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Who is hot, who is not? Socrates decifers the Truth

Written by Juliet Bennett
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I want to kick off a mini Socratic series with a quirky YouTube clip staring Socrates and Plato: Who is hot, and who is not?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5tJV74Bew8[/youtube]

If I wasn’t studying philosophy I think it’d be quite rare to think “today I’m going to read about Socrates death sentence in Plato’s Apology”… but seeing as I am studying it, and seeing as reading Plato is an absolute delight, I thought in the next couple of posts I’d share my thoughts and favourite quotes with you on Socrates. 

When you read the words of Socrates, (through the written works of Plato) it is easy to see the wisdom he is so famous for. With humility and a few questions, Socrates makes sharp criticisms of the arrogant ignorance of other’s claims to wisdom.

Socrates walks around the streets of Athens asking people questions about life, war, justice and wisdom. He develops a reputation for being wise, yet this he denies:

‘The persons of whom I was speaking have a superhuman wisdom, which I may fail to describe, because I have it not myself; and he who says that I have, speaks falsely, and is taking away my character… I know that I have no wisdom, small or great..’

This Alain de Botton doco is great for imagining the scene of ugly Socrates pissing off the elites in Athens:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2rsiER-OnU[/youtube]

Part 2 – gotta love the Aussie accents… trust us happy Aussies to be the only ones answering questions about being happy 🙂

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28VIz9gg0po[/youtube]

Socrates encourages others to develop the confidence to question in times of conformity – he encourages us not to be blind sheep. Socrates teaches people in his society (and still in ours) that they are all capable to question, to overcome their lazy tendency to accept and conform, and to analyse the world and figure out what they really make of life, the universe and everything.

Socrates sought out those who were famous for their wisdom, and on questioning them discovers that they also know nothing. He concludes that he must be better off than they because at least he is aware of his lack of knowledge, which is one step ahead of those who think they know but don’t:

‘So I left him, saying to myself, as I went away: Well, although I do not suppose that either of us knows anything really beautiful and good, I am better off than he is – for he knows nothing and thinks that he knows.’

Of course, those wise people Socrates shows are not wise get a little peeved off. Those in power who Socrates shows don’t have genuine reasons for their actions, feel their authority being threatened by his questioning.

It’s not so unlike Wikileaks and the case of Julian Assange – when The Pyramid is challenged, those at the top aren’t too happy.

The five steps to good thought via the Socratic Method (quoting Alain de Botton in his documentary)

1. “Look around you for statements people would describe as plain common sense, for example, that the best jobs are those which are most highly paid, or that that happiness comes from being married.”

2. “Try to find an exception to this, could you ever be married and yet unhappy, or could you be in a very well paid job and yet miserable?

3. “If an exception to your statement is found, then it must mean that your statement is false, or at least imprecise.”

4. “Try to nuance the first statement to take the exception into account, so in our example realise that it is possible to be unhappy in a highly paid job that’s completely creatively unfulfilling, or to be miserable in a marriage if you’ve married the wrong person.”

5. “You continue this process for as long as possible, you keep trying to find exceptions to your common sense statement. And Socrates says that the truth, in so far as anyone is ever able to reach the truth, lies in a statement that it seems is impossible to disprove.”

Part 3 of Alain’s doco gives some context for Socrates trial:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNaeL7vdax8[/youtube]

Even his ‘ingenious riddle’ can’t save Socrates. Accused of the crime of encouraging the youth not to believe in the gods Plato writes this dialogue between Socrates and Meletus (a politician in power):

‘Did ever man, Meletus, believe in the existence of human things, and not of human beings? … Can a man believe in spiritual and divine agencies, and not in spirits or demigods?

– He cannot.

I am glad that I have extracted that answer… but if I believe in divine beings, I must believe in spirits or demigods; is not that true? Yes, that is true, for i may assume that your silence gives assent to that. Now what are spirits or demigods? Are they not either gods or the sons of gods? Is that true?

– Yes, that is true.

But this is just the ingenious riddle of which I was speaking: the demigods or spirits are gods, and you say first that I don’t believe in gods, and then again that I do believe in gods; that is, if I believe in demigods.’

