Very good stories that explains the ongoing maelström – and that – the economy is NOT the real problem

Our real problem is - the western tradition of thought - that prevent us from real thinking; according to the fundamentals that the ancient Greeks gave us - that is the base for the western civilisation.

However, here and there are vital fragments of dynamic insights - listen to what Niall Ferguson says.

Niall Ferguson asks what constitutes a vibrant and independent civil society in Part 4 of The Rule of Law and Its Enemies: 2012 - Civil And Uncivil Societies

All parts are great - especially the last

The Reith Lectures
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003drl8

Niall Ferguson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niall_Ferguson


And here are words that pinpoint the black hole – that is today.



The London riots 2011 from the inside

2011 England riots
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_England_riots

'I broke the law and paid the price. But what I learned in prison fills me with dread if the rioters rampage again'

"He disgraced the  war dead - and his Pink Floyd father  - when he swung from the Cenotaph. Here he breaks his silence to apologise ... and to deliver a grim warning" Charlie Gilmour, 7 July 2012

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2170274/CHARLIE-GILMOUR-I-broke-law-paid-price-But-I-learned-prison-fills-dread-rioters-rampage-again.html

Charlie Gilmour
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathcote_Williams
#Private_life




Banksy's war on London: in pictures

"Banksy's One Nation Under CCTV mural was painted just off Oxford Street, London's commercial centre. It was painted over by Westminster Council shortly afterwards"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/8970461/Banksys-war-on-London-in-pictures.html




This global financial fraud and its gatekeepers

"The media's 'bad apple' thesis no longer works. We're seeing systemic corruption in banking – and systemic collusion" Naomi Wolf , 14 July 2012 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/14/global-financial-fraud-gatekeepers



How Big Banks Run the World - at Your Expense 

Gar Alperovitz,  professor of political economy, 08 June 2012

http://truth-out.org/news/item/9658-how-big-banks-run-the-world-at-your-expense

He refer to:Victoria Grant






Why is Nobody Freaking Out About the LIBOR Banking Scandal?

Matt Taibbi, July 3, 2012

"But to me what’s missing from all of this is the “Holy Fucking Shit!” factor."

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/why-is-nobody-freaking-out-about-the-libor-banking-scandal-20120703



Cowboy bankers

In the Balance
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00txv1v

8 July 2012

"As a criminal enquiry opens into bank rate-rigging, Lesley Curwen and her guests debate whether banks have lost sight of their true purpose, and whether the solution involves cutting bonuses and addressing conflicts of interest."

"This week's guests are Dan Ariely, Professor of Psychology and Behavioural Economics at Duke University, author Clark McGinn who worked for 20 years at Royal Bank of Scotland, and Henrietta Royle, an ex-banker and Chief Executive of consultancy Fanshawe Haldin."



About a  whistleblower within the banking system

A whistleblower emerges from the shadows, Rick Rothacker

"For nearly three years, as Kyle Lagow struggled to find work and his finances crumbled, he kept a secret from nearly everyone he knew, including his wife: He was a whistleblower."  Jul 13, 2012

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/13/us-bankofamerica-whistleblower-idUSBRE86C0TI20120713



Imagining the Unthinkable The Disastrous Consequences of a Euro Crash

Part 1:  The Disastrous Consequences of a Euro Crash
Part 2:  Companies Envision Possible Scenarios
Part 3:  'Consequences of Disaster Would Spread Like a Tidal Wave'

06/25/2012

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/fears-grow-of-consequences-of-potential-euro-collapse-a-840634.html

Also

Interview with Jean-Claude Juncker
'Europe Will Either Succeed or Fail Together' 07/16/2012

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/euro-group-president-juncker-discusses-path-forward-in-euro-rescue-a-844453.html

Jean-Claude Juncker
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Claude_Juncker



Europe’s Great Illusion
Paul Krugman, July 1, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/opinion/krugman-europes-great-illusion.html



Stiglitz: It's the politics, stupid!

