title="euronews science - Earliest known paintings under study in France dating back some 32000 years" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dcbkh7KE5RU?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">euronews</a>] [<a title="Yens NFC Chauvet Cave Art 3D Graffiti NYC" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/749fbvY3oXs?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">nyc</a>] [<a title="Eliette Brunell in the megaloceros gallery of Chauvet Cave" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/MEfhKsFj3aU?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">brunell</a>] [<a title="Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/y0ieVPUFpIw?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">amateurs</a>] [<a title="THE UNIVERSAL PATTERN" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xujxbZNOvqM?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">universal</a>] [<a title="www.rhonealpes.tv © Rhône-Alpes Tourisme/ARTIS" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/619MLE-ErTM?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Rhone-Alps</a>] [<a title="The Chauvet Cave in France was found about 1994. Cave paintings made by cavemen 32000 or more years ago" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/79lUYQwZNh4?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">chauvet</a>] [<a title="Radon Gas Killer Causes Lung Cancer IAQ" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/q4FsouBkfxI?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">radon-usa</a>] [<a title="How to install a radon reduction system. Garage attic installation. Whole process" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yTiTk2gnKCc?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">ra-mitigation</a>] [<a title="The Facts About Radon Gas - It's Deadly" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-S8vr27plZs?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">ra-epa</a>] [<a title="Radon Gas - Surgeon General Other Warning" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fsW9ouAsKfk?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">ra-surgeon</a>] [<a title="Home Inspection for Radon - Inspector Jamie Dunsing describes how to find radon gas during a home inspection" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HOcLcCH9daQ?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">ra-inspection</a>] [<a title="How To Vent Radon Gas Through Your Garage Attic: Learn how to route your radon reduction exhaust through your garage attic, and out your roof-top. Quick, Safe and Easy!" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lq5TWic3Hwk?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">ra-vent</a>] [<a title="Presence of Radon Gas in Your Home: Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer and that's why it is important to test your home. Health Canada's new Hazardcheck Guide will show" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/e3di8skOq3o?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">healthcanada</a>] [<a title="Radon Gas Documentary: This was a school project. Radon levels in the town in which I live are relatively high, due to poor foundation work in house development." href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/USIA2E3pFv8?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">ra-doc</a>] [<a title="Radon Gas Kills 20000 Americans Each Year. January is National" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CCmMxvO5TSU?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">ra-kills</a>] [<a title="Basement Waterproofing & Radon System | Waterproofing & Radon" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NdQ09BPYtcE?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">ra-proofing</a>] [<a title="Testing your home for radon gas" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/d1Zw73-HZxY?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">ra-test2</a>] [<a title="Radon Gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the US." href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rs5Q2HIpzfM?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">ra-cancer</a>]</p> <p>Sources / More info: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speleology" target="_blank">wiki-speleology</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauvet_Cave" target="_blank">wiki-chauvet</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Forgotten_Dreams" target="_blank">wiki-cave</a>, <a title="The Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc French Ministry of Culture information site; includes an interactive map with photos." href="http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/" target="_blank">fr-chauvet</a>, <a title="Doubt Cast on Age of Oldest Human Art abstract of April 18, 2003 New Scientist article by Jenny Hogan" href="http://www.neara.org/MiscReports/04-18-03.htm" target="_blank">ns-age</a>, <a title="Cave of Forgotten Dreams a film by Werner Herzog using 3D technology" href="http://www.wernerherzog.com/index.php?id=64" target="_blank">herzog-cave</a>, <a title="Judith Thurman's New Yorker article First Impressions" href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/23/080623fa_fact_thurman" target="_blank">ny-1sti</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1664894/" target="_blank">imdb-cave</a>, <a title="Your home, Radon gas: Invisible menace" href="http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/07/22/f-radon-homes.html" target="_blank">cbc-radon</a></p> <p align="center"><iframe name="tvtub" align="center" title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="600" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dcbkh7KE5RU" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:c4e6703b-d259-4149-b50c-7f19dc86a1f6" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=health+hazard" rel="tag">health hazard</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=poison" rel="tag">poison</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=house" rel="tag">house</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=housing" rel="tag">housing</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=radon" rel="tag">radon</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=ra" rel="tag">ra</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=ro" rel="tag">ro</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=rd" rel="tag">rd</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=rn" rel="tag">rn</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=toxic" rel="tag">toxic</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=toxicity" rel="tag">toxicity</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=cave" rel="tag">cave</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=speology" rel="tag">speology</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=speolology" rel="tag">speolology</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=cavemania" rel="tag">cavemania</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=caveman" rel="tag">caveman</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=kave" rel="tag">kave</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=speleology" rel="tag">speleology</a></div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-15491936038539537682011-02-07T12:32:00.001-05:002011-02-07T12:36:25.878-05:00Seduce Me and Green Porno w/ Isabella Rossellini<span id="description">Isabella Rossellini is Ingrid Bergman's daughter. Lately, she has been transforming her strong sense of entitlement coming from Ingrid's adulation into "educational porn" short films.</span><a name='more'></a> <p>If you didn’t know, she’s Ingrid Bergman’s daughter. As it should be obvious from this photo:</p> <p><a href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1228/938655652_fc7c6f1fda_z.jpg?zz=1" target="_blank"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="ingrid isabella" border="0" alt="ingrid isabella" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TVAslKfFPfI/AAAAAAAARFU/3prHQSafPB0/ingridisabella%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="156" height="153" /></a>In the interview with Ian Sample in the Guardian she tells us that it’s hard making a living with shorts:</p> <blockquote> <p>A potential sponsor called to say they liked the films but that they couldn't support anything that had the word "porno" in it, so we made a series similar called <em>Seduce Me</em>. <em>Green Porno</em> is about the mating habits of animals and <em>Seduce Me</em> is about the courtship rituals of animals. Although we took out every word that could have been offensive we still didn't find any finance.</p> </blockquote> <p>Come again?</p> <blockquote> <p>Welcome to the quirky world of <em>Seduce Me</em>, the latest series of disarming short films from the 58-year-old actress, model and ex-wife of Martin Scorsese best known for <em>Blue Velvet, Fearless </em>and <em>Death Becomes Her</em>. The films, produced by Robert Redford's Sundance Channel, are written and co-directed by Rossellini, who takes three minutes or less to portray the bizarre seduction rituals of animals around us, with help from paper puppets, foam film sets and often unflattering costumes that never fall short of heroic. The films are described as "the spawn of <em>Green Porno</em>" referring to Rossellini's Webby award-winning previous series of equally outlandish shorts exploring the sexual proclivities of bees, barnacles and other creatures.</p> </blockquote> <p>From wikipedia:</p> <blockquote> <p>She is probably best known for her pivotal role as the tortured nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lynch" target="_blank">David Lynch</a>'s <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Velvet_(film)" target="_blank">Blue Velvet</a></i>. (..)</p> <p>In 2008, Rossellini toured the festival circuit, including the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundance_Film_Festival" target="_blank">Sundance Film Festival</a>, with a series of short films entitled <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Porno" target="_blank">Green Porno</a></i>, which she wrote and co-directed with Jody Shapiro. Each <i>Green Porno</i> film is two minutes long, and has Rossellini reenacting the mating rituals of various animals.</p> <p>Based on her success with Green Porno, in 2009 Rossellini headed the judging panel of the first Metropolis Art Prize, an art video contest run by web and mobile video service Babelgum, culminating in a large scale art display across the giant advertising monitors in Times Square, New York. Rossellini has been announced as the President of the Jury for the 61st Berlin International Film Festival in 2011.</p> </blockquote> <p>The new series, Seduce Me, is the continuation of Green Porno:</p> <p>[<a title="Actor/director Isabella Rossellini talks about her short films GREEN PORNO premiering at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fs6zXf7qqJY?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">sundance1</a>] [<a title="Green Porno: Isabella Rossellini" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pPkGPmAFSRA?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">tvguide</a>] [<a title="The Hour: Isabella Rossellini" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5pG4YKCNgVs?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Hour</a>] [<a title="ART OF SEDUCTION: Oh La La" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2TdyXXE7Kvg?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">sundance2</a>] [<a title="euronews cinema - Isabella Rossellini" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/p26z55uluzE?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">euronews</a>] [<a title="Ingrid bergman and Isabella Rossellini" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uOL0t7vlPmA?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">ingrid</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini - Body Beautiful" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ga26YYPDBxg?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">body</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini Makes a Porno - The Italian actress aims to educate viewers about animal reproduction while making them laugh in a series of short films called Green Porno" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GnfW0Olo80c?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">AP</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KdXkA_2ryYo?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">musical</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini © www.charloteweb.com Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini (born June 18, 1952) is an Italian actress, filmmaker" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5DkFcmDWQJ0?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">charloteweb</a>] [<a title="It's Laminated - friends" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1NIBxJgUolw?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">laminated</a>] [<a title="Created by SMI on April 10, 2010 for your viewing pleasure. Special end tribute to John Sahag, hairdresser extraordinaire" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gjQVaGQnbI8?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">smi</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini: Blue Velvet/Blue Star Montage" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EraHiteiCII?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">blue velvet</a>] [<a title="Ingrid Bergman and Isabella Rossellini - mom & daugther perfect beauty" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nMkyJVckUUg?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">ingrid2</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rosellini and Dennis Hopper - Best performace" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IATxcQ4qebg?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">hopper</a>] [<a title="Robert Wilson - Voom Portraits: Isabella Rossellini" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eAyAGwI0ivQ?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">voom</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rosselini & Sundance Channel 5 Word Speech at the 14th Webby Awards" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/i9NkBklISl0?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">webby</a>] [<a title="ICONOCLASTS Season 2: Isabella Rossellini + Dean Kamen" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/w2Vmmo47ucU?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">kamen</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini & Dave Stewart - Jealousy 1994 w/ Kevin Spacey" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pF-60pEL6YI?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Jealousy '94</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini Rodando Trésor & Peter Lindbergh Filming Trésor; 2º Advertisement 1993" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7F35p5lWdZs?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Trésor</a>] [<a title="One of Isabella Rossellini's shorts. ... green porno independent sundance college insects nature wildlife pagan " href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eePxQM2aWH4?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">praying mantis</a>] [<a title="Green Porno Educational Videos- Bee" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/T-V621BxHZQ?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">bee</a>] [<a title="Green Porno - Bedbug" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/MakIB_IJnu0?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">bedbug</a>] [<a title="Green Porno - Duck" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EhwXVDi496E?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">duck</a>] [<a title="Green Porno - Duck" href="http://www.youtube.com/p/PL14F6452A495787DE&hl=en" target="tvtub">sundance-playlist</a>] [<a title="Green Porno - Duck" href="http://www.youtube.com/p/PLCD14995DC6C1EE17&hl=en" target="tvtub">katrillion-playlist</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini and Philippe de Montebello Read Poetry on th" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hiMWfH4T81w?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">poetry</a>] [<a title="isabella rossellini daring commercial" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-yW6VCRzwKg?