Socrates makes such a good case for himself. The jury even agree to his logic and yet their own insecurities seem to cause them to find him guilty and condemn him to death.

I guess no matter how good  your logic, you can’t beat The Pyramid. You can’t win people via rational argument, you win them through emotions. Socrates fails to appeal to what the judge’s insecurities required of him – to cry and beg and promise to stop. Socrates knew this path was not the one he was supposed to take, so he held strong and proud of his claim to fame that: all we really know is that we know nothing. But more on this tomorrow.

…

“So it’s settled, Jessica Simpson is hot, high waisted jeans are not, and once again the Socratic Method arrives at the truth!”

…

Short personal note:

Coming across this Alain de Botton documentary on YouTube reminded me of his entire Philosophy as a Guide to Happiness series that I originally watched with my Opa a couple of years ago. I’d turn it on and my Opa would promptly fall asleep. Ah good memories. Interesting to remember this and see the seeds planted for the love of philosophy I have today.



Truth,

Pepsi: when they don’t have Coke.

Written by Juliet Bennett
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I don’t drink Coke except to satisfy the odd craving on a hot humid day like today. My only problem was that the corner shop didn’t have any. But they did have Pepsi. And it did the the job. It also reminded me of the The Invention of Lying, and this awesome (and very truthful) ad – “Pepsi: when they don’t have Coke.”

What would the world be like if we didn’t know how to lie? Would it be a better place? Well this movie shares one version of what this might look like. These are some of my favourite quotes:

Coke commercial:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfMmWOF_H88[/youtube]

On a date:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNhqLtXRP_c[/youtube]

You’re going to die:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXYvwEeWrm8[/youtube]

The man in the sky:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlX0Fk-701Q[/youtube]

When it comes to exploring the truth one has to wonder which truths are worth telling and which are better left unsaid?

Truth

Why does a JOKER trump four Kings? On Wit, Wisdom, and Whitehead.

Written by Juliet Bennett
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Have you ever wondered why one Joker can beat four Kings. I mean, what does a joker have, besides a funny hat? How does a character based on the Fool, kick all these kings’ asses?

I have been considering the relationship between seriousness and sarcasm, peace and tragedy, efforts to conserve and the innate drive to create… I think there is some kind of answer to this riddle here, somewhere, among far too many ideas I am juggling in my head.

Alfred North Whitehead, my current philosophy hero, writes:

‘Satire is the last flicker of originality in a passing epoch as it faces the onroad of staleness and boredom. Freshness has gone: bitterness remains.’ p277

Whitehead writes this at a time just after the First World War had blown apart many-a-person’s optimism. He questions what it means to be “civilized” and whether the West is in rise or decline. As he looks through history, at civilisations that have crumbled, and he says that it is satire – which in my analogy I am relating to the joker – is the last thing/man standing.

I love Whiteheads philosophies mainly because of their witty blatant honesty, and because he articulates so many of my values.

In his book Adventures of Ideas, he gives an exquisite account of Peace making it clear he is not talking about the “negative conception of anesthesia” or any limiting political notion of one nation’s peace at another’s peril. He says:

‘The experience of Peace is largely beyond the control for purpose. It comes as a gift. The deliberate aim at Peace very easily passes into its bastard substitute, Anesthesia. In other words, in the place of a quality of “life and motion,” there is substituted their destruction. Thus Peace is the removal of inhibition and not its introduction.’ p284

In the pursuit of peace it is easy to stop when one reaches a state of decadence – but that is where the peace becomes anesthetic, and everything in life starts its slow decline.

Peace is the antithesis of such anesthesia.

Whitehead is a “Process Philosopher” – he sees everything in the world in constant flux, always changing, always becoming.

Peace too is a process, not a final result. You “do” peace – you don’t “find” it, at least not until you die.

One of the signs to look for is REPETITION.

‘Repetition produces a gradual lowering of vivid appreciation. Convention dominates. A learned orthodoxy suppresses adventure.’ p276

We need to learn, and couple our new knowledge with reflectivity. We need to take the learned orthodoxy and make it our own. We need to take society’s conventions and go on some adventure with them. Rather than repeating the past, and lowering our appreciation for it, we need to change it – make every day different, make every moment a new one.

