Feb 11 2013: Maybe she should have titled her talk "Sh*t Happens" and then anyone who didn't know this could tune in. She got herself into a painful situation through her misapprehensions, and now she's escaped but with no fewer misapprehensions, just different ones. I guess she's learned something: she doesn't like being ill-treated and so she's breaking her silence about it. Hey, guess what - shit happens to people all the time, and they usually get around to figuring out they don't like it and can then plot in detail the reasons why. Women have been speaking about their experiences of being in abusive relationships with men for a very long time. It's hard to think of any other area of human affairs that's been more disclosed, discussed, acknowledged and has got more attention. On second thoughts, maybe she should have titled her talk, "Me too." There always seems to be something of a denial of abuse in all these affirmations of abuse which are so focussed on particularities.
Feb 11 2013: I agree - it's a shame Dan Dennett didn't have more time to expand on what he was saying, although I think you picked up on the clear message that he wasn't making judgements one way or the other about the merits of particular ideas. Rather, that he was suggesting that ideas might be benign in one setting but toxic in another. This seems like a powerful insight in itself with lots of implications.
Feb 10 2013: 30 seconds in it's clear she doesn't understand about domestic violence or abusive relationships - she's just one more woman complaining about her own experiences. Everything she says about men applies equally to women. The modus operandi can be different but the dynamic is the same. Anyone whose analysis doesn't pick up on this has zero analysis. It's clear she has no fewer misconceptions than anyone else.
Nov 3 2012: We need to remind ourselves of the wisdom of our forefathers. Burke understood that democracy is required for freedom, but that justice is also required. He also recognised that power is corrupting, especially power arising through wealth. For a democracy to work, there need to be checks and balances and guarantees that are not subject to democratic forces. The 'active and informed' citizens that Rory Stewart talks about need to be more altruistic, not merely supporters of movements and leaders who will advance their interests. The best way to achieve this objective is to return to a more humanist-based education system, and especially include the teaching of ethics.
Sep 24 2012: Yes, it was rather patronising! A kind of "I've just spent 3 years researching factory workers in China, and guess what? - They seem to be quite complex human beings with human concerns, interests and aspirations just like us. Wow!"
Marx was an exile, which is how he came to be in Britain. And he wrote in the British Library, not the British Museum! He had an analysis of class, wealth and power relations. He didn't think that individual members of the working class were weak and helpless. He thought there was an imbalance of power between labour and capital in advanced capitalist societies and that social identities and relations are largely economically determined. All of this is seemingly invalidated by the warm and fuzzy impressions Ms Chang obtained through her encounters with some factory women. She apparently didn't notice that all attempts by factory workers to organise have been repressed by companies and the state. However, it seems that Chinese workers don't need their own representation in order to have a voice. They have Ms Chang to speak for them.
Jul 18 2012: Certainly not! By reason of the complexity of the systems involved, the comparatively trivial level of our understanding, the potential scale of the fall out and the infallible law of unintended consequences.
How did such large quantities of plastic become deposited in the seas in the first place? By our certain knowledge that no great harm would come of it!
I would rather trust nature to take care of the problem in its own manner in its own time, even if it takes 10,000 years - that is a mere blip. The most important role we can play is to stop adding to the problems nature must contend with. The clear lesson is not to be so disregarding of things we don't understand.
May 9 2012: I don't know about WhiteWhine.com. I wasn't whining, but rather commenting on congenital whining. Perhaps it's not even that - more the relentless pursuit of ways to talk about oneself and missing anything that may be interesting but at a tangent along the way. However, I was in a bad mood and allowed my customary gallantry to slip.
Apr 3 2012: As Dostoyevsky observed, "The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons."
It must be the case that the prisoner problem in the USA reflects deep social, cultural and moral problems. Social problems require social solutions; cultural problems, cultural solutions; and moral problems, moral solutions. These are all matters for individuals and individuals within communities. The justice system is a blunt instrument and the wrong tool for the aforementioned problems. It seems to me that in the USA people opt out of social, cultural and moral responsibilities, delegate these functions to the state and relentlessly pursue their private interests. This seems remarkable in a society that prides itself on its adherence to Christian values. Didn't Christ command us to love our neighbour?
Two related TED Talks that may be of interest: -
Philip Zimbardo shows how people become monsters ... or heroes
Mar 26 2012: Thank you for asking. Perhaps the most moving, but most terrible is: -
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:13
One I think you will like: -
"Through wisdom a house is built,
And by understanding it is established;
By knowledge the rooms are filled
With all precious and pleasant riches."
Proverbs 24:3-4
But bearing in mind Paul's beautiful and wise words: -
"And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge;
and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing."
Mar 26 2012: "I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing."
TEDCred score: +3.30 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.
A comment on Talk: Leslie Morgan Steiner: Why domestic violence victims don't leave
A reply on Talk: Dan Dennett: Dangerous memes
A comment on Talk: Leslie Morgan Steiner: Why domestic violence victims don't leave
A comment on Talk: Rory Stewart: Why democracy matters
A reply on Talk: Leslie T. Chang: The voices of China's workers
Marx was an exile, which is how he came to be in Britain. And he wrote in the British Library, not the British Museum! He had an analysis of class, wealth and power relations. He didn't think that individual members of the working class were weak and helpless. He thought there was an imbalance of power between labour and capital in advanced capitalist societies and that social identities and relations are largely economically determined. All of this is seemingly invalidated by the warm and fuzzy impressions Ms Chang obtained through her encounters with some factory women. She apparently didn't notice that all attempts by factory workers to organise have been repressed by companies and the state. However, it seems that Chinese workers don't need their own representation in order to have a voice. They have Ms Chang to speak for them.
A comment on Conversation: Should Synthetic Organisms be released to clean plastic pollution from the ocean?
How did such large quantities of plastic become deposited in the seas in the first place? By our certain knowledge that no great harm would come of it!
I would rather trust nature to take care of the problem in its own manner in its own time, even if it takes 10,000 years - that is a mere blip. The most important role we can play is to stop adding to the problems nature must contend with. The clear lesson is not to be so disregarding of things we don't understand.
A reply on Talk: Tavi Gevinson: A teen just trying to figure it out
A comment on Talk: Bryan Stevenson: We need to talk about an injustice
It must be the case that the prisoner problem in the USA reflects deep social, cultural and moral problems. Social problems require social solutions; cultural problems, cultural solutions; and moral problems, moral solutions. These are all matters for individuals and individuals within communities. The justice system is a blunt instrument and the wrong tool for the aforementioned problems. It seems to me that in the USA people opt out of social, cultural and moral responsibilities, delegate these functions to the state and relentlessly pursue their private interests. This seems remarkable in a society that prides itself on its adherence to Christian values. Didn't Christ command us to love our neighbour?
Two related TED Talks that may be of interest: -
Philip Zimbardo shows how people become monsters ... or heroes
Barry Schwartz on our loss of wisdom
A comment on Conversation: What is your favourite quote and why?
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:13
One I think you will like: -
"Through wisdom a house is built,
And by understanding it is established;
By knowledge the rooms are filled
With all precious and pleasant riches."
Proverbs 24:3-4
But bearing in mind Paul's beautiful and wise words: -
"And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge;
and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing."
1 Corinthians 13:2
A reply on Conversation: What is your favourite quote and why?
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing."
T. S. Eliot, 'East Coker'