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">commercial</a>] [<a title="GREEN PORNO @ Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò. Isabella Rossellini is interviewed by Marina Melchionda and Letizia Airos" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vEoq3c0BbKQ?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">gp</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini Wants to Seduce You" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_Grv5NEBpZM?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">AP-seduce</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini & Lindex" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9nW51xY4bNI?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">lindex</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini on the Red Carpet at 13th Annual Webby Awards" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cMu1-ycs_Dg?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">13 webby</a>] [<a title="ISABELLA ROSSELLINI on SEX - cine-fils.com - indeed a woman and a legend. Her life, as well as her career bear witness to all kinds of change and contradictions" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NhSxMBgT3qU?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">sex</a>] [<a title="Regis Dialogue: Isabella Rossellini with John Anderson" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4iwZJEkKVZo?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">regis</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini - Dolce & Gabbana Catwalk; Circa end of 1995" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XQykhiwqAsI?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">dolce</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini in The Nature Conservancy" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AoTlCb2KTPc?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">nature</a>] [<a title="Fabio Fazio intervista la nota attrice Isabella Rossellini, ora anche ideatrice e regista della serie di cortometraggi Green Porno" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/htZl9VLsONo?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">fabio</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini in Spain during the promo of the film The feast of the goat on February 2006" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Lo8ech06_SE?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">goat fiesta</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini In Madrid, promoting her perfume ISAbella" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pXf_sxL7zaQ?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">perfume</a>] [<a title="December 17, 2009 presentation of the winners of the Babelgum.com video art prize" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/W4O22kWuVPg?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">babelgum</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini - Green Porno by TheWebbyAwards" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9WtftQ7AbEw?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">webby gp</a>] [<a title="Film legend Isabella Rossellini takes on animal sex with questions exclusively from users of Uinterview.com." href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xVWczVn4zVA?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">uinterview</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini, interviewed in 1995." href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PSKOeptWFS0?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">95</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rossellini: InThe Shadow of Ingrid Bergman & Roberto" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/V1g9QwvfhP0?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">shadow</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rosellini - Public Service Announcement for the National Italian American Foundation (www.NIAF.org)" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P7mVojTfwPs?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">niaf</a>] [<a title="Isabella Rosellini on Jimmy Kimmel live" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/02G94_uenlw?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">kimmel</a>]</p> <p>Sources / More info: <a title="Isabella Rossellini" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Rossellini" target="_blank">wiki-ir</a>, <a title="Ingrid Bergman e Isabella Rossellini - Look how proudly Ingrid is gazing at Isabella - so sweet!" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fofuxa/938655652/" target="_blank">flickr</a>, <a title="Isabella Rossellini's guide to the sex life of the anchovy (and the duck, the snail, the dolphin…) - In a series of short films, Isabella Rossellini acts as a range of animals having sex. She just wants to amuse us, she says – and teach us some hard science about the birds and the bees" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/feb/06/isabella-rossellini-green-porno-film" target="_blank">guardian-ir</a></p> <p align="center"><iframe name="tvtub" align="center" title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="500" height="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GnfW0Olo80c" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:7117c145-7f42-4aff-9f48-2b5c7bc6efe5" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=pron" rel="tag">pron</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=pr0n" rel="tag">pr0n</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=porno" rel="tag">porno</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=porn" rel="tag">porn</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=pornography" rel="tag">pornography</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=pornograph" rel="tag">pornograph</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=filmmaker" rel="tag">filmmaker</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=art" rel="tag">art</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=creation" rel="tag">creation</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=shorts" rel="tag">shorts</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=short" rel="tag">short</a></div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-23976904474393073852011-01-16T04:10:00.001-05:002011-01-16T09:47:59.198-05:00Virtue/Success w/ Jordan/Russell Peters(on)<span id="description">I would like to present to you 2 awesome condensations of ideas seen on TVO, Ontario's public television: one is a Hancock Lecture by Professor Jordan Peterson on the Necessity of Virtue, the second is an interview with Comedian Russell Peters concerning is autobiography.</span><a name='more'></a> <p>We have previously presented Professor Peterson in <a title="Professor Jordan Peterson’s amazing lectures" href="http://www.edutarian.com/2010/05/professor-jordan-petersons-amazing.html">amazing lectures</a> and <a title="Discovering Jordan Peterson" href="http://www.edutarian.com/2010/05/discovering-jordan-peterson.html">Discovering..</a>. This <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Jordan Peterson on The Necessity of Virtue" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gwUJHNPMUyU?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">new lecture</a> builds on the previous but unlike them, it seems geared for adults and not just frosh. He is far more therapeutical and expands his theme “life is suffering” and “follow your bliss” – haven’t I heard that <a title="Joseph Campbell is smiling" href="http://www.edutarian.com/2010/08/joseph-campbell-is-smiling.html">before</a>? Still, it is tremendously entertaining, uplifting and clarifying (you can read my <a title="Necessity of Virtue: Hancock Lecture Notes" href="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=19G-fSJ-1a_XGhdyoXjKMz2twNVK9iDUTCKGWM9TkEUo&amp;embedded=true" target="tvtub">notes</a>).</p> <p align="center"><a title="Call Me Russell [Hardcover]" href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0385669631?ie=UTF8&tag=morethan-20&linkCode=as2&camp=15121&creative=390961&creativeASIN=0385669631" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" border="0" src="http://img.amazon.ca/images/I/51XuBNF374L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU15_.jpg" width="300" height="300" />Call Me Russell [Hardcover]</a></p> <p>Russell Peters could not be more different. In an <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Russell Peters on his memor Call Me Russell" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jO_bvYbkoY8?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">interview with Allen Gregg, Russell</a> gives us a quick peek at his inner demons and sensitivity to racial stereotyping. He seems oddly upset by the word “Paki” but does not understand why some Sikhs may take offence to his jokes involving a fusion of their culture and hockey. But such eccentricities are only to be expected from a major Canadian success, the only comic who has ever sold out the Air Canada Centre.</p> <p>Russell’s standup: <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): A profile of Russell Peters, shot in 1997" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RSe9MO5mvFE?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">97</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Russell Peters - Encounters of the midget kind" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LGkV5wRQhLw?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">midgets</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Russell Peters How to become a Canadian Citizen" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QaF05LuGqxs?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">citizenship</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Russell Peters On Jamaicans, Trini's, Guyanese & More" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IXe8BLZb5H8?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">minorities</a></p> <p>Other Allan Gregg interviews: <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Anniversary Special - 16 years of Allan Gregg" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ewoPkoNVpKE?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Special</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Salman Rushdie - the fatwa and Islamism" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_LdgehMw3r4?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Rushdie</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Dr. Marla Shapiro on her struggle with breast cancer" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/T4OBf7gDYi0?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Shapiro</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Christopher Plummer" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/r-D8NeLZ7Ps?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Plummer</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Douglas Coupland in Conversation with Allan Gregg" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tRQsaH0gEXY?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Coupland</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Don Tapscott on the theory of Wikinomics" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GjGLsp9a6bg?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Tapscott</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Billy Graham talks about his work and beliefs" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DnoU2TevebY?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Graham</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Marianne Williamson-mystical power of intimate relationships" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4-ZLkxlV1O8?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Williamson</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Paul Collier on why sub-Saharan Africa is falling" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q77m-mvR6SA?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Collier</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Bernard Lewis on what it means to be Muslim" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/02nssV7wsaw?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Lewis</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Irshad Manji on her quest for liberal reform" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4T2ermnOigQ?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Manji</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Noam Chomsky: The Conscience of America" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Uh1WLoOzS_s?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Chomsky</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Richard Dawkins on Evolution " href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aUFOlyt7ErE?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Dawkins</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Gore Vidal looks back on his remarkable life" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/w2929mxXgS0?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Vidal</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Naomi Klein on her book Fences and Windows" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/07SX_kjwX-4?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Klein</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Jane Jacobs on her book Dark Age Ahead" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XBv3j8ebhRM?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Jacobs</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Author Ian McEwan on his latest novel Saturday" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pGIIBlhiXIo?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">McEwan</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Christopher Hitchens - writers entering the political arena" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/MwZKO0wJU8Y?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Hitchens</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Jeff Rubin on Oil and the End of Globalization" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QhsMr49AKM8?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Rubin</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Tom Hayden on his life as a political activist" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vFB7i8UaK5w?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Hayden</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Stephen Jay Gould on evolution and its teaching" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kcHUrh6WSI4?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Gould</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Scott Simmie and his battle with mental illness" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xvBh9orW3eA?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Simmie</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Germaine Greer thinks women still have cause to..." href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CITBPjJCU9o?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Greer</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Allan Gregg in Conversation with Margaret Trudeau" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CsZBMedbltU?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">M Trudeau</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Dan Hill in conversation with Allan Gregg" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Gbg7kfmbjqM?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Hill</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Tony Burman in conversation with Allan Gregg" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bCtRj8c8774?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Burman</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Patricia Pearsonin conversation with Allan Gregg" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8ri_aaAz7VY?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Pearsonin</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Paul Martin in conversation with Allan Gregg" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bpksZDBws88?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Martin</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): David Suzuki on the new feature film Force of Nature" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jF7eylt08iU?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Suzuki</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Joseph Heath in conversation with Allan Gregg" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ac6KMUQgRuE?