‘No static maintenance of perfection is possible. This axiom is rooted in the nature of things. Advance or Decadence are the only choices offered to mankind. The pure conservative is fighting against the essence of the universe.‘ p273

When you read my words, and the words I quote from Whitehead, I’m sure you agree with parts and disagree with other parts. It is this process of critical examination that we come to learn where we stand. We cannot know one without the other. Even the words I type are not static. When they leave my mind, go through my fingers, and are posted on the internet, they take on a life of their own. It is in your reading of them, and your interpretation of them, that they take on new meaning. Nothing in this universe is static.

Whitehead, like myself, equates Peace with Creativity, with Beauty and Truth and Adventure and Art. Whitehead, and I agree, believes that Tragedy also has an important role to play.

‘Decay, Transition, Loss, Displacement belong to the essence of the Creative Advance. The new direction of aim is initiated by Spontaneity, an element of confusion. The enduring Societies with their rise, culmination, and decay are devices to combine the necessities of Harmony and Freshness.‘ p284-5

‘Peace is the understanding of tragedy, and at the same time its preservation.’ p284

Peace involves both the harmonizing AND the clashing of people and ideas, in a societies’ various pursuits for satisfaction. 

Peace is Freedom. Peace is the freedom to pursue satisfaction, and the freedom to stop and decline or to define a new challenge when you get there. The adventure is ongoing, the evolution continues forever.

‘Without adventure civilization is in full decay.’ p278

You may notice a recent Whiteheadian influence on my blog as I absorb his categories and concepts and synthesize them with my own.

Although written 80 years ago, Whitehead’s ideas and insights are still relevant – and I think as much as the five qualities of Truth, Beauty, Adventure, Art and Peace apply to analyzing our society and civilization as whole, they also apply to our individual lives.

When I look at my life and the lives of people around me I wonder:

  • Does capitalism promote creativity or strip us of it?
  • Compared to past civilizations, are we more original or less?
  • What percentage of our  daily life is stale and boring?
  • What percentage of our lives is adventurous, spontaneous and novel?
  • Are we a people and a civilization on the rise, or in decline?
  • Is our satirical humor a sign that our kingdom will soon fall?
  • Is that why the Joker beats four Kings?

My eclectic choice in friendships reflects a value of laughter over money, a sense of humour over security, and witty wisdom over swords, politics and inhibitive institutions.

Clearly in my psyche the Joker trumps the King – how about in yours?

References:

All quotes are from Alfred North Whitehead, Adventures of Ideas, Cambridge University Press, 1964. Originally published in 1933 in London.
Picture:
Excerpt with that exemplary story of wit and wisdom came from A. H. Johnson, The Wit and Wisdom of Whitehead, Philosophy of Science. Vol. 13, No. 3 (Jul., 1946), pp. 223-251.
Academic, Truth

Stories, Boxes, and Things that Don’t Fit

Written by Juliet Bennett
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Christmas is full of stories and boxes, as are our lives. Every day, in every interaction, and in almost every thought, we seek to put the things we see, hear, smell, taste or feel in categorical boxes, and attach stories to them.

For a simple example think about the smells when your mum is cooking dinner – attached to that smell might be a story about the future taste and the soon-to-come experience of eating it at a table with loved ones.

We tell stories about people based on their race, religion, jobs, level of education, style of clothes, and even the suburb they live.

Why do we feel a need to box everything?

Are these boxes useful? How much truth is contained in the stories attached?

Boxes and their attached stories might give us an indication about the future, a story with a certain probability of manifestation, but a nice smelling dinner doesn’t guarantee it’s taste.

Even our life stories tend to fall into boxes. Our psyche is basically programmed to choose from the available cultural myths and live out one of them – the only difference between us is that our stories are acted out by a different set of characters and slightly varied themes and plots.

What kind of life myth boxes am I talking about? Well, for example,

The “The White Picket Fence” box is probably the most prominent myth of Western culture – where one desires to find a man/woman, get married, get a mortgage, and make babies to start a new White Picket cycle.

Then there’s the “Career-Ladder Climber”, the person dedicated to getting approval of those above them and slowly moving up corporate hierarchy.

