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Robert D. Steele's Profile
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Reviews Written by
Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States)
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Superb Re-Discovery of Core Knowledge, Presents New Insights, July 4, 2009
At the age of 56, having been educated in the 1970's when political science created "comparative studies" as a ruse for avoiding field world and foreign language mastery in favor of statistical comparisons from afar, I am now quite accustomed to seeing each generation rediscover core knowledge.
Even more distressing for one who loves books as artifacts of human wisdom, is to see each generation re-discover knowledge known to earlier generations, without citation. Scholarship seems to be on a wheel making little forward progress, at least in the humanities.
This is a fine book. It is exceptional for both its clear-eyed understanding of the combination of evil and banal ignorance that characterizes those in power, whether of one party or another. In the 1970's, for the US Institute of Peace, I wrote that the greatest threat to peace was the cataclysmic separation of those with power from those with knowledge. This book manifests all of that brilliantly.
It is also esceptional in this era for being a clear-eyes appraisal of the evil of military intervention. This again is not new knowledge, but it is helpful to have this generation be reminded.
Great evil has been done "in our name," for the basest of reasons. I pray that our rising generation of digital literati will not be as ignorant in power as those who now surround world leaders--sychophants, dilitants, and craven opportunists.
See also:
The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project)
Deliver Us from Evil: Peacekeepers, Warlords and a World of Endless Conflict
Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time
War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier
Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny
The Search for Security: A U.S. Grand Strategy for the Twenty-First Century
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Epic Work, Small Blinders, Over-All a MAJOR Integrative Work, June 28, 2009
I only recently learned of the literature on voices of women, and this is the first of several books I ordered to explore the subject. At tempted as I have been to take away one star for small blinders (notably the gross over-selling of anti-Semitism, and the complete oblivion to the fact that Dick Cheney used 9-11, even if he is a cross-dresser our response to 9-11 was NOT some deep psychic rage stemming from our humiliation--Cheney sent 1% of the country to war, and Bush asked the other 99% to go shopping.
Having said that up front, I stayed with five stars because this is an epic work, and I am deeply impressed by the rigorous documentation in notes, the spectacular bibliography, and the deliberate mention of names of minds being quoted in the body of the book, a certain mark of integrity that I always look for. Hence, while some of the points below in my notes come without the cited source, be assured that the authors have been meticulous.
QUOTE p. 19: "...patterns of injustice and moral slavery are supported by the repression of resisting voice and to show how such resisting voice is rooted in the human psyche and preserved in cultural forms that preserve and maintain it. ...What patriarchy precludes is love between equals, and thus it also precludes democracy." For the political science version of this, see The modern state.
Part I starts with Roman Patriarchy and if you are not a cultural studies ancient literature obsessive, you can skim most of this. I have a note: "marvelous handbook for teaching literature as culture & psyche." See The Manufacture Of Evil: Ethics, Evolution, and the Industrial System, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, and On the Psychology of Military Incompetence for the modern equivalencies...and other books I have reviewed.
Part II covers resistance across time and culture and is a brilliant survey in detail--while leaving much for others to cover in follow-on works--of religion, psychology (notably a wonderful chapter on Freud first embracing women's voices and then rejected them), the artists, and politics. The Catholic Church comes in for its fair share of condemnation as a patriarchal organization as well as a criminal and hypocritical organization, but it is here that I note the immaculate conceptions the authors both portray of Jews and Israel--"can do no wrong" gets annoying after a while.
Part III, the shortest part, provides a once-over on western colonialism, the war on terror, and where we are going wrong now in seeking to turn back the progress made from the 1960's. All good stuff.
Here are my fly-leaf notes and a couple of quotes.
+ Gender and how gender equality and sexual tolerance are handled is both the foundation for democracy (dignity and equality for all) and the canary in the coal mine for failing democracy such as we have in the USA.
+ Resistance, once it acquires critical mass, is the pre-condition for being able to achieve transformation. This is a very important point and merits its own book. See my review of Responsible History for supplementary insights from another author.
