Questioning
American democracy is at great risk because our primary media are spewing out misinformation -- opinions designed to win monies either for their original sponsors or those distributing them. Greedy corporations have been dominating us with disastrous results.
As a professional philosopher recently retired, I am appalled by this situation. In depth research by our media is expensive. Opinions come cheap.
My own primary values are truth, compassion towards our fellow humans, and justice in the distribution of both rights and and resources. I have a wide array of sources -- including those on the spot at major areas of concern. I am contacted daily with information by email friends scattered about the globe in such situations which expose them to the raw facts. I have also established discussion groups in a variety of areas of concern: college and students, peace activities, poverty, local area problems in my neighborhoods, privacy rights, academic freedom. Israel/Palestine, our economy -- my primary fields in philosophy, but not limited to them, were social, political, and legal.
Thus, when I am blogging -- my post retirement pleasure -- I try to pose questions to stimulate people to do their own thinking and research rather than taking as fact the cheap fact games that get played (and controlled) by our current power interests.
I try to make questions explicit and urge readers to comment in response as they do on both the lists that I have established and other individuals with whom I share my concerns.
One such question is posed by the Machiavelli quote which I have included in my signature below. I am not a pacifist, but wars must not be undertaken lightly. They are a measure of human failure to 'do the right things.' May we hope for better things.
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"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
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Ed Kent 212-665-8535 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
As a professional philosopher recently retired, I am appalled by this situation. In depth research by our media is expensive. Opinions come cheap.
My own primary values are truth, compassion towards our fellow humans, and justice in the distribution of both rights and and resources. I have a wide array of sources -- including those on the spot at major areas of concern. I am contacted daily with information by email friends scattered about the globe in such situations which expose them to the raw facts. I have also established discussion groups in a variety of areas of concern: college and students, peace activities, poverty, local area problems in my neighborhoods, privacy rights, academic freedom. Israel/Palestine, our economy -- my primary fields in philosophy, but not limited to them, were social, political, and legal.
Thus, when I am blogging -- my post retirement pleasure -- I try to pose questions to stimulate people to do their own thinking and research rather than taking as fact the cheap fact games that get played (and controlled) by our current power interests.
I try to make questions explicit and urge readers to comment in response as they do on both the lists that I have established and other individuals with whom I share my concerns.
One such question is posed by the Machiavelli quote which I have included in my signature below. I am not a pacifist, but wars must not be undertaken lightly. They are a measure of human failure to 'do the right things.' May we hope for better things.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 212-665-8535 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
posted by Ed Kent at 3:36 PM
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