And then there’s “The Religious Devotee” who spends their lives hoping for the approval of the divine, and eternal rewards that come with it.

There’s “The Wanderer”, the vagabonds, travellers, life-long bachelors, job-hoppers – people who commit to nothing other than their strong commitment not to commit.

And the “The Artist”, the writers, musicans, painters, etc., who spends their lives making creative statements about the actions and consequences of the boxes above.

I don’t define any of these boxes with judgment attached. Of course there are many more life-story boxes than these ones. And many people probably fit into more than one box.

Boxes – categories – come naturally to our minds. Almost without thinking we put people into one box or another, depending where we view the way they prioritise their life – on whether they seem to place a higher value in Security, Money, Success, Experience, or Art.

I feel I have, at different times in my life, experienced all of these boxes. In my teens I was a Religious Devotee; studying and working in Business I was a Career Ladder Climber; when I fell in love for the first time I aspired to the White Picket Fence (I even owned soccer mum Ralph Lauren Chinos dear oh dear); then I became a Traveller, and now I’m an aspiring Writer. Hm, I’m almost a cat – five lives down, four to go…

I don’t think these boxes are tickboxes, where you can only experience one at one time. I still carry different degrees of the other boxes with me – far more Traveller, a very different interest in religion, and almost zero interest in climbing any bureaucratic hierarchies or obtaining a white picket fence.

I’m trying to remember the point I wanted to make here…

Coming back to the Christmas gift analogy, some gifts do not fit inside a box. Maybe because they are an odd shape or size or nature. For whatever reason, not every gift should be put in a box, and I think the same for people’s life myths – our lives simply don’t always fit these molds.

McAdams believes ‘Human lives are too complex for a typological approach, and too socially inflected to support any argument that says the truth resides solely within… We do not discover ourselves in myth; we make ourselves through myth.’ [1]

In more recent times I think more and more people are jumping between boxes, creating a custom-made box combining a snippets of stories as we please.

Some women Climb the Career Ladder, skip the marriage, have a kid and continue their climb.

Some Travellers give up their roaming for a White Picket while some White Pickets bulldoze the fence to become Travellers or Artists.

Most of my school friends are married but never want to have kids.

And with today’s high rates of divorce it is normal to ask “is it your first?” when one hears another is getting married.

The Postmodern era has somewhat introduced an eclectic “Pick and Mix” approach to almost everything, including our live-stories. There are many combination of boxes one’s life story might fit. And people create new boxes all the time. We no longer have to choose one and live out the whole myth.

We can now sit and look at our lives from a hypothetical vantage point outside ourselves, see at all the available stories and combine them as we please.

Are you aware of the boxes you get put in, and the boxes you put others in? How do you box and add stories to things and experiences? What does your custom-made life-story box look like?

Photo

I bet you can’t find me in there. I’m there though… it was taken at a Church Youth Camp in 1996.

The camp’s motto “Let God Out Of The Box” is kinda ironic considering I don’t remember the camp considering the box they were putting “God” inside.

Theists (and atheists) seem to box God in the image of a Divine King on a thrown in the sky that will punish you if you are bad and reward you if you are good. Yet, at the same time, theists tend to conceive of “Him” more abstractly as the personification of an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient power… could God need to be let out of the Santa-Claus-like judge medieval box?

If religious and non-religious allowed their minds space to reflect on the boxes they put “God” inside, and to consider the question: “What is this thing we call God?” I wonder what we might discover. Could “God” not be something that you either believe in, or you don’t – could “God” simply be everything that is? When we die could we return to our the “oneness with God” where we came from, that is oneness with the universe, with heaven and hell states of being here on earth? Could the boxes we have created with our language (and history’s misinterpretations and manipulations) be distracting us from an underlying truth? I digress.

As we come up to the new year I wonder: is there anything we might like to let out of the box?

References:

[1] Dan P. McAdams, The Stories We Live By : Personal Myths and the Making of the Self (New York: Guilford Press, 1996). P12-13

Truth,

Preserving “The Pyramid” – the reason things are the way they are…

Written by Juliet Bennett
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“Things are the way they are because they have been designed to be this way,” a friend of mine said. “It’s all about preserving The Pyramid.”