+ Over-all this is a fascinating holistic view of cultural relations and why the matter. I particularly appreciate the focus on how important "feelings" are and how the repression of feelings, including sexuality, cuts off half the soul-brain for the questionable desire to assert control.
+ I could not stand the "femi-nazis" in my own era of learning (1970's) but now they have come of age. It is no longer about aggressive women trying to fight men on men's terms; what we have here is brilliant women making a well-documented case for how stupid men are to fall for the patriarchy propaganda, and THAT I can respect. This book, for those of us not familiar with the Voices literature, is a milestone.
+ I completely buy-in to the author's view that patriarchy supports racism, Puritanism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism, the latter with a grain of salt. As "Responsible History" documents, way too many charges of anti-Semitism are defamation and no longer have standing in court.
+ The author's make a compelling case that a Republic in which the people are sovereign, equal, and entitled to equal voice, is completely anti-thetical to a top-down command and control patriarchy. Others have made this case and described Epoch B leadership, bottom up inclusive deliberative democracy. I cannot do justice to the originators, but see All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity (BK Currents (Hardcover)) and Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace for a taste.
+ They discuss how repression imposes disassociation that blocks ethical development as well as resistance.
+ They discuss the contradictions in laws that force women to disassociate their intelligence from their sexuality. I am moved by their citation of the work of others in which young girls learn they cannot have BOTH voice (honesty) AND relationships (steeped in patriarchy).
+ I am sympathetic to their discussion of fascism as over-compensation for male humiliation that becomes a psychological basis for violence, and I am even more in turn with the varied observations that fear feeds violence.
They conclude: "The corruption of manhood has been our theme." They discuss the tension between voice and violence, and reiterate that the demonization of pleasure requires a split in consciousness--put another way, the USA has lost its mind.
QUOTE p. 266: "As we have found the roots of intolerance--whether racist, sexist, or homophobic--in the traumatic rapture of intimate relationships that marks the initiation into patriarchy, so the splits between mind and body, thought and emotion, self and relationships signal a disassociation that keeps us from knowing what we otherwise would know. It impedes the voice of experience, grounded in the body and in emotion and fostered by relationships, that would speak to the voices of authority, thus posing a threat to democracy in the same ways that totalitarianism targets the functions of the human mind."
We're there. See Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny
See also:
Radical Man
Counterculture Through the Ages: From Abraham to Acid House
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Johnny Depp a Brand Name for Me, June 28, 2009
No one needs my review of this superb film, this annotation is just a marker for those who follow my generally non-fiction reading and viewing.
Johnny Depp has become an icon for me, a brand name. One of my teenagers brought this home and I put it on background while doing paperwork, but the TV is above my desktop and I watched every single minute, stopping as necessary when leaving the room.
I admire the reviewer that has researched Jack the Ripper more deeply and tells us that we have been let off the worst of the worst. That's fine by me. Between Johnny Depp's performance, the other stars in the cast, the over-all screenplay and the period depiction, this was simply a fine offering.
I might offer that Heather Graham shows great promise, brining to mind such stars as Jodie Foster and Julianne Moore.
I'd like to see more reviewers use the "Insert a Product Link" that Amazon offers, instead of just typing out the name of a book or DVD.
Here are some examples:
The Libertine
Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest (Widescreen Edition)
The Complete History of Jack the Ripper
A Study in Red: The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper
The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Companion: An Illustrated Encyclopedia
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Unique, Not a Substitute for Manuals, But Practical Clever Sense, June 28, 2009
I stayed up late to finish this book, and regret the publisher has not seen fit to offer Amazon readers a "Look Inside the Book."
I am adding this book to my list of great sailing manuals, handbooks, and other guides, with the observation that this book is in no way a substitute for those more detail oriented step by step books BUT this book is also unique. It is PACKED with real-world experience and clever sense--much beyond common sense--that is literally priceless. Put clearly, I would not leave this book out of my calculations in planning to acquire and manage an offshore journey that includes an ocean crossing.