June 29 2012

" - There are no grounds for optimism when it comes to the euro zone crisis, politicians and voters lack the solidarity and will to fix it, says Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz."


"Joseph Stiglitz Sees Terrifying Future for America If We Don't Reverse Inequality. What will life look like down the road if we don't reverse economic inequality? We must see through the myths of capitalism and build a mass movement if we are to save ourselves."







How the Garbage Pickers of Athens Predicted the Greek Economic Crisis

Jennifer Hattam, 020712

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2012/07/how-garbage-pickers-athens-predicted-greek-economic-crisis/2425/



The Sharp, Sudden Decline of America's Middle Class

"They had good, stable jobs - until the recession hit. Now they're living out of their cars in parking lots." Jeff Tietz, June 25, 2012

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-sharp-sudden-decline-of-americas-middle-class-20120622



Gunmen set fire to Microsoft office in Athens

27 June 2012

"The head of Microsoft Greece, Ernst-Jan Stigter, says gunmen rammed a van packed with gas canisters into the tech giant's Athens headquarters, before they set the vehicle on fire. The attack happened in the early hours of Wednesday, and no staff were at work. According to police at least two people wielding pistols and a machine gun kept security guards away as they carried out the attack."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/video/2012/jun/27/microsoft-greece-attacked-video



The Life and Ideology of The New Terrorists

Corriere della Sera, 12 July 2012

“This is war, not a game of cards”. Militant enthuses: “They got the guns out in Greece. It was great”. Institutions and “peace-loving” reformers targeted”

http://www.corriere.it/english/12_giugno_14/new-terrorists_6452bb6a-b62a-11e1-a717-30326103327c.shtml



Spray Paint and Foment: Street Art from Athens

Jun 19, 2012
http://www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2012-06-19/spray-paint-and-foment-street-art-from-athens.html

Last Call For Departure From the Western Terror

#anonymous #globalrevolution #globalspring #indignados #occupy #ows


Some words and links to gear up

- Intro: The Missing Substance – To The Ongoing Global Protests – 1789, 1848, 1968, 1989 and Now 2012

- Shortcut to get what it is all about


Beginning of the stuff that I soon will publish

Intro: The Missing Substance – To The Ongoing Global Protests – 1789, 1848, 1968, 1989 and Now 2012

The Hidden Historical Facts, The Crucial Question Reveal How It Is

We believe we can think and talk freely. We can not. Hidden rules cut out real thinking. These rules were made by the church in the middle ages to force people to be obedient. These concealed rules still control us. Therefore, we can feel frustration – but can’t find a way out – because the system is made to work this way. You have, simply, no words or relations that can give any real meaning. You can complain. But you can’t form the next step. Every alternative to what is established is doomed to be regarded as stupid. This system, this vicious circle – where Might is the only Right – is usually called the Western tradition of thought or the Western mind-set.

When we have gotten rid of these hidden rules we will be able to take care of our opportunities and of each other.

The Real Enlightenment has begun – to reach real thinking, real science, real democracy and to end the suffering that The Western Curse ignites.

...

The rest will follow in same days.

I will also publish the first chapters to a new section in my Swedish book:.Så knullar staten Din själ / This Is How The State Fuck Your Mind, www.staten.co.nr


Shortcut to get what it is all about

You get the most of it in the famous interview of Martin Heidegger:

Martin Heidegger, Der Spiegel Interview
Rudolf Augstein and Georg Wolff
23 September 1966; published May 31 1976.
http://lacan.com/heidespie.html

Martin Heidegger (1889–1976)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heidegger

-Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heidegger


There can not be any doubt that Heidegger was the last, so-called philosopher, in the western tradition. In this interview Heidegger pinpoint the wall – what he – and we – refuse to talk about. This is the ”Geworfensein” – the word Heidegger invented to catch that we are thrown out of our own lives – because we are forced to not talk about the essential stuff.

....

Update 17 June 2012: Here is a good example of the accepted hidden relations. Björk has this introduction to her new album Biophilia



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Björk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biophilia_(album)
....