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Heath</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Allen Ginsberg in conversation with Allan Gregg" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/H-H5SmLieII?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Ginsberg</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): John Ralston Saul in conversation with Allan Gregg" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tYR6i6jsZu8?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Saul</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Garth Turner in conversation with Allan Gregg" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fm7v_KwnTJU?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Turner</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Wayson Choy in conversation with Allan Gregg" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CbKMIYCwrG0?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Choy</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Ronald Suskind in conversation with Allan Gregg" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/v50_NYlFsFg?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Suskind</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Michael Byers on Canada and Arctic Sovereignty" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6RU7dpX1YsQ?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Byers</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): David Hackett Fischer in conversation with Allan Gregg" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1m1aFLW63tc?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Fischer</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Joseph Heller: Catch 22" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kan1Ez5YIjI?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Heller</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Michael Moore: Downsize This" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6x0SuCeYGrg?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Moore</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Sylvia Bashevkin and Barbara Annis in conversation" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/N0YwWJdHDw0?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Bashevkin</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Kazuo Ishiguro on his novel Never Let Me Go" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/batJu1ypW-Y?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Ishiguro</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Salman Rushdie on Shalimar The Clown" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dm7k2FpScv0?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Rushdie</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Dr. Paula Caplan on how psychiatrists decide" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nKbybLM12yc?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Caplan</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Craig Kielburger on The World Needs Your Kid" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EAoN0Sx28CI?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Kielburger</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Jimmy Carter - Palestine Peace Not Apartheid" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/faeCA8EmtGo?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Carter</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): The Early History of Research In Motion" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/a3MqwDvrIKw?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">RIM</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Ian Tyson on his memoir The Long Trail" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lknzuVUtLc4?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Tyson</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Fatima Bhutto on her memoir Songs of Blood and" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LVydH0oOpro?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Bhutto</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Niall Ferguson on the recent financial meltdown" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5wDWLLZQikI?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Ferguson</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Malcolm Gladwell - Blink" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3TRioBKpUwY?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Gladwell</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): John Irving on Last Night in Twisted River" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nJ4mKICyJ_8?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Irving</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Dr. Edward Hallowell on adult Attention Deficit Disorder" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dtU7wGn5PAE?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Hallowell</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Ayaan Hirsi Ali on her new book Nomad" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-7s-ARRtyxs?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Ali</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Jeremy Rifkin: The Empathic Civilization" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nQN_13KawUw?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Rifkin</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Romeo Dallaire on ending the use of child soldiers" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6O5WsuxuFeA?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Dallaire</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Michael Ignatieff in conversation with Allan Gregg" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sZNxuz6fBpo?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Ignatieff</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Taylor Branch on The Clinton Tapes" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ox7s482O1fM?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Branch</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Jane Goodall: Africa in My Blood" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1KkucwjVYGc?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Goodall</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Laura Day on the power of intuition" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6rNyWKi0q_Q?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Day</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Dr. Oliver Saks on Island of the Colorblind" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VNZh_VG5mIs?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Saks</a> and lectures: <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Christopher Hitchens: The Three New Commandments" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IePirrYBP_s?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Hitchens</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Terry Eagleton on Marxism as a Theodicy" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DJePGD7D_RQ?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Eagleton</a>, <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Simon Winchester on The Man Who Loved China" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0BWpEKYW_eE?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Winchester</a> & <a title="YouTube Video (opens below): Happiness and the Brain" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kuIlxt4rLH0?autoplay=1&rel=0" target="tvtub">Happiness</a></p> <p>Sources / More info: [Peterson: <a title="2010 Hancock Lecture at Hart House: Dr. Jordan B. Peterson on The Necessity of Virtue" href="http://psa.psych.utoronto.ca/2010/10/03/dr-jordan-b-peterson-on-%E2%80%9Cthe-necessity-of-virtue%E2%80%9D/" target="_blank">psych-virtue</a>, <a title="2010 Hancock Lecture at Hart House: Dr. Jordan B. Peterson on The Necessity of Virtue" href="http://www.harthouse.utoronto.ca/student-engagement/hart-house-2010-hancock-lecture" target="_blank">hh-virtue</a>] [Peters: <a title="Russell Peters @ Amazon" href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.ca%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D0%26ref_%3Dnb%5Fsb%5Fnoss%26y%3D0%26field-keywords%3DRussell%2520Peters%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Dstripbooks&tag=zamolxis-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=15121&creative=390961" target="_blank">amazon</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Peters" target="_blank">wikipedia</a>, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?q=Russell%20Peters" target="_blank">google-books</a>]</p> <p align="center"><iframe name="tvtub" align="center" title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="500" height="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gwUJHNPMUyU" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:ebfcb03f-5e69-4e59-83f7-b062f7ddca44" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=life" rel="tag">life</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=life+design" rel="tag">life design</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=meaning" rel="tag">meaning</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=suffering" rel="tag">suffering</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=success" rel="tag">success</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=successful" rel="tag">successful</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=successfull" rel="tag">successfull</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=arriving" rel="tag">arriving</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=arrival" rel="tag">arrival</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=pinnochio" rel="tag">pinnochio</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=pinochio" rel="tag">pinochio</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=pinoccio" rel="tag">pinoccio</a></div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-24334240307814143402010-11-11T20:11:00.001-05:002010-11-11T21:03:44.471-05:00Homeopathy, Big Pharmer's Daughter<span id="description">I want to tell you the story of homeopathy. It's long and boring, unfortunately, and as I'm thinking of a way to make it more readable I'll leave this article as a placeholder until I finish it, hopefully tonight.</span><a name='more'></a> <p>In the debate at <a title="http://www.debate.org/debate/13501/" href="http://www.debate.org/debate/13501/">http://www.debate.org/debate/13501/</a> I waited a little too long for my Round3 (conclusion) and as a result I ended up “forfeiting”. Here’s an earlier draft of my response, though I certainly realize that my opponent can simply ignore it. </p> <p>My opponent has argued that Homeopathy must be banned because it is based on placebo; I argued that even in the event that’s true, it’s still not a sufficient reason to ban this practice. Furthermore, if it is, then classical medicine should be banned as well.</p> <p><a title="xkcd: Dilution" href="http://xkcd.com/765/" target="_blank"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="homeopathy" border="0" alt="homeopathy" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TNygXelQHTI/AAAAAAAAQ6M/NBkSDWbZZTs/homeopathy%5B7%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="224" /></a>Let me start by thanking Logician for his prompt reply. <br />In Round 2 I argued that for an entire practice to be banned against the wishes of the many who use it, one would have to prove not only that it is ineffective, but that it is decidedly harmful. Though my opponent has made an excellent effort, he has failed to show either. <br />1. Homeopathy effectiveness. <br />The mere existence of studies that show homeopathy effectiveness (studies conveniently discarded as having "poor methodology") combined with the repeated and sustained patient choice should be sufficient to convince anyone that homeopathy has a fighting chance. After all, Pfizer alone was in 2001 the most profitable corporation Fortune 500, ($7.8 billion). Homeopathic remedies are not patentable and as such are seen as eating a piece of the pie. Big Pharma can keep making "better studies" and homeopath can simply not match the "research war". <br />H remedies are presented as "watered down sugar pills". In reality, nature is full of examples of biological systems being sensitive to and responding to unbelievably low concentrations. For instance, sharks "can detect one drop of blood in a million drops of water (25 gallons or 100 liters) and can smell blood 0.25 mile (0.4 km) away", yet nobody has bothered to agitate for banning sharks. Furthermore, most studies assess homeopathy from an allopathic perspective, i.e., judging remedies effectiveness on one problem at a time. H's core is in the interview and its holistic treatment of all the ills affecting the patient. <br />2. Placebo not working for serious illness. <br />There is no question that placebo alone cannot work for serious illness. This might be a good argument if my opponent had proven H works on placebo alone; however, he did not. There are numerous examples of people relying on drugs and medicine for affections where perhaps other solutions my have been better. Michael Jackson found the hard way that painkillers may be addictive and such addiction and lead to death, yet nobody is calling for a ban on classical medicine either because people realize that one negative example is not sufficient to ban an entire practice or simply because most people are not aware of the large number of iatrogenic deaths due to ADRs (adverse drug reactions), even though the evidence is one Google search away. <br />3. People sometimes harm themselves, so we need to protect them through regulations. <br />Again, the same argument can be made about MJ's treatment. He was addicted to medicine, and died, hence, according to this logic, we should ban medicine. <br />My counter-argument is that if isolated incidents of improperly applied H are sufficient reason to ban this practice, it then follows that the same logic should apply to classical medicine, resulting in banning it. This is a point my friend seems to understand and concede, stating <br />This debate has shown to me that if an excellent debater such as Logician can only provide such a weak argumentation to sustain his radical (banning) proposition, homeopathy is immune from the well-funded and coordinated yet logically thin attacks thrown its way by Big Pharma. </p> <p>Sources / More info: <a title="Table Of Iatrogenic Deaths In The United States" href="http://www.ourcivilisation.com/medicine/usamed/deaths.htm" target="_blank">iatro1</a>, <a title="Drugs and Adverse Drug Reactions: How Worried Should We Be? by David W. Bates, MD, MSc, JAMA. 1998;279:1216-1217." href="http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/extract/279/15/1216" target="_blank">jama-adr</a>, <a title="Adverse Drug Reactions as Cause of Hospital Admissions: Results from the Italian Group of Pharmacoepidemiology in the Elderly (GIFA)" href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1532-5415.2002.50607.x/full" target="_blank">wiley-ags</a>, <a title="Adverse drug reactions as cause of admission to hospital: prospective analysis of 18 820 patients" href="http://www.bmj.com/content/329/7456/15.abstract" target="_blank">bmj-adr</a>, <a title="Adverse drug reactions a big killer" href="http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080317/full/news.2008.676.html" target="_blank">nn-adr</a>, <a title="Lista clipuri iutub (z)" href="http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=EEC7A447654B97E0" target="_blank">yt-med</a> </p> <p align="center"><object height="400" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/EEC7A447654B97E0&hl=en?fs=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/EEC7A447654B97E0&hl=en?fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="400" width="500"></embed></object></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:e9c62c6e-94d0-4f57-988a-289f5f430024" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=medicine" rel="tag">medicine</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=medication" rel="tag">medication</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=alternative" rel="tag">alternative</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=homepathy" rel="tag">homepathy</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=remedy" rel="tag">remedy</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=allopathy" rel="tag">allopathy</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=alopathy" rel="tag">alopathy</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=health" rel="tag">health</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=heal" rel="tag">heal</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=healing" rel="tag">healing</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=naturopathy" rel="tag">naturopathy</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=naturopathic" rel="tag">naturopathic</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=pharmaceutical" rel="tag">pharmaceutical</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=pharma" rel="tag">pharma</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=big+pharma" rel="tag">big pharma</a></div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-22367376732442181132010-11-03T01:00:00.001-04:002010-11-03T17:11:10.733-04:00Wednesday Poetry - Lesbia<span id="description">We'll be presenting poetry regularly on this blog and we'll try to do this every Monday. The poets will most often be foreign (i.e., non-English) and hopefully a surprise for the reader.</span><a name='more'></a> <p>The first poem belongs to Catullus:</p><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="603"><tbody>