Chapter 15 on "Can You Be Seen At Night" is alone worth the price of the book. I have NEVER seen this much useful detail anywhere else, including the so-called everything guides. The author excels at providing contact information and specific recommendations and I absolutely would not go to sea in the future without buying the masthead light he recommends in the book. I also realized that the 65 MacGregor, which I have my eye on, falls just within the 65.6' limits of international regulations on masthead lights sufficing (when sailing), and personally think MacGregor is making a mistake in thinking about a 70' version.
This book has FOUR chapters on storm management, and I have NEVER seen it explained more sensibly, in logical progression. I am not a lifelong sailed despite a provisional D Skipper rating (less celestial), so these four chapters are for me the equivalent of a life-time tutorial that I badly need.
While speaking of celestial, this book persuaded me I have to get on with that qualification. The author is compelling in describing the circumstances under which GPS could go out, both locally or by military dictat, and I finally appreciate the urgency of having celestial capability in extremis.
The rest of the book is a joy. I now wish I had done this when my three boys were still in middle school range. The chapter on home schooling is fantastic, with lots of detail, and I am fully convinced that the author is correct when he says that two hours of focused study a day easily equal a "full" school day with all its distractions and change-ups.
The chapters on fuel for cooking and fuel for heating are both very important, and marvelous supplements to the more sterile ground as covered by others. The author ranges widely, covers the pros and cons well acorss the various fuel categories, and I put down the book knowing a great deal more. This merits a special comment: this author is gifted at talking sense. I understand his words more easily than the more formal manuals.
Final chapters include one on nine ideas covering tools, water, flashlights, mast climbing steps, nonskid desk surfaces, ship's book (history and details of every sail, fitting, etc.), cockroaches, enhancement to the topping lift, and stuffing box leaks with ACE bandages in or out of the hull.
The book does not mention piracy, so I am loading a graphic from an article I wrote recently, and anticipate the need for a global guide to piracy and rapid response services. I also see a need for fully concealable sniper rifles that are impervious to salt-water.
Absolutely a great value.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Not What I Expected But Hugely Satisfying, June 27, 2009
I was actually expecting an Operating Manual. Although what I ended up with is a 136-page double-spaced "overview" by Buckminster Fuller, a sort of "history and future of the Earth in 5,000 words or less, bracketed by a *wonderful* introduction by grandchild Jamie Snyder, an index, a two-page resource guides, and some photos and illustrations including the Fuller Projections of the Earth.
First, the "core quote" that I can never seem to find when I need it:
OUR MISSION IS "To make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone." Inside front cover.
The introduction is a treat--I note "impressive" and appreciate the many insights that could only come from a grandchild of and lifelong apprentice to Buckminster Fuller.
Highlights for me:
Founder of Design Science, a company by that name is now led by Medard Gabel who served as his #2 for so long. I just attended one of their summer laboratories and was blown away by the creativity and insights. It is a life-changing experience for those with a passion for Earth.
He imagined an inventory of global data. I am just now coming into contact with all of this great man's ideas, but my third book, Information Operations: All Information, All Languages, All the Time, also online at the Strategic Studies Institute in very short monograph form, is totally in harmony with this man's vision for a global inventory of global data.
"Sovereignness" was for him a ridiculous idea, and a much later work out of Cambridge agrees, Philip Allot tells us the Treaty of Westphalia was a huge wrong turn in his book The Health of Nations: Society and Law beyond the State.
"Great Pirates" that mastered the oceans as the means of linking far-flung lands with diversity of offerings was the beginning of global commerce and also the beginning of the separation between globalists who knew the whole, and specialists whom Buckminster Fuller scathingly describes as an advanced form of slave.
He was frustrated with the phrases "sunrise" and sunset" as they are inaccurate, and finally settled for "sunsight" and "suneclipse" to more properly describe the fact that it is the Earth that is moving around the sun, not the other way around.