The result of terror – denial – can only be suffering – and the turmoil of today. So, I cut up the wall of taboo – and the Western mindset will be gone.

Read the latest The Economist, Jun 9th 2012. They have a perfect cartoon of the ship “The World Economy” sinking. The World Economy IS of course the western tradition of thought or the western mind-set – what else can it be – we are sinking – because we are trained to be like stones.
http://www.economist.com/node/21556577

Only the cartoon
http://media.economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/full-width/images/print-edition/20120609_LDP001_0.jpg

Short description of how they made the Western mind-set by trashing our ability to grasp dynamics. Or this is how Aristotle was, and are, censored:

Get Rid of Our Final Taboo! – The Human Ability to Create is Thinkable
http://staten-hyperdialog.blogspot.se/p/get-rid-of-our-final-taboo.html


Also Here

- Probably down below - do not click

25 MAY 2012
The Imperial Downfall - And As Usual There Are No Fucking Barbarians That Can Take Care Of It All
http://hyperdialog.blogspot.se/2012/05/imperial-downfall-and-as-usual-there.html

09 MAY 2012
The best about Here and Now - 2012 - The Foundation
http://hyperdialog.blogspot.se/2012/05/best-about-here-and-now-2012.html

Science Fiction Turns To Real Terror

At first there is a very, very, nice movie WITH Ray Bradbury at The Hyperpicture
http://hyperpicture.blogspot.com/2012/06/ray-bradbury.html


Update: Ray Bradbury, The Art of Fiction No. 203, Interviewed by Sam Weller, The Paris Review, Spring 2010, No. 192

"You can’t learn to write in college. It’s a very bad place for writers because the teachers always think they know more than you do—and they don’t. They have prejudices."

http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6012/the-art-of-fiction-no-203-ray-bradbury


Then there is this real art turns to real agony gem:

On the Natural History of Surveillance
Adam Rotstein, 6 June, 2012
http://rhizome.org/editorial/2012/jun/6/natural-history-surveillance

Rotstein links to:
Surveillance in Science Fiction
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science_List_Detail.asp?BT=Surveillance

The Julian Assange Show: Cypherpunks

5 June 2012

Good marketing: Dangerous Liaisons: Assange guests targeted in FBI sting


5 June 2012

Get More Bost and Cutler - Now!

Mike Bost explosion: One of the best political rants you’ll ever see: "Illinois state Rep. Mike Bost’s (R) explosion on the floor of the Illinois state House may go down in history as one of the great political rants of all time." Aaron Blake, 053012

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/mike-bost-explosion-one-of-the-best-political-rants-youll-ever-see/2012/05/30/gJQAnzZc2U_blog.html


Mike Bost
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Bost






Ivor Cutler (1923–2006)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivor_Cutler

Looking for Truth with a Pin (Ivor Cutler Documentary) [1/6]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmEARHNmsZg

The Imperial Downfall - And As Usual There Are No Fucking Barbarians That Can Take Care Of It All

… there are no barbarians any longer


Now what’s going to happen to us without barbarians?


Those people were a kind of solution.

Constantine Cavafy

In BBC Magazine, 25 May 2012, there is a good text that compare today with the fall of the Roman Empire (- i.e. it can´t be hidden any more).

Viewpoint: The time Britain slid into chaos, The social unrest, economic gloom and austerity in Europe today mirrors one of the greatest crises in British history, says the historian Michael Wood.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18159752


The same day, 25 May 2012, in The Wall Street Journal: New signs of a global slowdown are darkening the economic outlook.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304840904577423961992317658.html

....