<tr> <td valign="top" width="319"> <p align="center"><b><i>Caius Valerius Catullus </i></b><b><i>(87-57 B.C.)</i></b></p><p align="center">to</p><p align="center">Claudia Pulchra Prima / Maior / Quadrantaria / Metelli / Lesbia</p></td> <td valign="top" width="282"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="Lesbia Claudia Mete" border="0" alt="Lesbia Claudia Mete" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TNHEg4c8nVI/AAAAAAAAQ54/cYQeq8SFE2Q/LesbiaClaudiaMete12.jpg?imgmax=800" width="182" height="181" /> <p align="center"></p></td> </tr>
<tr> <td valign="top" width="319"> <p>Let us live, my Lesbia, and let us love, <br />
and let us value all the rumors of <br />
more severe old men at only a penny! <br />
Suns are able to set and return: <br />
when once the short light has set for us <br />
one perpetual night must be slept by us. <br />
Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred, <br />
then second thousand, then a second hundred, <br />
then immediately a thousand then a hundred. <br />
then, when we will have made many thousand kisses, <br />
we will throw them into confusion, <br />
or lest we know anyone bad be able to envy <br />
when he knows there to be so many of kisses.</p></td> <td valign="top" width="282"> <p>Vivamus mea Lesbia, atque amemus, <br />
rumoresque senum severiorum <br />
omnes unius aestimemus assis! <br />
soles occidere et redire possunt: <br />
nobis cum semel occidit brevis lux, <br />
nox est perpetua una dormienda. <br />
da mi basia mille, deinde centum, <br />
dein mille altera, dein secunda centum, deinde usque altera mille, deinde centum. <br />
dein, cum milia multa fecerimus, <br />
conturbābimus illa, ne sciāmus, <br />
aut ne quis malus invidere possit, <br />
cum tantum sciat esse basiorum.</p></td> </tr>
<tr> <td valign="top" width="335"><p align="center"><object width="140" height="40"><param name="src" value="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23720/mp3/23720-03.mp3"><param name="autoplay" value="False"><param name="controller" value="true"><embed src="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23720/mp3/23720-03.mp3" autostart="False" loop="false" width="140" height="40" controller="true"></embed></object> <p></p></td>
<tr> <td valign="top" width="258"> <p align="center"><object width="140" height="40"><param name="src" value="http://www.mypodcast.com/fsaudio/latinum_20100412_1537-634811.mp3"><param name="autoplay" value="False"><param name="controller" value="true"><embed src="http://www.mypodcast.com/fsaudio/latinum_20100412_1537-634811.mp3" autostart="False" loop="false" width="140" height="40" controller="true"></embed></object></p></td> </tr>
</tr>
</tbody></table><p>Written in hendecasyllabic verse, the poem is almost epic in that it is made of the seduction in the first 6 lines, the next 5 being the coitus, with a <strong>b</strong>-side climax in <em>contur<strong>b</strong>a<strong>b</strong>imus illa</em> and the post-orgasmic bliss in the last 2. It is worthwhile keeping the number of kisses secret, lest the evil ones will find it easier to engage in witchcraft the more numbers they know about their target; today, the evil ones could just still your identity more easily.</p><p>In those days, Lesbia referred to an island of young girl lovers, the kind we’d call today, in homage to Nabukov, “Lolitas”:</p><blockquote><p>The name also suggests literary and erotic connotations, evoking the famous circle of young girl lovers on Lesbos Island, who included the poetess Sappho. Catullus's poem 35 celebrating his poet friend Caecilius of Novum Comum also mentions the devotion of Caecilius' girlfriend, who is herself accorded a remarkable tribute as "Sapphic girl, more learned than the Muse" (lines 16-17: <i>Sapphica puella / musa doctior</i>). This could well be Catullus' Lesbia before she became his own lover.</p></blockquote><p>Clodia’s reputation is not that angelic, however, at least according to wikipedia. At the very least, she loved life. Was she a <em>bonne vivante</em>, a feminist, a socialite or just misunderstood?</p><blockquote><p>Clodia was married to Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer, her first cousin. The marriage was not a happy one. Clodia engaged in several affairs with married men (possibly including the poet, Catullus - see below) and slaves, becoming at the same time a notorious gambler and drinker. Arguments with Metellus Celer were constant, often in public situations. When Metellus Celer died in strange circumstances in 59 BC, Clodia was suspected of poisoning her husband.</p><p>As a widow, Clodia became known as a merry one, taking several lovers. Clodia maintained several other lovers, including Marcus Caelius Rufus, Catullus' friend. This particular affair would cause an immense scandal. After the relationship with Caelius was over in 56 BC, Clodia publicly accused him of attempted poisoning. The accusation led to a murder charge and trial. Caelius' defence lawyer was Cicero, who took a harsh approach against her, recorded in his speech <i>Pro Caelio</i>. Cicero had a personal interest in the case, as her brother Publius Clodius was Cicero's most bitter political enemy. Among other things, Clodia was accused of being a seducer and a drunkard in Rome and in Baiae. Cicero insinuated that he "would [attack Caelius' accusers] still more vigorously, if I had not a quarrel with that woman's [Clodia's] husband - brother, I meant to say; I am always making this mistake. At present I will proceed with moderation... for I have never thought it my duty to engage in quarrels with any woman, especially with one whom all men have always considered everybody's friend rather than any one's enemy." He declared her a disgrace to her family and nicknamed Clodia the Medea of the Palatine. (Cicero's marriage to Terentia suffered from Terentia's persistent suspicions that Cicero was conducting an illicit affair with Clodia.)</p></blockquote><p>This poem influenced many XIX century Romantics who translated or adapted it, such as Marlowe, Campion, Jonson, Raleigh and Crashaw. Here’s the Elizabethan Campion’s translation, followed by some newer echoes:</p><h3>"My Sweetest Lesbia" by Campion, Thomas (1567-1620)</h3><p>My sweetest Lesbia, let vs liue and loue, <br />
And though the sager sort our deedes reproue, <br />
Let vs not way them : heau'ns great lampes doe diue <br />
Into their west, and straight againe reuiue, <br />
But soone as once set is our little light, <br />
Then must we sleepe one euer-during night. <br />
If all would lead their liues in loue like mee, <br />
Then bloudie swords and armour should not be, <br />
No drum nor trumpet peaceful sleepes should moue, <br />
Vnles alar'me came from the campe of loue : <br />
But fooles do liue, and wast their little light, <br />
And seeke with paine their euer-during night. <br />
When timely death my life and fortune ends, <br />
Let not my hearse be vext with mourning friends, <br />
But let all louers rich in triumph come, <br />
And with sweet pastimes grace my happie tombe; <br />
And Lesbia close vp thou my little light, <br />
And crown with loue my euer-during night.</p><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="496"><tbody>
<tr> <td valign="top" width="151"><object id="video1" classid="clsid:CFCDAA03-8BE4-11cf-B84B-0020AFBBCCFA" height="25" width="25"> <param name="controls" value="ControlPanel"><param name="console" value="one"><param name="autostart" value="false"><param name="src" value="http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/lesbia.rpm"><embed src="http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/lesbia.rpm" type="audio/x-pn-realaudio-plugin" console="one" controls="ControlPanel" height="36" width="250" autostart="false"></embed></object></td> <td valign="top" width="343"><object width="300" height="20"><param name="src" value="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23720/mp3/23720-01.mp3"><param name="autoplay" value="False"><param name="controller" value="true"><embed src="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23720/mp3/23720-01.mp3" autostart="False" loop="false" width="300" height="20" controller="true"></embed></object></td> </tr>
<tr> <td valign="top" width="151"> </td> <td valign="top" width="343"> <p>My sweetest Lesbia, let us live and love, <br />
And, though the sager sort our deeds reprove, <br />
Let us not weigh them: heaven's great lamps do dive <br />
Into their west, and straight again revive, <br />
But, soon as once set is our little light, <br />
Then must we sleep one ever-during night.</p><p>If all would lead their lives in love like me, <br />
Then bloody swords and armour should not be, <br />
No drum nor trumpet peaceful sleeps should move, <br />
Unless alarm came from the camp of love: <br />
But fools do live, and waste their little light, <br />
And seek with pain their ever-during night.</p><p>When timely death my life and fortune ends, <br />
Let not my hearse be vexed with mourning friends, <br />
But let all lovers, rich in triumph come, <br />
And with sweet pastimes grace my happy tomb; <br />
And, Lesbia, close up thou my little light, <br />
And crown with love my ever-during night</p></td> </tr>
</tbody></table><h3>Later echoes</h3><p>Ben Jonson’s “Volpone: Come my Celia, let us prove” seems inspired by Campion’s adaptation, at least in its first few lines. It reminds me of the Setting Sun by Chemical Brothers.</p><h4><strong>Come my Celia, let us prove</strong></h4><p>BY BEN JONSON</p><p>Come my Celia, let us prove,</p><p>While we may, the sports of love.</p><p>Time will not be ours for ever:</p><p>He at length our good will sever.</p><p>Spend not then his gifts in vain;</p><p>Suns that set may rise again,</p><p>But if once we lose this light</p><p>'Tis, with us, perpetual night.</p><p>Why should we defer our joys?</p><p>Fame and rumour are but toys.</p><p>Cannot we delude the eyes</p><p>Of a few poor household spies?</p><p>Or his easier ears beguile,</p><p>So removed by our wile?</p><p>'Tis no sin love's fruit to steal,</p><p>But the sweet theft to reveal;</p><p>To be taken, to be seen,</p><p>These have crimes accounted been.</p><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="538"><tbody>
<tr> <td valign="top" width="159"> </td> <td valign="top" width="377"> <p><strong>Chemical Brothers: Setting Sun</strong></p><p>You're coming on strong <br />
You're shining your gun <br />
Like a setting sun </p><p>You're the devil in me I brought in from the cold <br />
You said your body was young but your mind was very old <br />
You're coming on strong and I like the way <br />
The visions we have are fading away <br />
You're part of the life I've never had <br />
I'll tell you now it's just too bad X5</p><p>You're coming on strong <br />
You're shining your gun <br />
Like a setting sun </p><p>You're coming on strong <br />
You're coming on strong <br />
You're shining your gun <br />
Like a setting sun </p><p>You're the devil in me I brought in from the cold <br />
You said your body was young but your mind was very old <br />
You're coming on strong and I like the way <br />
The visions we have are fading away <br />
You're part of the life I've never had <br />
I'll tell you now it's just too bad X5</p></td> </tr>
</tbody></table><p>Where does poetry take you?</p><p>Sources / More info: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catullus" target="_blank">catullus</a>, <a title="Vivamus mea Lesbia, atque amemus" href="http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catullus_5" target="_blank">wikisource-catullus</a>, <a title="ANCIENT ROME - CATULLUS - VIVAMUS, MEA LESBIA, ATQUE AMEMUS (CATULLUS 5)" href="http://www.ancient-literature.com/rome_catullus_5.html" target="_blank">classical-lit</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clodia" target="_blank">wiki-clodia</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesbia" target="_blank">wiki-lesbia</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23720" target="_blank">guentberg-english-readings</a>, <a title="CATULLI 005 VIVAMUS MEA LESBIA" href="http://latinum.mypodcast.com/2010/04/Catulli_005_Vivamus_mea_Lesbia-302290.html" target="_blank">latinum-podcast</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_Caelio" target="_blank">wiki-pro-caelio</a>, <a title="Poem of the week: My Sweetest Lesbia by Thomas Campion" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/mar/22/poem-week-sweetest-lesbia-campion" target="_blank">guardian-PoemOftheWeek</a>, <a title="Volpone: Come my Celia, let us prove" href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=173732" target="_blank">pfound-ben</a>, <a title="Setting Sun / The Chemical Brothers" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJE6-wFaq7o" target="_blank">yt-original-chem</a></p><p align="center"><object width="600" height="475"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/qkkMz2awmbI?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/qkkMz2awmbI?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="600" height="475"></embed></object></p><div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:39bf0c9e-ed3c-403d-95e4-00357e911468" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=poem" rel="tag">poem</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=poetry" rel="tag">poetry</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=poet" rel="tag">poet</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=poets" rel="tag">poets</a></div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-62107754770024620112010-10-19T12:44:00.001-04:002010-10-19T12:44:53.066-04:00Ludger Wößmann: Education Studies<span id="description">A friend of mine has recently mentioned Prof Woessmann in a blog article. I was looking at the article she mentioned and then it dawned on my that I might as well try to present these articles in a way that is easier to access.</span><a name='more'></a> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TL3LAv8Y2DI/AAAAAAAAQ34/j_Mq3UsDmD8/s1600-h/woessmann8.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="woessmann" border="0" alt="woessmann" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TL3LBIscKEI/AAAAAAAAQ38/pumzwUMxaxQ/woessmann_thumb10.jpg?imgmax=800" width="104" height="104" /></a>Since I’m writing this article to take a closer look at his research, I’d rather not dwell too long on who he is. I will start, however, with his CV. As with other PDF lists on this blog, to open each PDF document, click its link and it will open below. You can then maximize the PDF, search it or magnify it within the same window.</p> <p>Sources / More info: <a href="http://www.cesifo-group.de/portal/page/portal/ifoHome/f-about/f3aboutifo/50ifostaff/_ifocv_woessmann_l" target="_blank">Woessman @ IFO</a>, <a href="http://www.aktionsrat-bildung.de/index.php?id=26" target="_blank">W @ A.B.