What’s The Pyramid? Let me tell you…

“The Pyramid” (according to my friend) is a method of social, economic and political organisation that is at the core of every human civilisation from the Egyptians to Hindus to Monarchies to Capitalism.

All the big political conflicts come down to one thing: The Pyramid.

Conflicts are either initiated by people on top pulling strings to preserve or expand the present Pyramid; or conflicts are initiated by revolutionaries who disagree with the structure and seek to turn The Pyramid up-side-down.

As I thought through history, I realised my friend was right. The English and Spanish Conquest of the Americas, India, China… We seize land to expand our pyramid. We seize resources to secure our pyramid. We take down any leaders who don’t agree to it’s rules. We call anyone who challenges the Pyramid a “terrorist” and “national threat”. Why? Because they really are a threat to this hierarchy – and the people at the top do not like that.

From the Egyptians:

To the Hindu caste system:

To Capitalism today…

Globalisation has seen the pyramids of once isolated civilisations join together to create an even bigger pyramid. And as the upper and middle class grows, so does the lower class, hence as our global population rapidly expands, so does The Pyramid. The rich get richer as  the poor get poorer.

In the global pyramid, the top 0.5 billion earning over $20,000 a year (of which many earn far more, and a small number earning far far more than that) while 60% of the world’s population live on less than $2 a day.

The pyramid of wealth distribution looked at in another way shows the top 1% taking 2/3rds of the US national income…

How is such inequality allowed to persist?

Through a carefully constructed system that involves a “social distribution of knowledge” [1]. We educate some (the children of the monetarily rich) to make the system work for them, and educate others (the children of the not-so-money-rich) to work for the system.

Those in power know the formula: give people a reason to live (eg through career path or religion or an ideology) and educate them enough for their societal roles. No more, no less.

The system teaches people to obey authority, not to question it. It encourages conformity, a docile acceptance of the status quo.

According to my friend’s theory, all the “evils” of the world are there for a reason: to maintain The Pyramid. This includes:

  • Poverty is there because a massive base is needed to support the weight of the top.
  • War is there because it secures the resources required to make weapons and keep the system running as those at the top require.
  • Lack-of-education is there because in the social distribution of knowledge, not everyone needs to know stuff. All you need to know is what your role requires you to know, no more, no less.
  • Religion is there because it gives people a purpose. It explains the unknowns, it controls the masses, and it gives people hope for a better life next time round – be it up in heaven or in one’s reincarnation.
  • Debt is there because it contracts a permanent slave of those people and countries who work to repay it.

The destructive cycle is this: (1) as we seek to join the upper class  or move up the middle classes (a good thing), we inadvertently (2) increase the lower class – not such a good thing if this means 12 hour work days behind a sewing machine. Then, (3) as the base of the pyramid increases, so does poverty (families have less food and less land to provide), and (4) as poverty increases, education decreases and people have more babies, causing (5) the global population continues to explode and (6) as the earth’s resources recede it seems inevitable that, at some point in the future, billions of people’s lives  are going to be lost.

Should we challenge The Pyramid? Maybe. But to be honest I’m not sure that we can.

What happens when someone challenges the authority of The Pyramid? They get taken down. Just look what they are doing to Julian Assange!

History has shown Animal Farm scenarios time and time again: revolution upon revolution. When oppressive humans are kicked off the planet and animals declare themselves equal, it’s only a matter of time before pigs (or some other animal) will rise up and become the new oppressor.

The Pyramid has been torn down and built back up by a numerous groups who then take the place of the new rich and powerful. Whoever wins the battle replicates the model’s inequalities, and rewrites history to produce a new “social distribution of knowledge.” It’s an endless cycle.

Geez this is depressing. Where’s my Christmas spirit? Don’t get me started on Christmas… the capitalistic “Christian” tradition that is based on a pagan holiday inadvertently idolizing the “God” that declared “He” never wanted to be idolised. Ah sorry, I shouldn’t write it off like this. It is a lovely family time. I’ll try to uplift my words from here on…

If we can’t fight The Pyramid, should we embrace it? Maybe. Maybe there are ways of making it work without the above evils, I’m not sure.