In 1927 he concluded that it is possible for forecast with some accuracy 25 years in advance, and I find this remarkably consist with Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan's view that it takes 25 years to move the beast--see for instance Miles to Go: A Personal History of Social Policy.
He has an excellent discussion of the failure of politics and the ignorance of kings and courtiers, noting that our core problem is that everyone over-estimates the cost of doing good and under-estimates the cost of doing bad, i.e. we will fund war but not peace.
He described how World War I killed off the Great Pirates and introduces a competition among scientists empowered by war, politicians, and religions. He says the Great Pirates, accustomed to the physical challenges, could not comprehend the electromagnetic spectrum.
He states that man's challenge is to comprehend the metaphysical whole, and much of the book is focused on the fact, in his view, that computers are the salvation of mankind in that they can take over all the automaton work, and free man to think, experiment, and innovate. He is particularly forceful in his view that unemployed people should be given academic scholarships, not have to worry about food or shelter, and unleash their innovation. I am reminded of Barry Carter's Infinite Wealth: A New World of Collaboration and Abundance in the Knowledge Era as well as Thomas Stewart's The Wealth of Knowledge: Intellectual Capital and the Twenty-first Century Organization.
There is a fascinating discussion of two disconnected scholars, one studying the extinction of human groups, the other the extinction of animal species, and when someone brings them together, they discover that precisely the same cause applied to both: over-specialization and a loss of diversity.
Synergy is the uniqueness of the whole, unpredictable from the sum of the parts or any part individually.
On page 87 he forecasts in 1969 when this book was first published, both the Bush and the Obama Administration's ease in finding trillions for war and the economic crisis, while refusing to recognize that we must address the needs of the "have nots" or be in eternal war. I quote:
"The adequately macro-comprehensive and micro-incisive solutions to any and all problems never cost too much."
I agree. I drove to Des Moines and got a memo under Obama's hotel door recommending that he open up to all those not represented by the two party crime family, and also providing him with the strategic analytic model developed by the Earth Intelligence Network. Obviously he did not attend, and today he is a pale reflection of Bush. See the images I have loaded, and Obama: The Postmodern Coup - Making of a Manchurian Candidate.
Early on he identified "information pollution" as co-equal to physical pollution, I am totally taken with this phrase (see my own illustration of "data pathologies" in the image above). I recognize that Buckminster Fuller was about feedback loops and the integrity of all the feedback loops, and this is one explanation for why US Presidents fail: they live in "closed circles" and are more or less "captive" and held hostage by their party and their advisor who fear and block all iconoclasts less they lose their parking spot at the White House.
Most interestingly, and consistent with the book I just read the other day, Fighting Identity: Sacred War and World Change (The Changing Face of War), he concludes that wars recycle industry and reinvigorate science, and concludes that every 25 years is about right for a "scorched earth" recycling of forces.
He observes that we must preserve our fossil fuels as the "battery" of our Spaceship Earth, and focus on creating our true "engine," regenerative renewable life and energy.
He joins with Will Durant in Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers: education is our most formidable task.
I am astonished to have him explain why the Pacific coast of the US is so avant guarde and innovative (as well as loony). He states that the US has been a melting pot for centuries, and that the West Coast is where two completely different cultural and racial patterns integrated, one from Africa and the east, the other from the Pacific and the west.
I learn that he owned 54 cars in his lifetime, and kept leaving them at airports and forgetting when and where. He migrated to renting, and concluded that "possession" is burdensome.
See also:
Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications
Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (Substantially Revised)
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13 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
Minus 1 for Fluff, Plus 2 for Bringing Us Back to Paine: 6 Over-All, June 27, 2009
As annoying as this book obviously is for so many, it is not only squarely on target, but merits great respect for bringing all of us back to the more developed wisdom of Thomas Paine.
Glenn Beck is not Thomas Paine. He's not even an average American, cf.
The Average American: The Extraordinary Search for the Nation's Most Ordinary Citizen. What he has going for him is a bully pulpit, the right instincts (no pun), and the ability to reach some, but not all and certainly not a majority, of conscious Americans.