</a>, <a href="mailto:W@ideas" target="_blank">W@ideas</a>, <a href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludger_Wößmann" target="_blank">wiki-lw</a>, <a href="http://www.eenee.de/portal/page/portal/EENEEView/_generische_page_eenee?content=eenee-senex-woessmann1.htm&language=us" target="_blank">enee</a>,</p> <p>PDF Docs: [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.ifo.de/link/woessmann.pdf&embedded=true" target="woesmannpdf">Short CV</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://ftp.iza.org/dp4999.pdf&embedded=true" target="woesmannpdf">The Impact of Teacher Subject Knowledge on Student Achievement: Evidence from Within-Teacher Within-Student Variation (2010)</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=https://dspace.stir.ac.uk/dspace/bitstream/1893/1958/1/SEDP-2010-01-Becker-Woessmann.pdf&embedded=true" target="woesmannpdf">The Effect of Protestantism on Education before the Industrialization: Evidence from 1816 Prussia (2010)</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://ftp.iza.org/dp5024.pdf&embedded=true" target="woesmannpdf">School Competition and Students' Entrepreneurial Intentions: International Evidence Using Historical Catholic Roots of Private Schooling (2010)</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w15949.pdf&embedded=true" target="woesmannpdf">The Economics of International Differences in Educational Achievement (2010)</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://ftp.iza.org/dp5101.pdf&embedded=true" target="woesmannpdf">Cross-Country Evidence on Teacher Performance Pay</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://ftp.iza.org/dp4926.pdf&embedded=true" target="woesmannpdf">Sample Selectivity and the Validity of International Student Achievement Tests in Economic Research (2010)</a>]</p> <iframe height="500" src="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.ifo.de/link/woessmann.pdf&embedded=true" frameborder="0" width="500" name="woesmannpdf" scrolling="yes" align="center">Loading...</iframe> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:8153e548-aadb-4a47-9c24-e7672eb4966a" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=study" rel="tag">study</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=pisa" rel="tag">pisa</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=studies" rel="tag">studies</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=catholic" rel="tag">catholic</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=protestant" rel="tag">protestant</a></div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-44714940830650080922010-10-12T11:53:00.001-04:002010-10-12T11:53:43.137-04:00malcolm mcdowell and his movies<span id="description">When we think of Malcolm McDowell, we tend to think mostly of his work in either Kubrick’s <em>A Clockwork Orange (1971)</em> or even <em>Caligula</em>. Yet his most important work is, in my eyes, the movie <em>O Lucky Man! (1973)</em> a movie based on his idea where he is also credited as a writer, followed by his first true movie, <em>If…. (1968)</em>. </span><a name='more'></a> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:O_Lucky_Man!.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="mcdowell-lucky-man" border="0" alt="mcdowell-lucky-man" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TLSEhp8TDNI/AAAAAAAAQ2w/oDdZCz-2_Es/mcdowell-lucky-man%5B8%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="207" height="207" /></a>If <em>If….</em> heralds <em>A Clockwork Orange</em> (both movie feature a young lad who, as a result of his exposure to a violent environment and injustice ends up hardened, violent and insensitive himself, it can be said that <em>O Lucky Man</em> (olm) is an adapted <em>2001: A Space Odissey</em> which happens exclusively on Earth.</p> <p>In olm the journey of self-discovery takes place in the space of McDowell’s own life and we can see parts of it exhibited – his time as a travelling coffee salesman. Yet the allegory is also a stinging critique of capitalism. From wikipedia:</p> <blockquote> <p>During his journey, Travis learns the amoral lesson, reinforced by numerous songs in the soundtrack by Alan Price, that he must abandon his principles in order to succeed, but unlike the other characters he meets he must retain a detached idealism that will allow him to distance himself from the evils of the world: a fact which causes the film to often be considered a reappropriation of <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candide" target="_blank">Candide</a></i> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire" target="_blank">Voltaire</a>. As one of the film's songs says:</p> <dl><dd><i>Smile while you're makin' it, Laugh while you're takin' it, Even though you're fakin' it, Nobody's gonna know.</i></dd></dl> <p>In <i>O Lucky Man!</i>, Travis progresses from coffee salesman (working for Imperial Coffee in the North East of England and Scotland), a victim of torture in a government installation and a medical research subject, under the supervision of Dr Millar (Crowden).</p> </blockquote> <p>I don’t want to write too much about this movie. It’s quite long and not paced well for today’s audiences, but if you have a chance, watch it. The scene with the stern judge going in the backroom of the court to be whipped by a court clerk after issuing his severe order is epic and far truer than one would care to admit. Toronto, where until the Columbine shootings possibly the largest goth contingent thrived, was reportedly comprised of a significant number of lawyers and judges..</p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="500"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="166"><iframe src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=B000UJ48VS" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe> </td> <td valign="top" width="166"><iframe src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=B000OPPAEW" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe> </td> <td valign="top" width="166"><iframe src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=B000VBJE96" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>Sources / More info: <a title="O Lucky Man! (1973)" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070464" target="_blank">imdb-o-lucky</a>, <a title="If.... (1968)" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063850/" target="_blank">imdb-if</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_mcdowell" target="_blank">wiki-malcolm</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If...." target="_blank">wiki-if</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Lucky_Man!" target="_blank">wiki-o-lucky</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000532/" target="_blank">imdb-mcdowell</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_goth_scene" target="_blank">wiki-to-goth</a>, <a title="Lista clipuri iutub (z)" href="http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=167311341B745094" target="_blank">yt-malcolm</a> </p> <p align="center"><object height="400" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/167311341B745094&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/167311341B745094&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="400" width="500"></embed></object></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:f8df72f9-e623-40fd-9c04-4ceafbd14309" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.alsosprachzamolxis.com/" title="Asa Grait-a Zamolxis">zamo</a>, <a href="http://www.alsosprachzamolxis.com/search?q=film" rel="tag">film</a>, <a href="http://www.alsosprachzamolxis.com/search?q=filme" rel="tag">filme</a>, <a href="http://www.alsosprachzamolxis.com/search?q=movie" rel="tag">movie</a>, <a href="http://www.alsosprachzamolxis.com/search?q=movies" rel="tag">movies</a></div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-4553008520041367622010-08-25T12:59:00.001-04:002010-08-26T02:27:40.141-04:00Why polyamory?<span id="description">Psychology Today is a source of some truly great articles on polyamory. Understanding why some people prefer this lifestyle while others are hurt by the very thought of its existence is, perhaps, the key to its greater acceptance.</span><a name='more'></a> <p>My explorations in polyamory started in University, when I volunteered as a Sexual Education and Relationship counselor and found out about this lifestyle. I then attended a polyamory group but was not very excited about it – it seemed that the others had a history and knew each other previously and felt like an intruder. I then read “The Ethical Slut” (link to new edition below) and that helped me shed my guilt and inconsistencies and find a better compromise between my beliefs and my sexual urges.</p> <p><a title="Romantic Relationship Chart v.2 by xmasons @ flickr CC" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3493/4052558883_35687dd976_o.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="Romantic Relationship Chart" border="0" alt="Romantic Relationship Chart" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/THVL4BK41iI/AAAAAAAAQpU/ByIWwgplYiI/Romantic%20Relationship%20Chart%5B9%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="194" /></a>From this perspective, looking at Deborah Taj Anapol’s article in Psychology Today is both refreshing and instructive. She analyses motivations to choose this lifestyle, noting that often the reasons that form the basis of our actions are not necessarily the reasons we consciously acknowledge. Here are the reasons she is listing:</p> <ol> <li>avoid dealing with problematic personal issues or that it will solve problems in an existing relationship </li> <li>win the affections of the other [partner], secretly hoping that this unwelcome twist will magically vanish once they are committed to each other </li> <li>consciously or unconsciously creating a situation in which they can heal childhood wounds or replicate the large extended family they grew up in </li> <li>want a stable and nurturing environment in which to raise their children </li> <li>mask or excuse addictions to sex, work, or drama while others seek utopian or spiritual rewards or want to take a stand for cultural change </li> <li>simply doing what's fun and what comes naturally for them or are rebelling against religious prohibitions or family expectations </li> <li>weapon in a power struggle or to punish a controlling partner </li> <li>keep their erotic life alive and vital while in long term committed relationships or to fulfill sexual or emotional desires they can't meet with only one person or with their existing partner </li> <li>trying to make up for developmental gaps or to balance unequal sex drives </li> </ol> <p>A few quotes:</p> <ul> <li>I don't think I've ever engaged in anything that has prompted more self-reflection and intense personal growth than has polyamory. (Kate) </li> <li>The presence of the third is a fact of life; how we deal with it is up to us. We can approach it with fear, avoidance, and moral outrage; or we can bring to it a robust curiosity and a sense of intrigue ... Acknowledging the third has to do with validating the erotic separateness of your partner. It follows that our partner's sexuality does not belong to us. It isn't just for and about us, and we should not assume that it rightfully falls within our jurisdiction. It doesn't. (..) we view monogamy not as a given but as a choice. As such it becomes a negotiated decision. More to the point, if we're planning to spend fifty years with one soul - and we want a happy jubilee - it may be wise to review our contract at various junctures. Just how accommodating each couple may be to the third varies. But at least a nod is more apt to sustain desire with our one and only over the long haul - perhaps even to create a new ‘art of loving' for the twenty-first century couple. (Ester Perel) </li> <li>If we were to put monogamy up against polyamory, with regard to depth, awakening potential, and capacity for real intimacy, which would come out on top? Monogamy, by a landslide, so long as we're talking about mature monogamy, as opposed to conventional (or growth-stunting and passion-dulling) monogamy, referred to from now on as immature monogamy. Immature monogamy is, especially in men, frequently infected with promiscuous desire and fantasy, however much that might be repressed or camouflaged with upstanding virtues. Airbrush this, infuse it with talk of integrity and unconditional love and jealousy-transcending ethics, consider bringing in another partner or two, and you're closer than near to polyamorous or multiple-partnering territory. (Robert Masters) </li> </ul> <p>Ms Anapol has recently published a book, and so did a few of the other people quoted above:</p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="600"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="150"><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=1442200219" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></td> <td valign="top" width="150"><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=0060753641" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></td> <td valign="top" width="150"><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=0805071369" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></td> <td valign="top" width="150"><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=1434373444" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>Sources / More info: <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.ca%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D0%26ref_%3Dnb_sb_noss%26y%3D0%26field-keywords%3Dpolyamory%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Daps&tag=bestplus-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=15121&creative=390961" target="_blank">polyamory @ Amazon</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyamory" target="_blank">wiki-polyamory</a>, <a title="Why Do People Choose Polyamory?" href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/love-without-limits/201008/why-do-people-choose-polyamory" target="_blank">pt-y</a>, <a title="What motivates people to pursue polyamorous relationships? by Deborah Anapol, Ph.D." href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/love-without-limits/201008/why-do-people-choose-polyamory" target="_blank">pt-w</a>, <a title="Social monogamy, not sexual monogamy, is emerging as the new norm. by Deborah Anapol, Ph.D." href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/love-without-limits/201008/the-new-monogamy" target="_blank">pt-social-monogamy</a>, <a title="Romantic Relationship Chart v.2 by xmasons @ flickr CC" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/xmasons/4052558883/" target="_blank">flickr</a>, <a title="Lista clipuri iutub polyamory (ib)" href="http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=FB41CF8040CBDBEC" target="_blank">yt-polyamory</a> </p> <p align="center"><object height="480" width="600"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/FB41CF8040CBDBEC&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/FB41CF8040CBDBEC&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="480" width="600"></embed></object></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:3ea1277b-ef44-4191-a154-4e8bff812a57" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=love" rel="tag">love</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=marriage" rel="tag">marriage</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=societaly+pressure" rel="tag">societaly pressure</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=open" rel="tag">open</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=openness" rel="tag">openness</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=liberation" rel="tag">liberation</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=sexual+liberation" rel="tag">sexual liberation</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=monogamy" rel="tag">monogamy</a></div> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="600"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="150"><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=1587613379" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></td> <td valign="top" width="150"><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=157344295X" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></td> <td valign="top" width="150"><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=1932420711" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></td> <td valign="top" width="150"><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=1580052754" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></td> </tr> </tbody></table> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-21083702249854433322010-08-19T11:10:00.001-04:002010-08-20T07:12:42.623-04:00Finland, or the primacy of learning<span id="description">The world offers many stellar examples to countries and / or nations that want to plan their development. Chief among them are the Scandinavian countries. We'll take a look at Finland.</span><a name='more'></a> <p><a title="In Finland's Footsteps" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2005/08/05/PH2005080502022.