New Material on OlyBlog

I have a few new posts on OlyBlog, some about nature, some messages to The White House, some about the peace vigil: olyblog.net/blog/berd —Berd

New Material

It is Easter Sunday, and although I don't consider myself to be Christian, I do recognize Jesus as a pretty awesome human being! I was somewhat raised Catholic, so I understand some about the event. I think it is good to ask questions. For example, who was Jesus. What was the reason he was killed. How has his life and death been interpreted and used?

Anyway, happy Passover, and happy Easter, or whatever other you might celebrate at this time of year (like the start of the growing season, in the Northern hemisphere, the return of the Sun...)

I have posted new stuff on my other blogs, like a video about Artswalk and Procession of the Species 2011 on OlyBlog, here. Also I have new photos on Flickr, videos on YouTube, and other material on Facebook and Twitter.

If you are in Olympia, make sure to get to the Capitol Theatre this week for the Olympia Film Society showing of "I Am," a documentary film by director Tom Shadyac (director of Ace Ventura, Bruce Almighty.) It is about human consciousness, social/political/economic evolution of consciousness. Trailer posted below.

Berd

People Pitted Against Each Other

I recently read a book called The Richest Man in Babylon. It was a myth about making profit, and the way to acquire financial and material treasure. It really got me thinking about how we define success in our socio-cultural system - as well as the consequences of that.

This is a rough draft of some related thoughts I was having yesterday...

this society, this economy, pits people against each other.

economic survival of the "fittest" is stupid. It's idiotic.

Sure there ought to be competition over reproduction, natural selection ought to occur in that field. But it doesn't make sense for people to compete and seek to dominate over avenues of basic economic sustenance. It's insane!

All people deserve to live dignified, meaningful, and prosperous lives. We would be much better off with a socio-economic-cultural structure that valued mutual prosperity, and cooperation - rather than domination and cutthroat competition. Economic competition taken to the extremes of conquest and domination is just plain harmful. It's one of the main reasons our society is so hurtful, and so violent. I think it's unacceptable.

People need to be taken care of. People need security. And we are not getting it from a system that breeds violence. Everything from domestic violence to toxic pollution to global warming and all sorts of environmental degradation (including the current mass extinction of species) can be traced back to an ethos that views the world as an object to be dominated. Instead of that, instead of viewing the world as a commodity, we can view the world as a community, of which all living beings are connected in a great web of life.

No one is free when another is oppressed. An injury to one is, truly, an injury to all.

Competition has its place. On the sports field. In the reproductive/biological field. And even in those areas - I think it makes sense to have a friendly sort of competition. I think that it does not make sense, nor is it good, for people to take themselves too seriously in these areas.

The theory of biological evolution has been transposed into the economic realm - where, I believe, it does not belong.

The economy is not a natural living system. It is a product of definite human, and at this point, industrial activities. To let the concept of survival of the fittest underpin the economic culture has resulted in the unleashing of a terrible violence upon the world, and upon humanity. Economics must be ruled essentially by humanistic concerns. Economic and political/societal ethics must be driven by values - by morals, that are common to us all.

For example: why not start with the Golden Rule.

Thank you and have a good day.

Conflict Between Israel and Palestine

I have been blogging a lot about the conflict between Israel and Palestine, not only here on this blog, but also on OlyBlog.net, as well as on my Facebook and Flickr accounts.

Saudi Blogger Arrested

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...Fouad al-Farhan is Saudi Arabia’s most popular blogger and last month he was arrested. His case has been taken up by over 200 Saudi bloggers. The Independent newspaper in the UK believes attempts by the Saudi authorities to intimidate their online critics is in fact had the reverse effect, and says ‘it will be fascinating to see where this online insurrection ends’. ...

and from the Independent:

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Blogger who dared to expose Saudi corruption is arrested
By Claire Soares
Published: 03 January 2008
Fouad al-Farhan knew they were coming for him. A few days before Saudi security forces swooped on his offices, he sent a letter to friends telling them he was a wanted man. "They will pick me up any time in the next two weeks," he predicted.

His crime? Writing one of the most widely read blogs in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Farhan, 32, who describes his online mission as "searching for freedom, dignity, justice, equality, public participation and other lost Islamic values", had already broken ground by refusing to hide behind a pen-name as he vented his spleen about the rampant corruption blighting political life. Now he has clocked up another first – the first blogger to be arrested in the kingdom.

The blogger was picked up on 10 December from the offices of his computer company in Jeddah, but it was not until this week that the interior ministry finally confirmed his arrest.

...

Mr Farhan said he had been asked to issue an apology. "I'm not sure if I'm ready to do that," he said. "An apology for what? Apologising because I said the government is [a] liar when it accused those guys of supporting terrorism?" [emphasis mine]

...

It is interesting to note that the President of the USA, Mr. George W. Bush just made (January 2008) a $20 billion weapons deal with the Government of Saudi Arabia...

Dear President Bush, is this what you mean by promoting Democracy? It seems that the freedom to which you aspire is just the freedom to amass weapons. I am discouraged by your example.