The book is squishy, a moderately well-organized rant against "Progressives"; I myself have done better with Election 2008: Lipstick on the Pig (Substance of Governance; Legitimate Grievances; Candidates on the Issues; Balanced Budget 101; Call to Arms: Fund We Not Them; Annotated Bibliography). However, I honor this book, I really do. Below are five books that have the substance this book lacks, without the heart that Glenn Beck delivers:
Obama: The Postmodern Coup - Making of a Manchurian Candidate
Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny
Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders
Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
My review of that last one (I review all books I link to) itemizes 23 of the 25 high crimes and misdemeanors that make Dick Cheney long overdue for retrospective impeachment and negotiated exile.
My notes from the first half of this double-spaced book (the second half is the original work of the original Thomas Paine, and I loved having a chance to reread that):
+ Principles must displace the two political parties
+ Creative extremists are needed--non-violent *armed* extremists better
+ Government is imposing both sacrifices and intrusive conditions on a public that has been sacrificing since the 1960's
+ Shortcuts have consequences, national debt IS bad
+ Political leaders are parasites (Amen, Brother!--I would add, "and prostitutes uncaring about the public interest."
+ Social Security and Medicare are a scam because the money is being spent and an IOU put in its place--close to $10 trillion in unfunded future obligations (but see my review of Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth
+ "Smiley-faced fascism" is the order of the day
+ Tax code is a weapon and a scam
+ Election manipulations anti-democratic, need term limits and an end to gerrymandering (see my review of Grand Illusion linked above)
+ "Green Government" is a scam that is radically increasing federal government powers to intervene and impact negatively on private property
Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFL) are the poster child for Congressional and Executive idiocy and hypocrisy, and I give this its own paragraph to emphasize how much I admired this example and the way in which the author presented it. He lines up his facts and I am shocked to learn that they contain six times any "safe" level of mercury and when they break there is a complex clean-up procedure that is required, and they are *seriously* hazardous to children, pets, and adults.
I totally welcome and agree with the author's view that politicians are disdainful of citizens and overly enamored of secrecy for the sake of avoiding oversight.
I learn for the first time that lawful armed citizens were unlawfully disarmed in the wake of Katrina, and I believe the day will come when law enforcement officers are gunned down by citizens resisting unlawful disarming--our government is out of control, is going to issue illegal orders including "martial law" for the "common good," and they will not be ready for the Harvest Of Rage: Why Oklahoma City Is Only The Beginning.
The author does a fine job of pointing out how the two-party tyranny uses international treaties to end-run common sense and impose addition deprivations on citizens.
A few quotes I especially admired:
p6: "The fastest way to be branded a danger, a militia member, or just plain crazy is to quote the words of our Founding Fathers [about the right to abolish the government].
p6: "It is not time to dissolve the bands that connect us to one another, but it is time to dissolve the 'political'bands that *separate* us from one another." I totally agree--look up the Unified Independents, I believe they will capture a third of the seats in 2010 and if Obama does not pass the Electoral Reform Act of 2009, he will be a lame duck President kicked out in 2012 in favor of an Independent President who demands Cabinet level selections and a balanced budget proposal be presented to We the People *prior to* Election Day.
p9: "Through legitimate 'emergencies involving war, terror, and economic crises, politicians on both sides have gathered illegitimate new powers--playing on our fears and desire for security and economic stability--at the expense of our freedoms." Absolutely right, see the images I have loaded above, Obama is a CONTINUATION of Bush and Goldman Sachs is still helping Wall Street loot the Treasury.
p19: "This isn't a debate aout money, it's a life-and-death struggle for personal freedom and national liberty.
Between the book and the origina Tom Paine materials is a 9.12 project that does not do much for me, I'm sticking with the Boy Scout principles.