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="Finnish Kindergarten" border="0" alt="Finnish Kindergarten" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TG1JW9vqyXI/AAAAAAAAQnY/lKrHJRLQsbA/Finnish%20Kindergarten%5B12%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="150" height="149" /></a>About 30-40 years ago, Finland was falling behind in many measures and internationally measured indices. So their leaders got together and somehow managed to get others involved as well in drafting a plan to improve their lot. They came out with strategies in health, education and industry and followed through. Here’s how dallasnews describes those times:</p> <blockquote> <p>Finland gained its independence in 1917 under the leadership of teachers more than politicians or soldiers. Yet, by the 1960s, public education was so bad that parents were moving their children en masse to private schools. Laukkanen remembers a forecast that predicted by 1972, only one-fourth of Finland's children would be attending public schools. </p> <p>Funding inequities, vastly different course requirements and low job expectations with Finland's dominant forest industries left many villages with bad schools. "The system was not functioning," said University of Helsinki education professor Jarkko Hautamäki. "People were voting with their feet against the schools." </p> <p>Parties on the left began agitating for a more equitable system. Parties on the right saw their constituents abandoning the countryside for the cities – reason enough for joining the reform movement. Finland's equivalent of "No Child Left Behind" passed the Parliament in 1968 at the initiative of the conservatives. The law called for a uniform, national curriculum for both public and private schools. The National Board of Education was tasked with "equalizing possibilities so that, wherever you lived, you got the same quality education," Hautamäki said.</p> </blockquote> <p>Today, Finland is universally recognized as a model in education, a model many other countries are trying to emulate. As it happens, it is a system so egalitarian that most rich countries prefer to ignore it, as the social mobility and human capital efficiency it promotes is often seen as destabilizing.</p> <p>In Finland every child gets a free meal and tuition is verbotten for elementary (and compulsory) education. The educators working in this system often have masters and advanced degrees. This ensures that higher learning has a strong basis on which to build further.</p> <p>In contrast, countries such as Singapore have made <em>streaming</em> the cornerstone of their education system. Every step of the way is intensely competitive, and being born in privilege translates into significant advantages. There is even a movie, “I not stupid” which purports to show that students’ self-esteem is tied to their exam results in unhealthy ways.</p> <p>In other countries (e.g., Germany, UK) where similar comprehensive schools are in existence, the debate is centered on the apparent lack of progress and grade inflation students suffer. Those on the left claim that comprehensive schools take in students from disadvantaged backgrounds without any entry requirement, while the competing schools in systems that allow more choice to begin with have strict entry requirements and as a rule tend to take in students whose parents occupy higher positions on the social ladder. The studies measuring how far the comprehensive schools take their students from the starting point, compared to the more competitive schools are hard to find. It seems however that the Finnish formula of allowing, in essence, only comprehensive schools, is highly successful in equipping students with what they need to compete internationally. According to dallasnews,</p> <blockquote> <p>By the time Finland's children complete the ninth grade, they speak three languages. They have studied algebra, geometry and statistics since the first grade. And they beat the pants off students from just about everywhere else in the world.</p> </blockquote> <p>WashingtonPost sees it in a similar light:</p> <blockquote> <p>Finnish teenagers are among the smartest in the world. They earned some of the top scores by 15-year-old students who were tested in 57 countries. American teens finished among the world's C students even as U.S. educators piled on more homework, standards and rules. Finnish youth, like their U.S. counterparts, also waste hours online. They dye their hair, love sarcasm and listen to rap and heavy metal. But by ninth grade they're way ahead in math, science and reading -- on track to keeping Finns among the world's most productive workers. (..) well-trained teachers and responsible children. Early on, kids do a lot without adults hovering. And teachers create lessons to fit their students. "We don't have oil or other riches. Knowledge is the thing Finnish people have," says Hannele Frantsi, a school principal. (..) About the only classroom rules are no cellphones, no iPods and no hats.</p> </blockquote> <p>But doesn’t this egalitarian model leave the gifted students behind?</p> <blockquote> <p>Finnish educators believe they get better overall results by concentrating on weaker students rather than by pushing gifted students ahead of everyone else. The idea is that bright students can help average ones without harming their own progress.</p> </blockquote> <p>The other component of the Finnish system is educators freedom, which makes this job sought after and competitive.</p> <blockquote> <p>The Norssi School is run like a teaching hospital, with about 800 teacher trainees each year. Graduate students work with kids while instructors evaluate from the sidelines. Teachers must hold master's degrees, and the profession is highly competitive: More than 40 people may apply for a single job. Their salaries are similar to those of U.S. teachers, but they generally have more freedom. </p> <p>Finnish teachers pick books and customize lessons as they shape students to national standards. "In most countries, education feels like a car factory. In Finland, the teachers are the entrepreneurs," says Mr. Schleicher, of the Paris-based OECD, which began the international student test in 2000.</p> </blockquote> <p>Reading is a national sport, even more widely adopted than nude football:</p> <blockquote> <p>One explanation for the Finns' success is their love of reading. Parents of newborns receive a government-paid gift pack that includes a picture book. Some libraries are attached to shopping malls, and a book bus travels to more remote neighborhoods like a Good Humor truck. (..) Movies and TV shows have Finnish subtitles instead of dubbing.</p> </blockquote> <p>The differences with other systems, such as the American one, are obvious to exchange students:</p> <blockquote> <p>[Elina Lamponen] spent a year at Colon High School in Colon, Mich., where strict rules didn't translate into tougher lessons or dedicated students, Ms. Lamponen says. She would ask students whether they did their homework. They would reply: " 'Nah. So what'd you do last night?'" she recalls. History tests were often multiple choice. The rare essay question, she says, allowed very little space in which to write. In-class projects were largely "glue this to the poster for an hour," she says. Her Finnish high school forced Ms. Lamponen, a spiky-haired 19-year-old, to repeat the year when she returned.</p> </blockquote> <p>What about elitism? Isn’t it necessary? Shouldn’t students be constantly afraid that they won’t make it to college? Doesn’t that act as an incentive?</p> <blockquote> <p>Finnish students have little angstata -- or teen angst -- about getting into the best university, and no worries about paying for it. College is free. There is competition for college based on academic specialties -- medical school, for instance. But even the best universities don't have the elite status of a Harvard. Taking away the competition of getting into the "right schools" allows Finnish children to enjoy a less-pressured childhood. While many U.S. parents worry about enrolling their toddlers in academically oriented preschools, the Finns don't begin school until age 7, a year later than most U.S. first-graders. Once school starts, the Finns are more self-reliant. While some U.S. parents fuss over accompanying their children to and from school, and arrange every play date and outing, young Finns do much more on their own. </p> </blockquote> <p>What about innovation and change? Isn’t Finland frozen in time (dallasnews)?</p> <blockquote> <p>The tracking system was changed in 1985. Students still choose whether to go into university or vocational prep schools, but not until they have completed ninth grade. The reformers are still busy. The latest major overhaul involves higher education, where Finland hopes to elevate its best universities by combining schools of art and design, economics and engineering. </p> <p>Evaluation and change goes on throughout the system. </p> <p>"We're trying to improve everything all the time," said Kallahti deputy principal Paavola. "We are a small country. We have to compete with knowledge and technology."</p> </blockquote> <p>Is this all due to “special circumstances”? Washington Post seems to think so, but I don’t.</p> <blockquote> <p>In Finland, Himanen said, opportunity does not depend on "an accident of birth." All Finns have an equal shot at life, liberty and happiness. Yes, this is supposed to be an American thing, but many well-traveled younger Finns, who all seem to speak English, have a Finnish take on American realities. Miapetra Kumpula, a 32-year-old member of Parliament, volunteered this on the American dream: "Sure, anyone can get rich -- but most won't." </p> <p>Finns are enormously proud of their egalitarian tradition. They are the only country in Europe that has never had a king or a home-grown aristocracy. Finland has no private schools or universities, no snooty clubs, no gated communities or compounds where the rich can cut themselves off from everyday life. I repeatedly saw signs of a class structure based on economics and educational attainment, but was also impressed by the life stories of Finns I met in prominent positions, or who had made a lot of money.</p> </blockquote> <p>In Finland, even fines are prorated according to wealth:</p> <blockquote> <p>This too seems to be part of Finnish egalitarianism; most Finns don't boast or conspicuously consume (except perhaps when they buy fancy cars). Finnish authorities know how much everyone earns, and they pro-rate traffic fines depending on the wealth of the malefactor. Last year the 27-year-old heir to a local sausage fortune was fined 170,000 euros, about $204,000 at the time of the fine, for driving at 50 miles per hour in a 25 mph zone in downtown Helsinki.</p> </blockquote> <p>My views are that of all the services the state or government is expected to provide, education is by far the most important and should mirror the Finnish model. Kids do not have enough knowledge to make educational choices and they should not be burned by those made by their parents. Choice in elementary education makes very little sense. I happen to think that it makes little sense in higher education as well, but at least at level this idea is debatable.</p> <p>Sources / More info: <a title="Education in Finland" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Finland" target="_blank">wiki-edu-finland</a>, <a title="What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120425355065601997.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_weekendjournal" target="_blank">wsj-finnish-kids</a>, <a title="Education Department -Education for foreigners -The Finnish education system" href="http://www.hel.fi/hki/opev/en/Education+for+foreigners/The+Finnish+education+system" target="_blank">edu-foreigners</a>, <a title="Differences between education systems" href="http://www.globalcampus.com/blog/differences+between+education+systems" target="_blank">globalcampus-finland</a>, <a title="Texas school reformers try to learn lessons from Finland" href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/020809dnbusfinaland.30a53af.html" target="_blank">tx-k12-reform</a>, <a title="Education in Finland - Definition" href="http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Education_in_Finland" target="_blank">wordIQ</a>, <a href="http://www.oph.fi/english/education/basic_education" target="_blank">Finnish-Board-of-Edu</a>, <a title="The 53rd Public Symposium of International Center for Child Studies" href="http://www.childresearch.net/RESOURCE/PRESEN/2008/FINLAND/index.html" target="_blank">fi-childresearch</a>, <a title="Finland's Egalitarian Shadow: what can we learn from Finland's Education System?" href="http://tehsitalk.blogspot.com/2007/09/finlands-egalitarian-shadow.html" target="_blank">tehsitalk</a>, <a title="Finland takes top rank in OECD's latest PISA Education Score survey advance figures show" href="http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_1011958.shtml" target="_blank">finfacts</a>, <a title="In Finland's Footsteps: If We're So Rich and Smart, Why Aren't We More Like Them?" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/05/AR2005080502015.html" target="_blank">wp-fin-fs</a>, <a title="Three Stories about Finnish Music Education – What is the Basis of its Success?" href="http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001696.htm" target="_blank">fin-music</a>, <a title="Education in Singapore and Finland: a comparison Part 2" href="http://educononline.com/2009/09/12/education-in-singapore-and-finland-a-comparison-part-2/" target="_blank">edu-singapore-finland</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_school" target="_blank">wiki-comprehensive</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar_school" target="_blank">wiki-grammar-school</a></p> <p>PDF Docs: [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.108.7712&rep=rep1&type=pdf&embedded=true" target="finedu">Tech edu trends</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/49/40/36376641.pdf&embedded=true" target="finedu">OECD: Equity in Edu</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.mediaeducation.fi/publications/decadesoffinnishmediaeducation.pdf&embedded=true" target="finedu">Decades of Finnish Media Edu</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://192.192.169.112/filedownload/芬蘭教育/A%20short%20history%20of%20educational%20reform%20in%20Finland%20FINAL.pdf&embedded=true" target="finedu">A short history of educational reform in Finland</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.nordicom.gu.se/cl/publ/electronic/mediaeducationpolicies.pdf&embedded=true" target="finedu">FINNISH MEDIA EDUCATION POLICIES</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:10172/ls_ca_finl.pdf&embedded=true" target="finedu">EVENT MANAGEMENT EDUCATION IN FINLAND Lee Slaughter School</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.utu.fi/en/university/quality/russia/handbook.pdf&embedded=true" target="finedu">Quality Handbook of Higher Education in Finland and Russia</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.thefms.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/lessons-in-music-and-education-from-finland.pdf&embedded=true" target="finedu">Lessons in Education and Music from Finland</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.kka.fi/files/692/KKA_0309.pdf&embedded=true" target="finedu">Centres of Excellence in Finnish University Education</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.decowe.com/static/uploaded/htmlarea/files/Using_Narratives_as_Innovative_Tools_in_Mathematics_Education_Course_.pdf&embedded=true" target="finedu">Using Narratives as Innovative Tools in Mathematics Education</a>]</p> <iframe height="500" src="http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:gmQpGkAQckkJ:192.192.169.112/filedownload/%25E8%258A%25AC%25E8%2598%25AD%25E6%2595%2599%25E8%2582%25B2/A%2520short%2520history%2520of%2520educational%2520reform%2520in%2520Finland%2520FINAL.pdf+A+short+history+of+educational+reform+in+Finland&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESj5jnnCw09p6WbjhjexaaAVaObFy0RtfKcNaP_c8dMkgukWOJiGcHpzJWg8nOTz7fwrtWRrMm5H8k5-0kIRso0L45Lm9lVwJAWwn6MtIAwXxI-gU54aCgtG4B3OqwyA_fJw3ADH&sig=AHIEtbSqW08XZR8qzZiZUkVWGZI878R_Tw" frameborder="0" width="500" name="finedu" scrolling="yes" align="center">Loading...