Update 19 July 2012: America's fascination with the apocalypse
BBC, 19 July 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18877449



Update 17 June 2012: The Perils of Ignoring History -This Time, Europe Really Is on the Brink, A Commentary by Niall Ferguson and Nouriel Roubini 12 June 2012

The European Union was created to avoid repeating the disasters of the 1930s, but Germany, of all countries, has failed to learn from history. As the euro crisis escalates, Berlin should remember how the banking crisis of 1931 contributed to the breakdown of democracy across Europe. Action is urgently needed to stop history from repeating itself.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/the-germans-have-learned-nothing-from-history-a-838429.html





Update 25 May 2012: Theresa May: we'll stop migrants if euro collapses - The Government is drawing up plans for emergency immigration controls to curb an influx of Greeks and other European Union residents if the euro collapses, the Home Secretary discloses today.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/9291493/Theresa-May-well-stop-migrants-if-euro-collapses.html


....

However, the ultimate text about this topic is Waiting for the Barbarians by Constantine Cavafy (1863–1933).




Text: Waiting for the Barbarians
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/181780

W. H. Auden has/had also some good points.



Text: The Fall of Rome
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=14280


But, back to Cavafy, to reach out for the full story - Ithaka:

When you set sail for Ithaca,
wish for the road to be long,
full of adventures, full of knowledge.


Please, note that the translation in the video is much better.



Text: Ithaka
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/181782


Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_P._Cavafy

The Cavafy Archive website
http://www.cavafy.com/


W. H. Auden (1907-1973)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._H._Auden


Roman Empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire

Ithaca or Ithaka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaca

Odysseus, king of Ithaca
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseus

Odyssey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey

The best about Here and Now - 2012 - The Foundation

Photo: David Shankbone http://blog.shankbone.org

Occupy Wall Street September 28, 2011

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann _Wolfgang_von_Goethe

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johann _Wolfgang_von_Goethe #Elective_Affinities_.281808.29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elective_Affinities

Here is the best that has been written about Europe right now - so far - and what I know of. Even if it is was written almost one year ago – but nothing has changed since then.

"... The young protesters' demands are modest. They want more citizen involvement, a reform of voting rights and curbs on the power of banks. One of the protest signs reads: "We are not against the system. The system is against us."

... It is also Europe's current state that prompts Frenchmen like Julien Boyer to head out to the Place Bellecour in Lyon every evening at 7 p.m. "The free republic," one of the banners reads. Phrases like "Let's be outraged!" "They're our banks!" and "Democracy 2.0" appear on other banners ...

 ... "One of the old officers said to me: Our revolution was easy. We had one enemy: the Portuguese government and the dictator. But who are you fighting?" ..."

From:  Fighting (for?) Europe - How European Elites Lost a Generation

"The European Union is in bad shape. Not only is the common currency in a shambles and the economies of many member states moribund, but young Europeans no longer see how the EU helps them. Millions of them are taking to the streets to demand a future. By Spiegel Staff" 230611

Read it all:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/
0,1518,769831,00.html


And more:


Spiegel Interview with Francis Fukuyama 'Where Is the Uprising from the Left?'

”Political scientist Francis Fukuyama was once the darling of American neo-conservatives. In a SPIEGEL interview, the author of "The End of History" explains why he now believes that the excesses of capitalism are a threat to democracy and asks why there is no "Tea Party on the left." 020112

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/
0,1518,812208,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Fukuyama


Those Revolting Europeans
Paul Krugman, 060512

”The French are revolting. The Greeks, too. And it’s about time.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/opinion/
krugman-those-revolting-europeans.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Krugman


Outrage against Apathy - Occupy Movement Hopes for New Lease on Life

By Wiebke Hollersen, 050312

"The Occupy movement got off to a great start last fall, but living in a tent camp seemed less attractive during the Northern European winter. Now that spring is back, activists are hoping for a protest renaissance. But the loose-knit group still needs to figure out what it actually stands for."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/
0,1518,830906,00.html


In Sweden they produce strange arguments - to hide the simple fact that the protests are censored - deemed to be political incorrect. For example:

 “Betydelsen av att vara indignerad, I Sydeuropa har proteströrelserna engagerat hundratusentals människor. "Los indignados" kallas rörelsen som enar de som upprörs över hur den ekonomiska utvecklingen drabbar gemene man, samtidigt som demokratin hamnar på undantag när teknokrater tar över rodret. Hedvig Weibull om varför rörelsen hamnat i skymundan i svenska medier”

Sveriges radio, Kulturnytt, 250412
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid
=478&artikel=5079135

Why Nations Fail (or prosper) - Enjoy The Lecture!

