The Carnage of Law
After watching this hilarious and dark and serious film I was compelled to point to it as a great exemplification of a feeling that is particular to our time, in the way that existentialism was particular to the early 20th century. In this film you will encounter something that has become a norm, when people [...]
Reality Mic Check…Occupying Spring
This is a difficult post to write, especially since I am so partial to the whole notion of a human-centered movement that brings about a more sustainable approach to civilization. However, I feel it is time for the gadflies to begin flying around our upcoming Occupy Season to arouse the kind of introspection that will [...]
Self Diagnosis
If I grew up in today’s world I would be diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Disorder because of my daydreaming…I would be diagnosed with Asperger’s because of my fantasy life…and I would be diagnosed with bipolar disorder because of the intense despair I felt about the way people treated one another. When I was a [...]
An Inappropriate Truth #2 – The Confederacy of Dunces
In my experiences as an activist and member of intellectual groups I have noticed a tendency for the idiots in the group to band together with one another and resist the more intelligent members because they find them threatening. This makes all efforts to organize and create change subject to the debilitating loss of consciousness, [...]
Real Konversation
First of all I support any campaign to cease violence, especially of the sort practiced by this person Kony, who is unquestionably horrible in the extreme. So, for that reason I am sharing this video, but I want to state very cautiously that I do so as part of a larger project to end worldwide [...]
Akbar’s Book Club #2 – Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
In this continuing series, I will share the book I am currently reading and invite others to read it, and have a discussion below. Remember, no spoilers. I chose this book because I have heard, like many books, that this one suffers much from over-saturation in our culture and that it is a classic for [...]
Open Letter to David Graeber and Chris Hedges…
After watching the video interview of Chris Hedges, and reading the follow up letter by David Graeber (both below) concerning the Black Bloc occupy tactics, I wrote my own open letter. Please share. Open Letter to David Graeber and Chris Hedges Dear Distinguished Dudes, As a member of this ‘struggle’ I cannot help but see [...]
The Anonymous Survival Guide
For your reading pleasure I recently found this…Be warned, it’s a little frightening…click the link below to download the 15 page pdf… Click Here for Main Page
The Horror – Suicide and Condiments
For the last 2 years suicides among U.S. Troops were greater than the number of troops killed in battle. I heard this on the Smiley and West show on NPR…as they reported the top under-reported stories of the year. Click Here to Listen (relevant story at 10:30) As I was sitting in a diner [...]
Barbarians at the Gates…
It has long been the interpretation of historians that the spread of liberal education across America led to a radicalization of the youth in the 1960s and 70s, and some have implied that there was, in response to this, an effort to denude education of those elements that lead young people to think in revolutionary ways, by associating the goals of education, not with moral or ethical transcendence, but as a means toward financial security. As an accident of this process, critical thinking has given way to discipline as the overarching theme of educational development. In other words the metaphor of the poet, as a model of educational mastery, has given way to the ethic of the soldier.
Education…2.0
education has been a running theme for us lately, and i found this clip…i don’t really have any strong opinions on the matter any more, as i don’t think the structure is very important. i think education arises out of the moral fitness of a society, and kids that grow up loved and supported naturally [...]