Is inequality ok? Maybe. It’s impossible for everyone to be equal. And unappealing – diversity makes the world a more interesting place. And whose to say that the rich people are “rich”? Are those at the top of the pyramid “better off” than the people at the bottom? Life can be pretty boring if you have everything without the challenge. The poor might be much richer in different ways…

But it can’t be denied that it’s pretty shit that two-thirds of the world have no place to shit.

Maybe it’s best to live one’s life somewhere in the middle. Probably myself and most of you think of ourselves as somewhere in the middle (although earning more than $20k pa places us in the upper).

Even in the top segment of the pyramid if you have a mortgage and particularly if you have children, then choices become even more limited – we are culturally molded to work for the system. I wonder how many people at the very very top of The Pyramid are even consciously aware that they are creating or perpetuating it?

Is there anything wrong with being a cog in this wheel? No. I guess not – as long as you are happy. What if this happiness is just an illusion? Maybe living in an illusion is the best place to be. Should we be putting our efforts into finding ways to make the pyramid work for us? Maybe. But maybe not. Alternatives may exist, I’m not yet sure.

In sum, things are the way they are because they have been designed this way. Poverty, religion, education systems, health-related issues – all of our problems are (at least in part) designed to serve the powerful and preserve The Pyramid. If you want to address these problems in a way that is real and sustainable, then it will be useful for you to consider the power hierarchies within The Pyramid, and engage with those in decision-making positions to make changes toward more just institutions and hence a more just world.

When my friend first shared this theory I protested, now I’m coming around.

More on The Pyramid? Check out the sequel blog post Rethinking “The Pyramid” – do alternatives exist? and blog entries tagged “The Pyramid“.

Pictures:

I have a habit of grabbing pictures off Google Images and not recording the copyrights… if anyone would like me to acknowledge their work where I haven’t please do let me know.

References:

[1] The Social Construction of Reality, Berger and Luckmann 1966

 

Academic, Featured Posts, Truth, , , , , , ,

Flying like ducks

Written by Juliet Bennett
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All my life I have had a tendency to “go with the wind” so to say. It hasn’t been a completely submissive relationship. It sounds strange to say but the wind has tended to listen to my requests.  It blows me around a little but eventually it tends to deliver me to my desired destination.

This clip of these cute little ducks reminded me of my journey.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEBLt6Kd9EY[/youtube]

At times these ducks get so knocked around that you worry the wind could kill them. But it’s gentle enough. The ducklings fall down and roll around, but they do (eventually) get back up again.

That has been my experience with the wind of life too. Sometimes it is so rough that you think you’re outta here. But then it stops throwing you around and like the mother duck leads, a door opens or a light goes on, and you continue on your way.

Truth

Support Wikileaks Protest – Sydney Town Hall Tomorrow

Written by Juliet Bennett
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I’ve never been much of a hands-on activist. While I support many causes, I tend to action my support in different ways. But tomorrow’s protest is different. Tomorrow is about making a stand for our fundamental freedoms, for democracy, free media and free speech. The more people who turn up the more this voice will be heard. So if you are in Sydney then come with me to the Support WikiLeaks Rally at 1pm at TOWN HALL tomorrow (Friday the 10th December). Otherwise sign the petition here – http://www.avaaz.org/en/wikileaks_petition/?vl

I haven’t got time to put the WikiLeaks situation into my own words so below are words taken from a Ricken Patel – Avaaz.org email and Antony Loewenstein’s Press Release.

“Ever wonder why the media so rarely gives the full story of what happens behind the scenes? This is why – because when they do, governments can be vicious in their response. And when that happens, it’s up to the public to stand up for our democratic rights to a free press and freedom of expression. Never has there been a more vital time for us to do so.

Legal experts say WikiLeaks has likely broken no laws. Yet top US politicians have called it a terrorist group and commentators have urged assassination of its staff. The organization has come under massive government and corporate attack, but WikiLeaks is only publishing information provided by a whistleblower. And it has partnered with the world’s leading newspapers (NYT, Guardian, Spiegel etc) to carefully vet the information it publishes.