Here is the link to to a very good lecture about: Why Nations Fail and down below is about the book the lecturer, has co-written.

To the video that is in my place for such stuff: Hyperpicture
http://hyperpicture.blogspot.se/2012/04/why-nations-fail-origins-of-power.html



20 May 2012 Update

The New York Review of Books

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson

By Jared Diamond, June 7, 2012

Diamond´s final remark:

Why Nations Fail should be required reading for politicians and anyone concerned with economic development. The authors’ discussions of what can and can’t be done today to improve conditions in poor countries are thought-provoking and will stimulate debate. Donors and international agencies try to “engineer prosperity” either by foreign aid or by urging poor countries to adopt good economic policies. But there is widespread disappointment with the results of these well-intentioned efforts. Acemoglu and Robinson pithily diagnose the cause of these disappointing outcomes in their final chapter: “Attempting to engineer prosperity without confronting the root cause of the problems—extractive institutions and the politics that keeps them in place—is unlikely to bear fruit.”

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jun/07/what-makes-countries-rich-or-poor/?pagination=false

Beyond Good Videos

A BBC documentary in three parts

1. Beyond Good and Evil: Friedrich Nietzsche
2. Thinking the Unthinkable: Martin Heidegger
3. The Road to Freedom: Jean-Paul Sartre

Nietzsche, Heidegger and Sartre
http://hyperpicture.blogspot.com/2011/03/nietzsche-heidegger-and-sartre.html


The short movie The Perfect Human  (13 min) by Jørgen Leth (1967) that show our contemporary "Geworfensein" Geworfensein is an invention made by Heidegger to pinpoint that in our culture we are thrown out. - we are all out casted. There is also videos from the later The Five Obstructions that Leth made together with Lars von Trier (2003).

http://hyperpicture.blogspot.com/2011/04/jrgen-leth-and-lars-von-trier.html

The Swedish Silence: To know what is going on in Sweden, you must follow German media

I am a frequent reader of major Swedish news media like Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, Expressen and Aftonbladet. However, I always start with The Independent, The Telegraph, The Guardian and Der Spiegel.

On October 26, Der Speigel reported about a new political party in Sweden: Svartskalledemokraterna. Roughly, "The Niggerdemocrats". Der speigel translated it to "Wog Democrats".

This news is vital in itself to understand what is going on in Sweden. But what becomes even more interesting is that a major German media, and NOT leading Swedish media, write about it.

Der Speigel: Rampant Racism? New Political Party Aims to Scupper Sweden's Far-Right Following the success in September elections of a far-right populist party in the country, a Swedish immigrant has formed a party working to protect immigrants' interests. The new party is being founded amidst a wave of violent crime against foreigners in the southern city of Malmö last week.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,725176,00.html

This is the search I made 1 November, 14.50

News about the new party that I could find:

- An article on the blog service Newsmill that is partly owned by Dagens Nyheter...at least it was.
www.newsmill.se/node/29151

- The Swedish state radio made an interview for Swedish speaking listeners (unclear in what show).Svartskalledemokraterna, Stockholm idag - Torsdag 14 oktober 2010 Svartskalleaprtiet bildat i Rinkeby - sound file
http://sverigesradio.se/api/radio/radio.aspx?type=db&id=2677073&codingformat=.m4a&metafile=asx

- There is also information at their site for the international channel. ”SR International is Swedish Radio’s international and multi-cultural channel, with the task of providing information about Sweden.” Svartskalledemokrater mot nästa val
http://sverigesradio.se/cgi-bin/international/artikel.asp?Artikel=4111120

- In TV 4, regional news “Nyheterna Stockholm”: 15 okt 2010 ... "Svartskalledemokraterna" bildat i Rinkeby. torsdag 14 oktober 2010.
http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyheterna_stockholm?title=%22svartskalledemokraterna%22_bildat_i_rinkeby_videoid=1091531

- In the small regional newspaper Karlskoga Kuriren, 28 oktober 2010
http://karlskoga-kuriren.se/nyheter/1.995134-dags-for-svartskalle-demokraternas-parti

That is all except for blogs and forums.