See my review of the following books for modest hope:
Fighting Identity: Sacred War and World Change (The Changing Face of War)
My online annotated bibliography at my corporate web site (OSS.Net, Inc.) provides direct links to 500+ of my reviews of relevant non-fiction books organized into groups.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Nobel Prize Material--Elegant, Exudes Integrity, a Joy to Read, June 27, 2009
This is, in my opinion, a Nobel-level contribution to all scholarship as well as to humanity. The author is at the intersection of history and human rights, but I also see him as having provided a definitive typology of responsible scholarship that exudes INTEGRITY, the one word that captured the essence of Buckminster Fuller and his ideal to create a world that works for all with disadvantage to none.
Two other books that provide context for this one, but are focused on the substance of history rather than the ethics of history where the author is clearly the vanguard, are:
The Lessons of History
The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past
See the image I have posted for a number of other book covers and the core "data pathology" concepts that undermine our ability to create a prosperous world at peace.
The author is also responsible for Censorship of Historical Thought: A World Guide, 1945-2000, a book that is grotesquely over-priced by the publisher, so with sadness I must limit my foundation for praising this author on the basis of this single properly-priced volume.
As with most books I consider special I began by reading the notes (40 pages) and the bibliography (18 pages), and from these extracted the following terms I place in alphabetical order:
Abuse-of-history
Academic-freedom
Access-to-information
Censorship
Civil-and-political-rights
Defamation
Denunciation
Duties-to-the-dead
Ethics
Fakes-and-forgeries
Frauds-and-myths
Freedom-of-information
Hard-truth-vs-good-faith
Harming-the-dead
Holocaust-denial
Humanitarian-law
Human-rights
Incitement-of-hatred
Inquisition
Posthumous-rights
Propaganda
Protection-of-literary-and-artistic-works
Repression
Rights-vs-reputations
Right-to-history
Right-to-memory
Smear-campaigns
Social-reconstruction
Social-role-of-the-historian
Truth-and-reconciliation
Uncertain-knowledge
Voices
The book does not contain a biography of the author, searching for <dr. A.H.M. (Antoon) de Baets> yields his contact information, I have copied and loaded his photo from another site.
I learn that 2005 was the first time in history that "abuse of history" is formally defined as a meaningful concept, by the International Committee of Historical Sciences. The author is a founding leader of the Network of Concerned Historians, generally in support of human rights investigations.
Table 1.1 on page 13 is so valuable I am loading an image to honor the author. I am not doing this for the many other more complex tables that represent deep nuanced thinking and a philosophy of history that is GOOD. Buy the book.
On page 14 he gives us two definitions:
+ The abuse of history is its use with intent to deceive.
+ The irresponsible use of history is either its deceptive or its negligent use.
Table 1.2, 4 pages (19-22), is an exquisite typology of abuses within irresponsible history.
Table 1.3, 3 pages (26-28) is a delightful itemization of 19 general motives for historical writing, with many more refined motives included as subsets.
Table 1.4 on page 34 lists 22 attributes of abusers, and I cannot help but think of how easily they describe the most senior officials of most governments and corporations.
The author discusses the nature of dictatorships and their abuses as well as the post-dictatorship abuses that characterize the handing of their archives. I am of course reminded that the USA today is "best pals" with 42 of the 44 dictators discussed in Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025, *and* that Leon Panetta, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, is refusing Congressional demands for archives on CIA's role in rendition and torture.
I learn from the chapter on defamation and how restrictive defamation laws are used to repress the truth. I also learn that the courts have made clear that charges of anti-Semitism as a means of repressing honest criticism of Israel and the Jewish lobby do NOT enjoy the same standing as normal charges of defamation because the anti-Semitic smear campaign violates rights of others rather that addressing the truth of the matter.
The author provides a fascinating discussion of judicial deference to historians in recognition that arriving at a best truth is a specialized craft.
The second half of the book on responsible history is equally engaging and most professional. It covers the duties of the living to the dead and the rights to memory and history. The author concludes that the dead do not have rights, but the living do have duties to both the dead of the past and the unborn of the future. Table 4.2 on pages 134-137 is a phenomenal listing of moral and or legal wrongs to the dead.