</iframe> <p></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:1c2e7085-94f6-49fe-a04d-6e18306849e5" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=system" rel="tag">system</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=education" rel="tag">education</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=k12" rel="tag">k12</a></div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-71845978140065579182010-08-15T16:58:00.001-04:002010-08-15T17:42:12.522-04:00A Decline in Civility or just a selfish request 4 respekt?<span id="description">There's a lot to say on this subject, but for the moment, I would rather mention only the recent CTV documentary "The Decline in Civility".</span><a name='more'></a> <p><a title="Jacques-Louis David's 1784 painting The Oath of the Horatii, illustrating a dramatic moment from Livy's history of Rome, embodies eighteenth century ideas about civic virtue." href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:David-Oath_of_the_Horatii-1784.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="civility-or-civic-virtue-horatii-oath" border="0" alt="civility-or-civic-virtue-horatii-oath" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TGhVBF-HwkI/AAAAAAAAQl0/J0riFuhnWmc/civility-or-civic-virtue-horatii-oath%5B10%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="150" height="155" /></a>As I was watching this documentary narrated by William Shatner (yes, the same guy who did the <a href="http://www.verbavolant.info/2010/08/music-can-never-get-old.html" target="_blank">cover</a> of “common people” <img alt="Alien" src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/61.gif" />), I could not help thinking that this is my exact experience living in Canada. Seen as a polite country, Canada has definitely undergone an erosion of this public good, under my very eyes and, possibly with my own contribution. The filmmakers are not the only people noticing it – even TVO (episode in the playlist below) has an episode devoted to manners. Here’s a blurb on the documentary:</p> <blockquote> <p>Curtin reveals a multitude of factors that are conspiring to make people less gracious to fellow human beings. Daily stress, a lack of education about good manners and technology all play their part. As Curtin says, "How can you say hello to someone when you have an iPod in your ear?" </p> <p>Curtin's dirt on discourtesy includes everything from a young pregnant woman left standing on the subway to airline passengers going ballistic in the skies and people being berated by anonymous comments on the Internet. </p> <p>"The biggest shocker for me was coming to Toronto to shoot. I thought people would be so polite. It wasn't like that at all," Curtin told CTV.ca. "I don't mean any disrespect to Toronto. The same thing can be said about most big cities today." </p> <p>In fact, according to a 2007 Reader's Digest poll 60 per cent of Canadians felt advances in technology have made people less courteous over the past 10 years. More than 83 per cent of poll respondents felt that seniors (60+) were the most courteous age group, with those under 18 the least so. </p> <p>Curtin correlates the boom in society's bad behaviour to a desire to avoid trouble in a strife-filled world. </p> <p>"People don't want to get involved," says Curtin. "If a drug-addled bum came at you on the subway I suppose you could argue that it would be safer to avoid him. But why would you ignore a pregnant woman who is the very picture of vulnerability? Is she going to sock you in the chin?" </p> <p>As Curtin says, "It really comes down to people no longer caring about connecting with other individuals around them."</p> </blockquote> <p>The filmmaker discusses working with Shatner, but it’s hard to tell if the actor was nice or he himself is being polite / has selective memory:</p> <blockquote> <p>The fee Curtin paid for Shatner's services shocked him almost as much as the rudeness he documented in "To Hell with Manners!" </p> <p>Curtin won't reveal the final figure paid to the venerable actor. "It was far in excess of what I had budgeted for. And I got a deal," Curtin laughs. "I know his agent. They got me Shatner at 50 per cent off." </p> <p>Curtin flew to Los Angeles to work with the 77-year-old star. "I knew William could be difficult and didn't like doing second takes -- something you always do in a documentary," says Curtin. </p> <p>While waiting for Shatner's arrival at a L.A. studio Curtin asked the wife of a cameraman if the star was in a good mood. Her response? "He just ran out of here saying people are f*****g rude." </p> <p>"I was lucky," laughs Curtin. "William vented that spleen before he got to me. He was a pleasure to work with."</p> </blockquote> <p>I’m a bit concerned that my own predilection to agree with the documentary’s premise has more to do with the natural process of ageing than it has to do with objective reality. Pensioners muse to each other “the don’t make [anything] like they used to”, and “kids these days – they don’t know NO RESPECT [sic]”. Could it be that I myself “feel it” more so as a result of my own needs of socialization and friendship being unmet?</p> <p>One of the scenes shown in the documentary takes place at an elementary school or kindergarten, where the educator gets two kids to act out an encounter with a pregnant woman. She gets the sitting kid to stand up and offer his seat, then asks the “pregnant” kid “what do you say?”. The kid is confused and says “yeah, sure”, while the educator is somehow disappointed: “no, you say <em>thank you</em>!”.</p> <p>Yet this is a problem noticed by Matt Zoller Seitz in Salon.com and Kirsten Richardson in [The New York] Observer.com. According to them, it may very well be a sign of increasing immigration from non-Anglo countries, where instead of “you’re welcome” people use “de nada” or “not a problem” and “thank you” or “please” are a sign of weakness.</p> <p>In CBC’s <em>Definitely Not The Opera</em> show, Sook-Yin Lee talks about how we teach kids to lie from an early age, when we get them to acknowledge a disappointing gift so that the giver feels good. Yet those little lies are extremely important, as they form the basis of our social interactions and allow us to get along with each other. In adolescence, we rebel and embrace rock’n’roll, punk, goth, rap, grunge or whatever music happens to be cool at that moment and completely annoying to our parents. We demolish their social rules and want to establish our very own. Yet to live life in a permanent revolution is taxing and we get tired eventually. We transition to old age and start complaining that nobody gives us the respect we deserve, forgetting, most of the time to dispense it ourselves onto others.</p> <p>Our increasing alienation and reliance of cold, impersonal technology for interpersonal communication seems to push us into a downward spiral, where the decreasing human contact makes us feel more stressed, we feel we’re getting less sympathy and respect from others and in return we start to give out less ourselves. Initiatives such as “Join Me” or “Free Hugs” or “pronoia” are meant to break the cycle, but how many of us actually <em>embrace</em> them?</p> <p>It seems to me that when we complain about “not enough civility”, we always want others to give us more respect, but do we give others at least as much as we ask for? Is it possible to have a balanced approach to civility, or are we bound to always feel short-changed in this respekt (sic)?</p> <p>In his excellent book, Choosing Civility, Dr. Forni talks about a study done in the 1950s at Harvard:</p> <blockquote> <p>Healthy young men from two Harvard classes of the early 1950s were asked to fill out a questionnaire that would assess how close they were to their parents. A check of their medical records 35 years later yielded intriguing data. One hundred percent of the men who had reported low levels of closeness to both parents had been diagnosed in the following years with serious diseases such as heart disease and duodenal ulcer. Among those who had reported good, warm relationships with both parents only 47 percent had been similarly diagnosed.</p> </blockquote> <p>As for coping with rude people, he offers the SIR strategy:</p> <ol> <li><em><strong>S</strong>tate</em> what the problem is. For example, if someone is talking loudly on his cell phone and it is bothering you, let him know he is bothering you.</li> <li><em><strong>I</strong>nform</em> the person she is bothering you, but don't berate her. Tell her, "When you do that, it prevents me from relaxing, and I would like to have the opportunity to relax. Do you think you could refrain from calling unless it's an emergency?"</li> <li><em><strong>R</strong>equest</em> the behavior be changed. "Say it very calm with poise, and project an aura of power and repose," Dr. Forni says. "The poised alternative is more effective in the long run."</li> </ol> <p>Are all the following reports true, or are they just a sign that we’re getting older and / or less “assertive”?</p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="540"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="135"><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=0071600213" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></td> <td valign="top" width="135"><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=0812967410" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></td> <td valign="top" width="135"><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=0066209579" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></td> <td valign="top" width="135"><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=1416575995" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="135"><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=0060539801" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></td> <td valign="top" width="135"><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=1588166937" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></td> <td valign="top" width="135"><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=1580084303" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></td> <td valign="top" width="135"><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bestplus-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&asins=0312302509" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>Sources / More info: <a title="Civic virtue" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civility" target="_blank">wiki-civility</a>, <a href="http://joinme.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page" target="_blank">joinme-wiki</a>, <a href="http://www.kaosfilms.com/Manners.html" target="_blank">kaos</a> (<a href="http://www.kaosfilms.com/MannersClip.html" target="_blank">clip</a>), <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wn/2849481328/" target="_blank">flickr</a>, <a title="Listen now: To Hell With Manners! The Decline of Civility on TV, eh? Blogtalkradio" href="http://www.tv-eh.com/2008/09/14/listen-now-to-hell-with-manners-the-decline-of-civility-on-tv-eh-blogtalkradio/" target="_blank">tv-eh</a>, <a title="The Tyee — To Hell with Manners!" href="http://thetyee.ca/Life/2008/09/19/NoManners/" target="_blank">tyee</a>, <a title="Now listen here - tonight's show is about manners" href="http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/arts/story.html?id=c27b9fe0-1451-4617-8d55-72f20b9243b4" target="_blank">candotc</a>, <a title="W-FIVE Presents: To Hell With Manners!" href="http://www.throng.ca/documentary/w-five-presents-to-hell-with-manners" target="_blank">throng</a>, <a title="Pointin' a finger at bad manners" href="http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/michele_mandel/2008/09/15/6767226-sun.html" target="_blank">tsun</a>, <a title="William Shatner narrates new doc about bad manners" href="http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Entertainment/20080919/to_hell_with_manners_080919/" target="_blank">ctvn</a>, <a title="Rudeness Is On The Rise, And It’s About Time We Gave A [BLEEP]!" href="http://ctvmedia.ca/ctv/releases/release.asp?id=10630&yyyy=2008" target="_blank">ctv-nr</a>, <a title="Civility in America" href="http://www.oprah.com/oprahradio/Civility-in-America" target="_blank">oprah</a>, <a title="Mind your manners" href="http://www.hour.ca/news/brief.aspx?iIDArticle=15577" target="_blank">hour</a>, <a href="http://www.civilityexperts.com/services-keynote.htm" target="_blank">civility experts</a>, <a title="Introducing the April 2010 issue of The Walrus" href="http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2010.04-editors-note-editors-note/" target="_blank">walrus</a>, <a title="The Decline in Civility" href="http://www.alternet.org/story/16459/the_decline_in_civility/" target="_blank">alternet</a>, <a title="Drive-Up Windows And The Decline Of Civility" href="http://www.useless-knowledge.com/1234/10mar/article010.html" target="_blank">useless-knowledge</a>, <a title="Director John Curtin comments on the decline of civility" href="http://mcgilldaily.com/articles/4468" target="_blank">mcgill</a>, <a title="Cyberbullying, Bad Law and the Decline of Civility" href="http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/11233" target="_blank">cfp</a>, <a title="Film on decline of civility taps UPEI professor's expertise" href="http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/Living/People/2008-09-18/article-1294414/Film-on-decline-of-civility-taps-UPEI-professors-expertise/1" target="_blank">guardian-pe</a>, <a title="Are we undergoing a modern decline of civility and politeness?" href="http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100523230322AAqVCRl" target="_blank">y!a</a>, <a title="Has thank you lost its meaning? (01/03/09)" href="http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podshows/4004102" target="_blank">dnto-thank-u</a> (<a href="http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/dnto_20090103_10187.mp3" target="_blank">mp3</a>), <a title="Mar. 20/09: Liar, liar..." href="http://www.cbc.ca/dnto/2009/03/mar-2009-liar-liar.html" target="_blank">DNTO-liar</a>, <a title="Texting During Meetings, the Decline of Civility" href="http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2010/05/24/texting-during-meetings-the-decline-of-civility/" target="_blank">wsj-texting</a>, <a title="The Decline of Civility and Respect" href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/Crime_Prevention/Civility_Respect/prweb2887254.htm" target="_blank">prweb</a>, <a title="problem with no problem" href="http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2010/07/05/problem_with_no_problem" target="_blank">salon</a>, <a href="http://www.observer.com/node/48302" target="_blank">nyo</a>, <a href="http://www.freehugscampaign.org/" target="_blank">free-hugs</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Hugs_Campaign" target="_blank">wiki-freehugs</a>, <a href="http://www.pronoia.net/" target="_blank">pronoia.net</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronoia_(psychology)" target="_blank">wiki-pronoia</a>, <a title="Telling lies for a better world?" href="http://www.bmartin.cc/pubs/03sa.html" target="_blank">bmartin-lies</a>, <a title="Etiquette, Civility and Good Manners" href="http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/index.cfm?page_id=7&bpn=779420&ts=2009-01-26%2020:00:35.0" target="_blank">tvo-manners</a> (<a title="Etiquette, Civility and Good Manners Published Date: 01/26/2009 | Length: 37:35 | Views: 300" href="http://www.tvo.org/TVO/WebObjects/TVO.woa?videoid?24661411001" target="_blank">clip</a>), <a title="The Subject of Etiquette is Back on the Table" href="http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2009/11/10/i_see_rude_peop_1.html" target="_blank">i-c-rude-ppl</a>, <a title="Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners By Laura Claridge" href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/9780375509216.html" target="_blank">emily-post</a>, <a title="How I fell in love with Emily Post By Jonathan Kay" href="http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=de1e1842-2053-4cb9-ae3d-18b9905f6cdd" target="_blank">np-ep</a>, <a title="Workplace Misdeeds Top Terrible Ten Rude Behaviors List" href="http://www.jhu.edu/news/home07/oct07/civility.html" target="_blank">jh</a>, <a title="Lista clipuri iutub civility (ib)" href="http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=DC7A87128278150E" target="_blank">yt-civility</a> </p> <p align="center"><object height="400" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/DC7A87128278150E&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/DC7A87128278150E&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="400" width="500"></embed></object></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:803cd86a-16e8-4776-a033-e8409bc4a9a1" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=civility" rel="tag">civility</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=polite" rel="tag">polite</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=politeness" rel="tag">politeness</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=etiquette" rel="tag">etiquette</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=netiquette" rel="tag">netiquette</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=manners" rel="tag">manners</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=miss+manners" rel="tag">miss manners</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=ms+manners" rel="tag">ms manners</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=advice" rel="tag">advice</a></div> <p align="center">.