Time and time again, silence is blatantly used as an obvious cover up that only serves and protects what is established.

The Swedish political class, including their loyal journalist serfs, pretend that it is important to "integrate" immigrants. Which in this case means to integrate “them” into The Swedish Silence.

In April 2009, Svenska Dagbladet said openly, in an editorial, that they did not intend to write about news that they did not like...This journalist is now a member of the Swedish parliament.

Åsikter man ogillar behöver man inte sprida, Maria Abrahamsson, SvD 14 april 2009
http://www.svd.se/opinion/ledarsidan/asikter-man-ogillar-behover-man-inte-sprida_2730541.svd

Maria Abrahamsson
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Maria_Abrahamsson
http://www.riksdagen.se/webbnav/
index.aspx?nid=1111&iid=0695090885212


And Don´t Miss

Göran Lindberg and Sweden's dark side
The Sweden of Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson - all shadowy rightwing conspiracies and prostitution rings - might not be so far from the truth. By Andrew Anthony, The Observer, 1 August 2010

“In this respect the Swedes who worry about the subterranean darkness might actually be on to something. It's just that they're looking in the wrong place. It's not necessarily in the system, or the state, or the police, or under the sea. It may just be in themselves.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/01/goran-lindberg-sweden-crime-palme

The real elite has the same problem with the political class and the academic tradition as you have

Here are, links to, two articles by William Deresiewicz that highlight the feudal academic system. Published in: The American Scholar ;)

William Deresiewicz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
William_Deresiewicz

Read them both – It is sheer brilliance. The importance is that the upper most elite has the same problems with the stupid servants of the feudal system such as the politicians, the academics, and the journalist just as the ordinary citizen have.

About “The American Scholar”

The American Scholar - Speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society in Harvard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The_American_Scholar

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Ralph_Waldo_Emerson

Phi Beta Kappa Society (Publishes The American Scholar)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Phi_Beta_Kappa_Society

The American Scholar (magazine)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The_American_Scholar_(magazine)


Solitude and Leadership

If you want others to follow learn to be alone with your thoughts. By William Deresiewicz, Spring 2010

Also delivered to the plebe class at the United States Military Academy at West Point in October 2009.

The United States Military
Academy at West Point
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
United_States_Military_Academy

”Why is it so often that the best people are stuck in the middle and the people who are running things - the leaders - are the mediocrities? Because excellence isn’t usually what gets you up the greasy pole. What gets you up is a talent for maneuvering. Kissing up to the people above you, kicking down to the people below you. Pleasing your teachers, pleasing your superiors, picking a powerful mentor and riding his coattails until it’s time to stab him in the back. Jumping through hoops. Getting along by going along. Being whatever other people want you to be, so that it finally comes to seem that, like the manager of the Central Station, you have nothing inside you at all. Not taking stupid risks like trying to change how things are done or question why they’re done. Just keeping the routine going. … What we don’t have, in other words, are thinkers. People who can think for themselves. People who can formulate a new direction: for the country, for a corporation or a college, for the Army - a new way of doing things, a new way of looking at things. People, in other words, with vision.”

