Personal Responsibility & Law

I wish I had more to say on the subject on how the erosion of personal responsibility in our legal and judicial system will impact our culture in the near and long-terms, but alas what I can at least do at this point is provide the link to a really interesting TED talk by author and lawyer Phillip K. Howard. Hopefully I can do some more legal research and thinking on the matter and I will definitely get back with a more comprehensive follow-up. But for now watch the video and let me know what you think below!

 

Media Implications of the Gulf Oil Spill

The recent catastrophe in the Gulf has serious implications across many different fields of thought and focus. One of the frequently overlooked implications has to do with media.

This event has been covered in such incredible detail, down to High-Definition video of the actual leak nearly a mile beneath the surface of the ocean. Maps, GIS information, photos, videos and tens of thousands of personal accounts of the aftermath have been flooding out of the area via platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. 

But there is a question that is very rarely asked. Is it possible that this enormous amount of information doesn't enhance but in fact actually dilutes the impact of this event on our lives? Watching oil spew from beneath the ocean is hard to put context to and the conversations about this incident that tend to happen in mainstream news outlet are superficial at best. Are these news reports mobilizing people to action? Are our lives better that we can see in HD oil filling an ocean? And a secondary question to that, is that do these same tools of communication and media provide us with the ability to take action in a way that we couldn't before, and is that worth the possible downsides this hyper-connected media world may bring with it?

Although this event doesn't necessarily itself change the way media works (though there have been some interesting related innovations, like Grassrootsmapping.org) it is at least an interesting example of how exponential media coverage is growing in our world and should serve as a reminder of how important is to look at these issues closely. This should, at the minimum, provide a foundation for a more in-depth look into how media is changing, and how that is going to impact out lives, government, culture, environment and world.

As always, I seem to enjoy asking the questions, rather than answering, but I hope if you are reading this, you will leave your comments and thoughts on these issues below!

Hampshire College & American Education

Currently in the bridge at Hampshire for its 40th birthday. It's amazing that in only 40 years, Hampshire has solidified itself as one of the strongest innovators in higher education.

Too often in our country, education - at all levels - is focused on standardization and memorization, creating an unhealthy reliant relationship of the students on their teachers. Instead of ecnouraging critical thinking, we encourage direction following. And it is a surprise that we are loosing our place in the world as innovators?

Proper education, and I don't mean grades, degrees or 'academia' by that, is a foundation to a free democracy. People must have the skills and ability to respond to challenges that they will face at various points in their lives and be equipped to make the best and most thoughtful decisions possible. And Hampshire does a great job at encouraging a set a of values in its students that place importance on an external focus of using knowledge as a means to better one's community and world, and I hope that this type of educative philosophy someday becomes the mainstream in this country as we realize how important critical thinking is for a free society.

It's been a little while

OK, so it has been a little while since my last post...

Since then, I have attended the Personal Democracy Forum, began working with the South Orange Rescue Squad and am beginning to, with the South Orange Police Department, reorganize the South Orange CERT program with help some friends at FEMA and CitizenCorps.

Stay posted for an update about PDF!