TED Community » Martim Cutum

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Social justice, democratic education and personal rights.

An idea worth spreading

"There is real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment." - Norman Vincent Peale

Comments

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  A comment on Conversation: Is Socialism a religion?

  Jun 13 2011: James, pretty much any belief can become "religious" if the believer wants to. Any belief has a famous author, a famous work, and intolerance can come from anywhere. There are, obviously, "religious" socialists, those who ignore any discussions of politics, who won't darre to question Marx, and keep quoting Gramsci as arguments. The argumentative fallacies are the same of the Christians talking about christianism, Jesus and the Bible.
  However, socialism isn't, by principle, somewhat like a religion. If you look carefully, you can find tons of modern socialists who treat it simply as a political tendency, as a concept of society. Of course, there are still a great number of ortodox marxist, for example, but they're not a majority.
  In addition, I believe that some of the arguments you presented, like "socialism denies the primacy of the individual", are mere interpretations. Socialism itself is simply the political conception that the means of production should be property of the whole population. Anything beyond that is an interpretation, an extension. We can't judge an ideal based on an interpretation.
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  A comment on Conversation: Are politicians having a positive influence on a younger voting audience by their increased use of social media sites?

  Jun 13 2011: Corvida said it perfectly. It's the same discourse, the same proposals, the same ideals. The politicians might be getting more exposure, but many youngsters are still uninterested. The way I see it, its a failure of political social media networking.
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  A comment on Conversation: Is knowledge finite?

  Jun 11 2011: I don't think we have the knowledge to know if knowledge is finite, Chris.
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  A reply on Conversation: The decriminalization of abortion

  Jun 11 2011: Helen, interesting point about the person who was the product of rape and accepted it normally. However, there are inumerous cases in which the mom and/or the child don't have that acceptance, and end up having a series of different problems in their lives. I'm not saying that all raped women should abort, but that the woman should have the option. If she has no familiar or psychological structure and considers that she couldn't raise a child that reminded her of a traumatic experience, just to mention an usual situation, the option had to exist.

• A comment on Conversation: The decriminalization of abortion

  Jun 11 2011: Considering that there is no consensus in the society or in the cientifical community about the beginning of life - regardin when it happens-, I believe that if the woman considers that abortion is the best choice, she should be allowed to do it. Abortion is a quite traumatic experience for any woman, whether it is made in a safe clinic or not. I wouldn't reccomend it, but if the woman chooses to do so, it is not within our right to stop her.
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  A reply on Conversation: Sum up your life in one word.

  Apr 28 2011: Colleen, there are times when just good will isn't enough. There are psycologycal, social and time-related barriers to be broken. That takes time. If you've spent a great deal of time in boredomness, it's not that easy to break that routine.

• A reply on Conversation: Sum up your life in one word.

  Apr 28 2011: Perfect. That's it, Salim.

• A comment on Conversation: Sum up your life in one word.

  Apr 25 2011: Boredom.

• A reply on Conversation: Why memorize?

  Apr 23 2011: Great idea for the curriculum, Nicholas. I really liked it. I'd make just one change though: from 12 to 14, the change of fixed curriculum to democratic curriculum could be gradual, so the kids would get used to it and made better choices. If it is immediate, it can be kind of abrupt for a 12-year-old. Maybe we could soften this process up a bit.

• A comment on Conversation: Can we sustain the population AND the ecosystem without converting to vegetarianism?

  Apr 23 2011: Erik, I'm no specialist in that area, but some articles and researches i've stumbled upon said that it IS possible to not be a vegetarian and still be a ecologycally conscious individual. You can keep eating meat, as long as you focus on organical and sustainably-produced products when eating other types of food, like vegetables and fruits.
  Sustainability is perfectly compatible with meat-eating habits.