Read the whole article
http://www.theamericanscholar.org/
solitude-and-leadership/


The Disadvantages of an Elite Education

Our best universities have forgotten that the reason they exist is to make minds, not careers. By William Deresiewicz, Summer 2008

“In short, the way students are treated in college trains them for the social position they will occupy once they get out. At schools like Cleveland State, they’re being trained for positions somewhere in the middle of the class system, in the depths of one bureaucracy or another. They’re being conditioned for lives with few second chances, no extensions, little support, narrow opportunity - lives of subordination, supervision, and control, lives of deadlines, not guidelines. At places like Yale, of course, it’s the reverse. The elite like to think of themselves as belonging to a meritocracy, but that’s true only up to a point. Getting through the gate is very difficult, but once you’re in, there’s almost nothing you can do to get kicked out. ... Elite schools nurture excellence, but they also nurture what a former Yale graduate student I know calls “entitled mediocrity.” A is the mark of excellence; A- is the mark of entitled mediocrity. It’s another one of those metaphors, not so much a grade as a promise. It means, don’t worry, we’ll take care of you. You may not be all that good, but you’re good enough.”

Read the whole article
http://www.theamericanscholar.org/
the-disadvantages-of-an-elite-education/


Read Also

"We're training students to be obedient, and to try to read our minds, rather than being a catalyst for learning" Professor makes his mark, but it costs him his job (theglobeandmail.com / Canada), February 6, 2009

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/article970280.ece

New Format - New Content - New Life

Until now I have mostly used this, my main, blog to announce projects and the release of chapters to Så knullar staten Din själ.

From now on I will write posts about things that I find interesting. Perhaps twice a month - often in English.

I have also integrated my other blogs, Update Hyperdialog, The Hyperpicture and Så knullar staten Din Själ into this with feeds.

Furthermore, I will also have videos that underline my intentions with my writings.

There are still some small annoying details, such as Firefox does not accept some Google-code, which results in minor strange formatting of the feeds. And for some time coming these feeds might look strange, since I originally had no intention of using feeds in my older projects.

The Hyperpicture Is Born!

http://hyperpicture.blogspot.com/

The Hyperpicture reveal the decline and fall of the western mindset (command and control / static logic) and the upcoming culture of understanding and dialog.


About & Contact
http://hyperpicture.blogspot.com/p/about-contact.html

We're training students to be obedient

Updated: 28 March 2019

Professor makes his mark, but it costs him his job, Erin Anderssen, The Globe and Mail

Published February 6, 2009, Updated April 28, 2018

About Denis Rancourt

The article ends.

... the professor is undeterred about those A-pluses: "Grades poison the educational environment," he insists. "We're training students to be obedient, and to try to read our minds, rather than being a catalyst for learning."

Activist Teacher "Articles and commentary about activist teaching and radical pedagogy, and social theory and critique essays, by Dr. Denis G. Rancourt"

Heartbeat Detector (La Question humaine) - a French movie

Heartbeat Detector (2007, UK Release: May 16 2008) is a conspiracy thriller that uncover the hidden Nazi ideology in our ”modern” society. Heartbeat Detector is based on the novel La Question humaine (2000) by François Emmanuel. Heartbeat Detector is the third movie in a trilogy by Nicolas Klotz and Elisabeth Perceval that includes Paria (2000) and La Blessure (2004).

Links in new windows

François Emmanuel - In French: http://www.francoisemmanuel.be/
- La Question humaine: http://www.francoisemmanuel.be/question.html

Heartbeat Detector: http://www.heartbeatdetector.co.uk
- Synopsis and Interview with Nicolas Klotz and Elisabeth Perceval - The History that keeps coming back: http://www.heartbeatdetector.co.uk/synopsis.html

The New York Times, When the Ghost in the Machine Is National Socialism, March 14, 2008
http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/movies/14hear.html

Village Voice: Conglomerates Become Nazis in Heartbeat Detector, Corporate crimes meet crimes of humanity, March 11th, 2008
http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0811,bad-company,374071,20.html

New Statesman - The Way I See It: Nicholas Klotz and Elisabeth Perceval, 22 May 2008
http://www.newstatesman.com/2008/05/art-perceval-klotz-film-world