<!--embed src="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mediaplayer.swf?displayheight=&file=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eblogtalkradio%2Ecom%2Fstations%2Fbc%2Ftv%2Deh%2Fplay%5Flist%2Exml%3Fshow%5Fid%3D259040&autostart=false&bgcolor1=#000000&bgcolor2=#0099FF&footercolor=#000000&buttontextcolor=#FFFFFF&creditcolor1=#CCCCCC&creditcolor2=#7BBAE6&creditcolor3=#FFFFFF&bufferlength=3&volume=80&corner=rounded&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FlashPlayerCallback.aspx" width="180" height="152" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" menu="false"></embed--></p> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-3595365897899120982010-08-08T08:08:00.000-04:002010-08-08T12:56:25.573-04:00Joseph Campbell is smiling<span id="description">To offer a synthetic view of world myths might be an even more daunting task than to do the same with the world religions. Yet our hero has managed to do just that. We take a quick look at his legacy.</span><a name='more'></a> <p><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="Joseph Campbell" border="0" alt="Joseph Campbell" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TFu_NdGxteI/AAAAAAAAQkg/bcXXSinRRPs/JosephCampbell9.jpg?imgmax=800" width="154" height="154" />Let us start with some of his quotes: </p> <p></p> <div style="border-bottom: #000000 2px solid; border-left: #000000 2px solid; width: 500px; height: 300px; overflow: auto; border-top: #000000 2px solid; border-right: #000000 2px solid"> <ul> <li>Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls. </li> <li>The way to find out about happiness is to keep your mind on those moments when you feel most happy, when you are really happy — not excited, not just thrilled, but deeply happy. This requires a little bit of self-analysis. What is it that makes you happy? Stay with it, no matter what people tell you. This is what is called following your bliss. </li> <li>Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain. </li> <li>It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure. </li> <li>Wherever the poetry of myth is interpreted as biography, history, or science, it is killed. The living images become only remote facts of a distant time or sky. Furthermore, it is never difficult to demonstrate that as science and history mythology is absurd. When a civilization begins to reinterpret its mythology in this way, the life goes out of it, temples become museums, and the link between the two perspectives becomes dissolved. </li> <li>Love is a friendship set to music. </li> <li>Marriage is not a love affair. A love affair is a totally different thing. A marriage is a commitment to that which you are. That person is literally your other half. And you and the other are one. A love affair isn’t that. That is a relationship of pleasure, and when it gets to be unpleasurable, it’s off. But a marriage is a life commitment, and a life commitment means the prime concern of your life. If marriage is not the prime concern, you are not married. </li> <li>The adventure of the hero is the adventure of being alive </li> <li>A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. </li> <li>Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy. </li> <li>Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble. </li> <li>God is a metaphor for that which transcends all levels of intellectual thought. It's as simple as that. </li> <li>I don't have to have faith, I have experience. </li> <li>I think the person who takes a job in order to live - that is to say, for the money - has turned himself into a slave. </li> <li>Is the system going to flatten you out and deny you your humanity, or are you going to be able to make use of the system to the attainment of human purposes? </li> <li>Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning. </li> <li>The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature. </li> <li>Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths. </li> <li>Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging. </li> <li>When people get married because they think it's a long-time love affair, they'll be divorced very soon, because all love affairs end in disappointment. But marriage is a recognition of a spiritual identity. </li> <li>When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness. </li> <li>Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again. </li> </ul> </div> <p>If the quotes did in fact wet your appetite, you can further explore his influence with the following PDFs They all open in the window below.</p> <p>PDFs: [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/pdf/education/starwars/star_wars_teachers_notes.pdf&embedded=true" target="heroj">The Hero Cycle as seen in the Star Wars saga</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.thezensite.com/non_Zen/Jung_Christianity_and_Buddhism.pdf&embedded=true" target="heroj">Jung, Christianity and Buddhism</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.springerlink.com/index/y07854v477750057.pdf&embedded=true" target="heroj">Existential perspective in the thought of Carl Jung</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://orias.berkeley.edu/hero/JourneyStages.pdf&embedded=true" target="heroj">Joseph Campbell's Monomyth (Hero With A Thousand Faces)</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.fw.uri.br/publicacoes/literaturaemdebate/artigos/n3_2-WhatDoes.pdf&embedded=true" target="heroj">Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=https://www.msu.edu/~jdowell/pdf/JosephCampbellPathHero.pdf&embedded=true" target="heroj">Interpretations</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.tattooedmessiah.com/fromtheburrow/heroicjourney.pdf&embedded=true" target="heroj">The Heroic Journey</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.mythicjourneys.org/passages/august2005/question_of_meaning.pdf&embedded=true" target="heroj">The Question of Meaning</a>] [<a href="http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfvq5q72_33gnfcgfhk" target="heroj">Carl Jung from "Man and His Symbols" lecture notes</a>]</p> <iframe height="600" src="http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfvq5q72_33gnfcgfhk" frameborder="0" width="600" name="heroj" scrolling="yes" align="center">Loading...</iframe> <p>Sources / More info: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell" target="_blank">wiki-campbell</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_mythology" target="_blank">wiki-comp-myth</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth" target="_blank">wiki-monomyth</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero" target="_blank">wiki-hero</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Generation" target="_blank">wiki-lost-generation</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archetype" target="_blank">wiki-archetype</a>, <a title="The Hero with a Thousand Faces" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_With_a_Thousand_Faces" target="_blank">wiki-hero-1k</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Max_M%C3%BCller" target="_blank">wiki-muller</a>, <a title="Joseph Campbell quotes" href="http://thinkexist.com/quotes/joseph_campbell/" target="_blank">campbell-quotes</a>, <a title="Lista clipuri iutub Myth Campbell Jung (z)" href="http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=2169258EC580D665" target="_blank">yt-mit</a> </p> <p></p> <p align="center"><object height="400" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/2169258EC580D665&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/2169258EC580D665&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="400" width="500"></embed></object></p> <p>You can't have a Campbell retrospective without his amazing "Hero" book:</p> <p align="center"><object id="doc_189379508120244" name="doc_189379508120244" height="500" width="100%" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf" style="outline:none;" rel="media:document" resource="http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=9720271&access_key=key-1zaht50teoanog7wxz28&page=1&viewMode=list" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/searchmonkey/media/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" > <param name="movie" value="http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf"> <param name="wmode" value="opaque"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"> <param name="FlashVars" value="document_id=9720271&access_key=key-1zaht50teoanog7wxz28&page=1&viewMode=list"> <embed id="doc_189379508120244" name="doc_189379508120244" src="http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=9720271&access_key=key-1zaht50teoanog7wxz28&page=1&viewMode=list" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="500" width="100%" wmode="opaque" bgcolor="#ffffff"></embed> </object></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:504362b8-ad2c-4c8d-9173-7fbc04f2d199" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=myth" rel="tag">myth</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=mythology" rel="tag">mythology</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=comparison" rel="tag">comparison</a></div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659539858348354635.post-73309415218081995112010-08-02T08:19:00.001-04:002010-08-02T08:19:32.219-04:00Entrepreneurial journalism saving education<span id="description">I recently watched TED ny lecture where Jeff Jarvis, a Professor of Entrepreneurial Journalism talks about how the best lectures (MIT open courseware and others) are already online, so educators need to become curators and complementary to online content and also to involve their audience to a much greater degree.</span><a name='more'></a> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TFa30NG86ZI/AAAAAAAAQjc/B0_Z7wWi2jU/s1600-h/jeff_jarvis%5B7%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="jeff_jarvis" border="0" alt="jeff_jarvis" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TFa307uT52I/AAAAAAAAQjg/0tUCnrJp91o/jeff_jarvis_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="231" height="244" /></a>Here’s what I was able to take out of his lecture:</p> <ul> <li>You are the Audience – you know more than I do. The conversation must be happening there. Bullshit!</li> <li>Classroom – a system built for the industrial age, where we stamp out the students all the same with only one answer each.</li> <li>That assumes that all the knowledge flows from the lecturer; if you don’t feed it back, you are wrong – you fail.</li> <li>Similar to the newspaper [and TV]. One size fits all, one way, it’s the person with the newspaper who decides what questions to ask, what to answer, how to answer, in what form, you’re welcome. The journalist becomes the speaker, the <em>decider</em>.</li> <li>We should question the form and, more importantly, we should enable the students to question this form.</li> <li>Never seen a negative tweet from a TEDster – I wonder if they hand out the Soma in the [schwag] bags; Ironically – God bless irony – Chris Anderson, the curator, dean, professor, teacher, boss, had just issued a negative tweet about what Sarah Silverman had done – he apologized for her, then he apologized for the apology. As I was asking “what the hell did she do” (which took a long time to find out – turns out she used the word “retarded” in reference to Sarah Palin or her family), someone scolded me for using this tone: “TED gives us so much” and I said “What?” and she said “VALIDATION” – BUT THAT’s THE LAST THING WE NEED</li> <li>we need challenges, discussion and collaboration but what do schools and journalism do? they validate a lot. they also repeat a lot.</li> <li>we can no longer afford to repeat news that’s already out – EGO</li> <li>Why do we need thousands of instructors repeating the same lecture on, say, capillary action, when it’s already on YouTube? wasteful.</li> <li>One of his students, Joe Filipazzo (sp ?), is starting just that.</li> <li><strong>Educators, like journalists should become curators.</strong> The best stuff is already there.</li> <li>Rosenberg: </li> <ul> <li>In the real world, tests are all open-book and your success is inextricably determined by the lessons you glean from the free-market. (..) It’s easy to educate for the routine, hard to educate for the novel.</li> </ul> <li> <h3>If not the lecture hall, what is the model for this future world?</h3> </li> <li>He has previously mentioned the “distributed Oxford” – lecturers and tutors here and there. Once you become distributed, you have to ask: “do we really need an University / school / newspaper?”</li> <li>The tasks shift from creating and controlling the content and managing scarcity to curating people and content and creating an abundance of students and teachers. This is a world where anyone can teach and anyone can learn. Instead, we sell scarcity.</li> <li>We have to stop this culture of standardized testing and standardized teaching. Fuck the SATs!</li> <li>In the Google age, what is the point of teaching memorization as a skill? We should stop looking at education as a product, but rather as a process. In a world like that, mistakes are the Gold, mistakes are the lesson. Why don’t schools copy Google’s 20% rule?! In that case, the role of the school shifts from being a factory to being an incubator.</li> <li>Facebook tries to give schools “elegant organization”.</li> <li>So why didn’t he do that? He didn’t want to mess with the forum. You are not supposed to do that. Another answer: EGO.</li> </ul> <p>I shall discuss my opinions in a separate article. What do YOU think?</p> <p>Sources / More info: <a title="The End Of The Age Of Content" href="http://scottgould.me/the-end-of-the-age-of-content/" target="_blank">gould1</a>, <a title="The End Of The Age Of Content, Part 2" href="http://scottgould.me/the-end-of-the-age-of-content-part-2/" target="_blank">gould2</a>, <a title="Phone calls: An endangered species, killed off by social media?" href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/igeneration/phone-calls-an-endangered-species-killed-off-by-social-media/5756" target="_blank">zd-phone-dead</a>, <a title="Clive Thompson on the Death of the Phone Call" href="http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/07/st_thompson_deadphone/" target="_blank">wired-phone-dead</a>, <a title="Entrepreneurial Journalism - Why It's No Crime To Be Rich" href="http://www.nyvideoschool.com/blog/user/michael/Entrepreneurial-Journalism-Why-Its-No-Crime-To-Be-Rich" target="_blank">ent-j</a>, <a title="Real Tales: Education of the Entrepreneurial Journalist" href="http://fora.tv/2010/02/12/Real_Tales_from_the_Real_World_Education_of_the_Entrepreneurial_Journalist" target="_blank">fora</a>, <a title="JEFF JARVIS, author of What Would Google Do?" href="http://www.buzzmachine.com/about-me/" target="_blank">buzzmachine</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Jarvis" target="_blank">wiki-jeff-jarvis</a>, </p> <p align="center"><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rTOLkm5hNNU&color1=0xd6d6d6&color2=0xf0f0f0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rTOLkm5hNNU&color1=0xd6d6d6&color2=0xf0f0f0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:025e11af-2cc0-4ae2-b73d-96262523adb6" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.edutarian.com/" rel="tag">Edutarian</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=tedx" rel="tag">tedx</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=tedx+nyed" rel="tag">tedx nyed</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=ted+talks" rel="tag">ted talks</a>, <a href="http://www.edutarian.com/search?q=nynx" rel="tag">nynx</a></div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0