The US government is currently pursuing all legal avenues to stop WikiLeaks from publishing more cables, but the laws of democracies protect freedom of the press. The US and other governments may not like the laws that protect our freedom of expression, but that’s exactly why it’s so important that we have them, and why only a democratic process can change them.

Reasonable people can disagree on whether WikiLeaks and the leading newspapers it’s partnered with are releasing more information than the public should see. Whether the releases undermine diplomatic confidentiality and whether that’s a good thing. Whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has the personal character of a hero or a villain. BUT none of this justifies a vicious campaign of intimidation to silence a legal media outlet by governments and corporations.

The massive extra-judicial intimidation of WikiLeaks is an attack on democracy. We urgently need a public outcry for freedom of the press and expression.” [1]

Sign the petition to stop the crackdown:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/wikileaks_petition/?vl

Forward this message to everyone — let’s get to 1 million voices!”

If you are in Sydney then show your support at the “Support WikiLeaks Rally” – TOMORROW (Friday the 10th December) at 1pm at TOWN HALL:

“MEDIA RELEASE — MEDIA RELEASE — MEDIA RELEASE — Support Wikileaks rally called

Supporters of the website Wikileaks will mobilise on Friday (10/12/10) to protest against the backlash it has faced for its release of more than 250,000 US government cables.

The protest will hear from independent journalist Antony Loewenstein, award-winning author of My Israel Question. Pirate Party spokesperson Simon Frew will also speak. Other speakers will be announced soon.

The rally date coincides with International Human Rights Day. Rally organisers say the Australian government has failed to uphold the human rights of Wikileaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange.

“The Australian government should be ashamed for its attacks on Wikileaks, which has been charged with no crime”, spokesperson Simon Butler said.

“Australia should not join the campaign to censor Wikileaks. Wikileaks has released evidence of government lies and duplicity — information that, as citizens, we have a right to know.

“We want the Gillard government to make sure Julian Assange has the same basic rights as every other Australian citizen. Threats have been made against Assange’s life, the Australian government has a duty to protect him, not threaten him.”

Butler said community support for Wikileaks was very high. “We expect a good turnout to the rally. There is a great deal of anger at what’s happening. The bid to silence Wikileaks threatens the rights of everyone.” [2]

The email from Ricken Patel – Avaaz.org includes these SOURCES:

Law experts say WikiLeaks in the clear (ABC)
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2010/s3086781.htm

WikiLeaks are a bunch of terrorists, says leading U.S. congressman (Mail Online)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1333879/WikiLeaks-terrorists-says-leading-US-congressman-Peter-King.html

Cyber guerrillas can help US (Financial Times)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d3dd7c40-ff15-11df-956b-00144feab49a.html#axzz17QvQ4Ht5

Amazon drops WikiLeaks under political pressure (Yahoo)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101201/tc_afp/usdiplomacyinternetwikileakscongressamazon

“WikiLeaks avenged by hacktivists” (PC World):
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/212701/operation_payback_wikileaks_avenged_by_hacktivists.html

US Gov shows true control over Internet with WikiLeaks containment (Tippett.org)
http://www.tippett.org/2010/12/us-gov-shows-true-control-over-internet-with-wikileaks-containment/

US embassy cables culprit should be executed, says Mike Huckabee (The Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/01/us-embassy-cables-executed-mike-huckabee

WikiLeaks ditched by MasterCard, Visa. Who’s next? (The Christian Science Monitor)
http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2010/1207/WikiLeaks-ditched-by-MasterCard-Visa.-Who-s-next

Assange’s Interpol Warrant Is for Having Sex Without a Condom (The Slatest)
http://slatest.slate.com/id/2276690/

My sources:

[1]
Avaaz.org is a 6.4-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people shape global decision-making. (“Avaaz” means “voice” or “song” in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 13 countries on 4 continents and operates in 14 languages. To contact Avaaz, go to www.avaaz.org/en/contact.

[2]

Antony Loewenstein is a Sydney-based independent freelance journalist, author, documentarian, photographer and blogger.

http://antonyloewenstein.com/2010/12/07/wikileaks-support-protest-in-sydney-on-friday

The rally will take place at Sydney Town Hall @ 1pm, Friday December 10.