In examining memory and history, the author concludes, with full and proper documentation of work by others, that memory is a foundation for thought and therefore is a right; and that in exceptional cases the government can and must intervene to establish a right to the truth that is an essential aspect of transitional justice and is a right of the larger social group that has been wronged, not just of an individual. I learn--and perhaps this is Dutch humor but I appreciate it--that habeas corpus has a counterpart in history, habeas data.
The final chapter discusses and rejects eight reasons not to have a code of ethics for history, and then lists ten on page 187 that I provide in abbreviated form below.
01-focus-of-moral-awareness
02-formulates-rights-and-duties
03-instrument-to-teach-core-of-the-profession
04-compass-to-detect-irresponsibility
05-instrument-to-evaluate-conflicts
06-helps-reduce-irresponsible-use-and-abuses
07-clarifies-foundations-and-limits
08-helps-protect-historians
09-enhances-autonomy, transparency, and accountability
10-increases-public-trust-and-understanding
He concludes that the past will not go away and will remain both an area of conflict and abuse, and an area of reconciliation and responsible use. I am taken with one of the last lines in the book, on page 198:
"...historical writing is not an ordinary operation of memory. It is a rather peculiar operation of factual memory, based on freedom and integrity, r3espect, and the careful and methodically determined search for truth."
This book is unique! It is in my view one of the most important works published in recent memory, and it has value for the future of humanity in defining the moral obligations of all professional researchers, not least of which are the spies--intelligence collectors, analysts, and managers.
Other recommended books on a positive note:
Speaking Truth to Power
Infinite Wealth: A New World of Collaboration and Abundance in the Knowledge Era
Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems
How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Updated Edition
The New Craft of Intelligence: Personal, Public, & Political--Citizen's Action Handbook for Fighting Terrorism, Genocide, Disease, Toxic Bombs, & Corruption
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Our Bunker Hill-a STAKE in the Heart of "The Borg", June 27, 2009
I consider this book one of the most important books of our time, for it takes on "the Borg" at an intellectual level in a cultural context, and in so doing, speaks truth to power: our Emperors ("the Borg") are naked and ignorant.
Early on he points out that ours is not the first globalization, and that previous globalizations have demonstrated that new identities rise within globalization and *cannot be put down* (his emphasis). New ideas, counter-establishment ideas, cannot be suppressed, and ultimately triumph in new consciousness at multiple levels. States struggle vainly, equating everything "new" with being a "threat," and ultimately collapse under the weight of their own ignorance and inability to adapt.
The first few chapters suggest that our reaction to 9-11 opened a Pandora's box, that AF-IQ are our Waterloo, and that "non-state actors" is a generic term for all that is outside the state.
He specifies six "identity" migration paths: networks of conversion and subversion (e.g. the Muslim Brotherhood and the Pentecostals); autonomous urban subcultures (e.g. gangs); emerging nations; fighter fraternities; militarized Bucellani (vandal elites, e.g. the Taliban, a state within a state); and our own cross to bear, intercessor security sub-cultures (e.g. our military-industrial complex to which I would add, a Congress lacking in integrity).
TWO MAJOR POINTS:
1. The US Military is no longer Of, By, and For We the People, no longer a collective citizenry that is armed--in brief, the militarization of national policy has made us arrogant, ignorant, and repugnant.
2. By resisting change we are promoting change. I cannot help myself, I think of the anti-Borg from outer space that grows when we nuke it, shrinks when we show love.
The author points out that every US military intervention into a Muslim society has failed; that our failures lead to new formulas (reformations) rather than new directions (transformations); and that in being drawn in and maintaining the chaos space, we are feeding the metamorphosis of non-state cocoons into butterflies very hard to hit with an artillery shell or even an aimed bullet.
The middle of the book expands on the theme of war as "creative destruction" (a mantra in the commercial intelligence world), while pointing out that in ignoring morality, the Napoleonic and Clauswitzian essential ("the moral is to the physical as three is to one"--today I would make it 10:1) the US is giving up the very power that matters, and failing to understand that identity is stronger than materiel. He points out that the "others" have commitment, sacrifice, collective effectiveness, breeding in battle, are fighting on their home ground, and achieve transcendence in resisting the US. Meanwhile, in the US, 1% do the fighting and the other 99% are asked to go shopping.
