tagged w/ Voltaire
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Alright, yesterday I woke up and saw that there was a sweet looking exhibit at the Nelson Atkins art museum. I saw the comment on the side of a truck reading, "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." - Voltaire and I wanted to make sure I saw the truck in person. I grabbed my camera and my video camera and made the trek to Kansas City and took a ton of pictures along the way there and back. I can't wait to get a chance to check out the finished product. The link for the site is http://americanowandhere.org/Alright, yesterday I woke up and saw that there was a sweet looking exhibit at the... more
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Despite the pleas (and in some cases the demands) of world leaders that the American government stop Jones, they're wasting their breath. The authorities won't stop Jones because his actions are protected by the First Amendment, the freedom of speech.
*** Start full article ***
(For links to external sources, please go to original article: http://talkingskull.com/article/worst-kind-of-free-speech)
The latest media reports indicate that pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida has postponed, but not cancelled, his congregation's planned Qu'ran-burning on the anniversary of September 11th, after a phone call from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and condemnation from leaders worldwide.
Unfortunately, Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church (of "God Hates Fags" infamy) have vowed to carry out the burning if Dove World doesn't do it.
In the meantime, Dove World has had its website taken down by their hosting providers, Interpol has issued a global alert, and some clever folks have created a parody ad mocking Jones and Phelps.
President Obama on Thursday urged Jones to listen to "those better angels", saying that the burning was contrary to American values. But is it really? Even a cursory reading of message boards around the web yields a plethora of angry and hate-filled comments by those supporting the Qu'ran-burning. There seem to be an awful lot of Americans who feel that burning the Qu'ran is revenge for acts of violence carried out by Muslim extremists — that a slap in the face of all Muslims worldwide is a fitting atonement for the acts of a few nutjobs.
Despite the pleas (and in some cases the demands) of world leaders that the American government stop Jones, they're wasting their breath. The authorities won't stop Jones because his actions are protected by the First Amendment, the freedom of speech. In the famous (and incorrectly attributed) words of the French philosopher Voltaire:
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
This is the basic tenet of American, and indeed Western civilization. It represents everything we stand for, fight for, and strive for. We might find a particular piece of speech detestable, but the right to say it must be defended or the entire system falls apart. Freedom of speech is seen as one of the foundations underpinning an open and fair society, and selective application would undermine the freedom for everyone. It has to be freedom for all speech, no matter how distasteful.
That said, can you think of a more offensive act of free speech than burning another religion's holy book? Go on, I dare you. You won't find one. This is the ultimate and most extreme example of freedom of speech the world has ever seen. And in the end this becomes not so much about free speech as it is about human decency. Yes, we are free to say anything we want. But should we?
http://talkingskull.com/article/worst-kind-of-free-speechDespite the pleas (and in some cases the demands) of world leaders that the American... more
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Last week we talked about Billionaires for Wealthcare. I received this transmission from their organization:
The latest incarnation of the "Billionaire" meme, "Billionaires for
Wealthcare" struck again this weekend, as Healthcare Inc. CEOs in tuxedos and gowns "thanked" Tea-baggers for coming out for Glenn Beck's March on Washington this past Saturday.
Tea-baggers eagerly joined in on Billionaire chants of "Bring Back Bush!" and “Fight Socialism! Abolish Medicare Now!”, but the greatest crowd pleaser (and provoker) of the day, was a stirring rendition of their original song "Let's Save the Status Quo" sung to the tune of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," and memorably captured in this music video. We were recently featured by Rachel Maddow.
Watch as we thank our confused Tea-bagger friends for protecting 'our' right to deny their claims.
The Billionaires use Voltairian satire at protests to show that some of the only beneficiaries of the current health care system, are the executives.
The Billionaires have been at work for over a decade, relishing in photo ops and editorials, hoping that their spectacle gets picked up by third-party news agencies.
Today Funny or Die and MoveOn released this satirical PSA
[funnyordie 041b5acaf5]
It shares the same message as the work of the Billionaires. But their approach is a different theatre on the war for universal health care. Will Ferrell and company are using their fame and viral reach to push this message out to millions of people.
Using satirical internet video for massive social change is something that only became a reality in the past few years. Faster computers, ubiquity of web content, and mainstream attention to internet phenomena, are all factors that make this a viable approach to enacting change.
Funny or Die celebrity exclusives always become viral. MoveOn's newsletter reaches 3.3 million people. Together they might have the potential to provide a counter argument to Glenn Beck's legion of Tea-Baggers.
Celebrities will get this idea out, but we should never forget that the Billionaires are on the front-line in this satirical strategy for social change.Last week we talked about Billionaires for Wealthcare. I received this transmission... more
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"Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well."
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"As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities."
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"Behind every successful man stands a surprised mother-in-law."
"All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women."
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"An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination."----------------
"Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is... more
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"in 1666, Isaac Newton was walking in his garden outside Cambridge, England - he was avoiding the city because of the plague - when he saw an apple fall from a tree. The fruit fell straight to the earth, as if tugged by an invisible force. (Subsequent versions of the story had the apple hitting Newton on the head.) This mundane observation led Newton to devise the concept of universal gravitation, which explained everything from the falling apple to the orbit of the moon.
Unfortunately, the story of the apple is almost certainly false; Voltaire probably made it up. Even if Newton started thinking about gravity in 1666, it took him years of painstaking work before he understood it. He filled entire vellum notebooks with his scribbles and spent weeks recording the exact movements of a pendulum. (It made, on average, 1,512 ticks per hour.) The discovery of gravity, in other words, wasn’t a flash of insight - it required decades of effort, which is one of the reasons Newton didn’t publish his theory until 1687, in the “Principia.”
Although biographers have long celebrated Newton’s intellect - he also pioneered calculus - it’s clear that his achievements aren’t solely a byproduct of his piercing intelligence. Newton also had an astonishing ability to persist in the face of obstacles, to stick with the same stubborn mystery - why did the apple fall, but the moon remain in the sky? - until he found the answer.
In recent years, psychologists have come up with a term to describe this mental trait: grit. Although the idea itself isn’t new - “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration,” Thomas Edison famously remarked - the researchers are quick to point out that grit isn’t simply about the willingness to work hard. Instead, it’s about setting a specific long-term goal and doing whatever it takes until the goal has been reached. It’s always much easier to give up, but people with grit can keep going.
While stories of grit have long been associated with self-help manuals and life coaches - Samuel Smiles, the author of the influential Victorian text “Self-Help” preached the virtue of perseverance - these new scientific studies rely on new techniques for reliably measuring grit in individuals. As a result, they’re able to compare the relative importance of grit, intelligence, and innate talent when it comes to determining lifetime achievement. Although this field of study is only a few years old, it’s already made important progress toward identifying the mental traits that allow some people to accomplish their goals, while others struggle and quit. Grit, it turns out, is an essential (and often overlooked) component of success.""in 1666, Isaac Newton was walking in his garden outside Cambridge, England - he... more
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We're very excited to be airing some of the suggestions you've posted. This is one of many quotes that will be broadcast on Current TV thanks to you. We'll keep putting them up here so all of you can see what you've helped make.
Great stuff, and thanks to Vierotchka for sending in this very thought provoking quote from Voltaire.
MikeWe're very excited to be airing some of the suggestions you've posted. This... more
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