Rally information: Kylie Gilbert 0451 827 693

Media contact: Simon Butler 0421 231 011

Peace, Truth,

Hypatia, my new heroine

Written by Juliet Bennett
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It was the burgeoning of the Dark Ages – a time where a blog like mine that questioned the “truth” would have me (like my new heroine the philosopher Hypatia was) called a witch, stripped naked, skinned alive, torn into pieces and burned.

Tonight I saw Agora, a movie with Rachel Weisz set in Roman Egypt in the 4th century AD, around the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire. It is based on the book The Rise and Fall of Alexandria (2007) and was a pretty good film that (for better or worse) reminded me of those earlier dark dark periods of human history.

Of course Hypatia wasn’t the only one to experience the wrath of brainwashed barbarians (I need not mention the witch hunts, inquisitions and crusades that followed) but after two hours of admiring this curious and courageous thinker, it wasn’t the most satisfying ending to the epic. Don’t worry, they don’t actually skin her on screen – this was my post-movie research discoveries.

Geez humanity sucks.

“It’s the pyramid,” said my friend as we left the cinema. He’s a touch more cynical than me. “There will always be horrors and injustices, it takes different forms but it’s always there – it’s simply human nature. It’s the way we organise our societies, it’s the way those with power control the masses.”

Not least of the horrors of the movie was the reminder of the oppression of women, when a beloved student of the philosophy teacher is read a bible verse that says a woman is not allowed to have influence over a man.

That being said there are some great quotes, my favourite two:

1. When accused of believing “in nothing,” Hypatia says strongly, “I believe in philosophy”.

2. When her student tries to persuade her to get baptised she explains, “Synesius, you don’t question what you believe, or you cannot… But I must.“

It is worth noting that while the movie is positioned around the burning of the Alexandria Library, my quick googling did reveal a little controversy surrounding the exact historical location of the event. Some blame Caesar 400 years earlier (even though books from the library were recorded to have existed after this date), and others (an anti-Muslim) blame Omar (a Muslim)… I guess everyone wants a scape goat. I definitely wouldn’t want to have the burning of knowledge attached to my name.

Either way the cycle of book burnings, of re-writing history, and of the (ab)use of religion in the name of power, is a story that seems to repeat itself periodically as the next empire rises and falls.

I wonder if next time, now with our growing library of knowledge on the internet, are we more safe or less? Will the fire be replaced with a virus that wipes history from our memory?

What baffles me the most of about such history, is that it happened such a short time ago. 370 AD is less than 18 of my Opa’s lifetimes and the Dark Ages finished only around four of my Opa’s life times ago! So while all this might be classified as “ancient history”, it is really not long ago at all. The deep-seeded collective memories this movie retells reminds us of where we have come from and the psychological issues that have probably been passed onto us and may still be living on today.

I guess the biggest irony of it all is that we stupid humans still allow and go out to fight barbaric wars with guns and bombs and innocent lives being ruined, all of which is convinced to us still under some kind of manipulative fear-driven ideological or religious banner.

All I can say is that I hope my friend’s comments on human nature are wrong. I hope that somehow we humans can smarten up, learn from the past, get over our fears, and reclaim the curious and courageous humanity that Hypatia presents.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTZZHPR5kEo[/youtube]

Truth,

“The surprising truth about what motivates us”

Written by Juliet Bennett
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Money is a motivator, but only so much as if you don’t pay enough they won’t be motivated. Dan Pink says, in this RSA production, that after this basic benchmark is reached there are three factors that lead to better performance and personal satisfaction:

1. Autonomy – desire to be self directed

2. Mastery – be challenged and grow/learn from it

3. Purpose – make a contribution / be part of some kind of transcendent purpose

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc[/youtube]

I think this sums up my own motivations, and not just for work. At times that I feel my life is lacking in autonomy, mastery and purpose, it doesn’t matter how much money I am earning I do not feel particularly excited about getting up in the morning. A lack of these things in the things I do daily seems to lead me toward procrastination, dissatisfaction, and depression.

I wonder how the naming of these motivational factors might be useful in future work and life decisions…

For lots of amazing videos check out RSA: http://comment.rsablogs.org.uk/videos/

Truth