{ still not sure if a blog is the best format for us--it lacks organization--a blog layout is too linear--not permitting us to easily move from theme to theme, instead forcing us to push through everything in a time-line like manner }
anyways-- i just found a excerpt in a text book of mine that is relevant to the cultural shift of selfless to selfish:
"Our own men and our sons have joined the ranks of the stranger. They have joined his religion and they help to uphold his government.
If we should try to drive out the white men in Umuofia we should find it easy. There are only two of them. But what of our own people who are following their way and have been given power? They would go to Umuru and bring the soldiers... [The white man] says our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart. " (Things Fall Apart)
...referred to as Westernization and are evident in attitudinal changes that shift towards greater secularism, individualism, and materialism.
i think i'm on the brink of being able to really put all of this together in a cohesive context--selfish versus selfless--humans versus mother earth--capitalism and democracy--cvilizations versus communities--sustainability versus exploitation--violence versus nonviolence--developed versus non-developed-- when i get back to college i'm excited to use all the bucher paper i have access to--thanks to hall council and being the "advertising coordinator"--and put together a huge mind map web thing of it all--nathan i need your help!!
it would be great if we could establish themes/subjects/topics and be able to click on them --thus opening them and leaving our ideas there...instead of this whole blog thing.
Michael i was curious to hear what you and your friends at whitman have been talking about -- you should be posting some of it here please!!!
ohhh and for refrence
Prisoner's Dilemma
Tradegy of the Commons
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sorry this post wasn't put together well--just ideas in my head that i'm trying to sort out--hoping to get some feed back if you'd oblige
ReplyDeleteYeah, we learned abou the prisoner's dilemma and the tragedy of the commons in economics class as examples of market failure; they both make a good point about selfish action hurting everyone. In capitalism this is like an "oh shit" moment, because selfishness is the rule most of the time. Adam Smith, the founder of economics as a discipline, laid out the principle of the "invisible hand," saying that everyone, acting in their own self interest in the market, can bring about the maximum amount of societal good "as if moved by an invisible hand." But obviously this hasn't worked so well. The polar response, of course, is communism, but as practiced so far it may be even less compassionate than capitalism. I think compassion is the missing piece in all of the dichotomies you brought up. I'm trying to figure out how to represent it in terms of the metaphysics of quality (can anyone help?).
ReplyDeleteAnd a blog/site like that would be sick! I can picture it, but I've never heard of something like it. What if I (we) helped with the butcher paper when I (we? Chris, Michael, Alex) come up to western in jan.?
hahah thats funny you bring up the tragedy of the commons ... we joke about in the coops all the time ...
ReplyDeleteU of O offers a BA in Folklore. THis is a cool program - we had a guy who for one of his classes studied the coops for a piece of lore or a maxim of some type. Sadly he decided that the piece of wisdom he took from us is something people are always saying,'...and this is why we don't have nice things ...' this refers to the tragedy of the commons - we dont have nice things because they get continually broken.
Sort of a shitty lesson to learn from us especially BECAUSE IT IS NOT TRUE. It is true that when no owns a resource it is generally not taken care of. But when everyone owns a resource or has a stake in the well-being of a resource, they care a shit ton about it once they realize how it matters to them - I think of things that are cooperativly owned like the cooperatives or the earth.
true that capitalism is currently in dire straits but also we have never seen a truly capitalist society. a true capitalist hates the government or any sort of power over him - does this bare any resemblance to capitalisms newest incarnation, Conservatives?
I have more to say on this topic but I am procrastinating and rambling ...
TBC