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Nazism is often considered to be mystical. However the Nazi ideology as well as totalitarian ideas are ONLY consequences to not regard dialog as a concrete tool. When the dialog is condemned we are forced to believe that we can only obey (logic). Reminder: Aristotle wrote that a contradiction is the opening of a dialog (and to grasp a new perspective). In Mein Kampf (1924) Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) wrote about this misconception - that is the root of Nazism:

"Man's effort to build up something that contradicts the iron logic of Nature brings him into conflict with those principles to which he himself exclusively owes his own existence. By acting against the laws of Nature he prepares the way that leads to his ruin." (From Mein Kampf: Volume I: A Retrospect, Chapter XI, Race and People)

Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200601.txt
About Mein Kampf: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Kampf

Consequently to believe that we must be limited to logic is to be forced to eliminate everything that is a contradiction to for example the idea of ”nature”. Here ”nature” is in itself a concealed idea of what must be considered ”natural” or ”selfevident”.

If you are interested in Nazism and our ”modern” society I recommend:

Harald Ofstad (1920-1994)

- Our contempt for weakness: nazi norms and values - and our own, Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1989

- Vårt förakt för svaghet: nazismens normer och värderingar - och våra egna. Prisma, 1987


Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt

- The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ The_Origins_of_Totalitarianism

- Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963) - Den banala ondskan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Eichmann_in_Jerusalem


More about the relation between logic and the Aristotele´s idea of the dialog – that today is ”forgotten”: Get Rid of Our Final Taboo! - The Human Ability to Create is Thinkable, at:

http://home4.swipnet.se/~w-44374/hyperdialog/download.htm

In Vill du lyda eller förstå? (Do You want to obey or to understand?) ISBN 91-975929-3-5. I have so far written about the relation between Nazism and to disregard Aristotle's function of the dialog in the appendix: Anmälan till Justitiekanslern (Report to the Swedish Attorney General).

Get Rid of Our Final Taboo!

PDF NOW HER: 

http://hyperdialog.blogspot.se/p/get-rid-of-our-final-taboo.html


The post as it was

The following invitation to read about Hyperdialog, was posted with same variations, 04 - 06 Nov. 2005, at:

Rhizome http://rhizome.org/discuss/view/19178/#36534

NOEMA - Tecnologie e Società / Technologies and Society
http://www.noemalab.org/sections/arte_memo.php?IDMemo=1346
and in Newsletter N. 290


Get Rid of Our Final Taboo!

- The Human Ability to Create is Thinkable


Hyperdialog, Beta 01
Condensed Presentation of
Hyperdialog, Beta 01
Part 1: The Fundamentals
Ola Alexander Frisk

Text, 22 pages, as pdf-file at Download Page

http://home4.swipnet.se/~w-44374/hyperdialog/download.htm

Hyperdialog is about to scrap the tradition to not tolerate things, others, ideas or situations that seems to create "conflicts" that are unacceptable, unusable or impossible. Hyperdialog is also about our need of contradictions and the process of dialog that we use to reach new ideas or understandings.

Hyperdialog is an effort to try to make it possible to grasp our abilities to understand dynamics in a functional way. The traditional ways to talk about the process of dialog are usually difficult to follow.

Contradictions and the process of dialog are often reflected in contemporary art. I hope to get in contact with them that are interested in art and can see the possibilities when the dialog is regarded as non-mystical.

As the title indicates this is an experiment (beta 01). I hope to get comments and ideas from readers. Especially stuff that will lead to a next possible step.

Please note: This is not an academic book in the sense that here are explanations according to established traditions; which can be said to be the main pattern of an academic book. The aim here is to reflect the possibilities to grasp dynamics with our ability to think - from the perspective of the foundations of our culture. Foundations that was raised long before the "modern" academic tradition began and become a part of the taboos that we now have to struggle with. Yes, this book tries to re-understand fundamental ideas about our abilities.

The main content of this text are from a book in the Swedish language that present the foundations of Hyperdialog.

Part 2: Will present functions and processes of the dialog
Part 3: Present current and earlier traditions and ideas of dynamics and the process of dialog