Things I should write about soon... please kick me:
- Panels Profiles
- The Business Factory
- Giants of the Steel.
- Urban Redneck
The biggest money laundering scheme in history- Hunting and Fishing
Howto Home Compost in New York City- City Council 2009
- National Sales Tax - NOT the fair tax
Yeah, I was maybe a little harsh
What sets me off that stuff about "if you're one in a million, there are 1000 of you in China." It's kind of a garbage statistic. It's also been true for quite some time. In real terms, while the global perspective and consciousness are good and necessary things to have, a lot of the problems in other parts of the world (and here in the US) require local solutions.
I'm no isolationist, and I think the bumper-sticker philosophy of "Think Globally, Act Locally" is trite, but I think it's critical to recognize that people need to solve their own problems. Far too often people get into a paternalistic model ("we've got to help those poor people get civilized") that's reminiscent of the worst aspects of colonialism, or else a competitive/fear thing ("those people are going to take over!") which reeks of nationalism and paranoia.
Really, we should be looking at how to help build capacity all over the place, but retain local/indigenous leadership and control. It takes trust. Hard to trust Red China, I know, but still...
You weren't that harsh...
a bit dismissive, but I would say that if the above fosters conversation like this, then it is not without value.
I'm a little confused. I think you've made a leap of logic that I missed somewhere. You're second paragraph seems to be about America seeming paternalistic, about how we need to 'these poor people get civilized' and also about dislike of nationalism and paranoia.
This video, at least to me, is pointing out that these aren't poor uncivilized people, they're cultures as advanced or more than our own. We're no longer The Superpower, and we should start to consider that.
Am I missing something, or have you, at least in this regard, started to agree with the video, despite its garbage statistics.
Of course things need to be dealt with on a local level - but thats an infrastructure problem. Things like knowledge, methodology, and theory can all be built globally. i.e. we don't need to build our solution for them, but combining global knowledge with them is grand.
The age old problem that plagues the world right now is trite. We all knew it in high school - its us and them - we have different cultures, different worldviews, different goals. How can we trust? Common ground needs to be found before that - and common currency (value placed on ideas and things). When things like 'basic living conditions' or 'retirement' or 'exploitation' have such drastically different meanings throughout the world, how can we agree on anything.
Well
Yes. I didn't like the melodrama in it.
I also think, in retrospect that I read into it with a different perspective. Population Growth in general is killing us, and the problems we are about to face are global not local or domestic. i.e. we *should* look to these other nations to help solve them with us.
I liked that I hadn't seen these 'half-bright' statistics yet. They attach a scale to things that I hadn't totally understood.
And, oh yes, soundtrack's gotta go.
-10 for gratuitous Last of the Mohicans soundtrack use
This reminds me of Tom Friedman. Particularly the bit at the beginning about China and India. 95% of that emerging enginuity is going to go towards emerging problems. It's not as though the rest of the planet getting educated is really something to fear.
While I think there are lots of interesting things about how the world and human consciousness are changing, I don't know that throwing together a bunch of half-bright statistics and dramatic music is the best presentation. It's the kind of thing that provokes alarm or knowing nods without giving rise to any kind of deeper understanding.
One of the undercurrents of the whole thing was that, golly gee, 'Merica might not rule the world forever after all. Clearly not, and some of us have been trying to sound that alarm for a while now. The unipolar moment is over. Time to start letting other people take the weight.
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