P26: "America's problem comes with the discovery that it is merely the midwife rather than the godfather. We fight so as to get nothing from those we legitimize."
I have a note culture is identity is being is sacred and together form consciousness.
The author is critical of Al Qaeda and its many mistakes, but credits them with drawing the US out into creating the chaos space within which other indigenous forces are rising.
His section on method discusses the utility of history and anthropology, both foreign "denied areas" to the USG IMHO.
The author points out the obvious that is not so obvious to those sacrificing America's blood, treasure, and spirit in our name, i.e. two thirds of humanity is "the other" living the Hobbsian life that is "poor, nasty, brutish, and short.," For these people, war is an entry point to negotiations, and the new players acquire legitimacy by out-lasting (not necessarily out-fighting) US forces.
As we move toward the conclusion the author speculates that we may be headed for a new Middle Ages with a global pandemic, climate change, and an energy crunch (to which I would add water crunch).
AF-IQ went wrong in five ways:
1. Liberation fizzled (I add, because neither Rumsfeld nor Gates are serious about waging peace)
2. Al Qaeda showed up in Iraq (the author neglects Iran's glee and strategic leverage)
3. No miraculous reconstruction (according to Paul Wolfowitz , "at their expense")
4. No democratic transformation (to have expected one was idiocy or mendacity)
5. World did not, will not, accept the "Long War"
Chapter 8 on "fit" credits Martin van Creveld with the term, and elegantly discusses how our leaders went to war, ordered others to war, without the slightest understanding of "the other." The "American way of battle" that Tony Echeverria has pointed out is not a way of war at all, has been, in the author's words, "the helpmate to enemy realization."
On page 176 the author itemizes our "transformation" rules set and concludes it is flat out wrong.
1. Situational awareness (based on remote technologies)
2. Precision killing (ineffective for individuals)
3. Rapid dominance (not so fast)
4. Kill enough of the enemy and their leaders, and resistance will fold (simply not so).
PP191-192 are a stake in the heart of COIN--it is not wrong, it is simply ignorant and oblivious of the strategic Whole of Government and Whole Earth ramifications of spending all of our money on a lemon. COIN is (my words) "Borg triumphant." COIN is "bento-box consciousness" and RAND--normally a supplicant cheer-leader-- has outlined its demise in detail.
P202: "The events of 9/11 drove us back to Great War, but this time without *the people.* This Great War was *and remains* a war of the leadership and its tribal confederacy. It is a state-military enterprise, but far more significantly, *it is also now a state-military liturgy.* (Emphasis in original.]
The author notes that the "other" has a faster learning curve than we do, and on page 182: "Today's non-state actors know us better than we wish to know them." This is an indictment of the USG.
See the images loaded under the book cover, and below books consistent with author's intent:
The Lessons of History
The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past
The Health of Nations: Society and Law beyond the State
The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence and the Will of the People
A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025
Uncomfortable Wars Revisited (International and Security Affairs Series)
Who the Hell Are We Fighting?: The Story of Sam Adams and the Vietnam Intelligence Wars
The Tunnels of Cu Chi: A Harrowing Account of America's "Tunnel Rats" in the Underground Battlefields of Vietnam
Radical Man
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Morning Light
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| DVD ~ Chris Branning |
| Price: $19.99 |
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| Availability: In Stock |
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Worthy of time and money, could have been better, June 25, 2009
The Amazon review above stinks. Ignore it.
I would never, ever, have known of Morning Light if I had not been the only other person in an advanced meterology class in Seattle under master weatherman Lee Chesneau. The skipper Jeremy, the navigator Piet, and the back-up navigator Chris, and I, spent a full week together. I ended up feeding them and the instructor a lot of sushi.
These three were a cut above the norm, but one of the things I learned from being with them was just how normal the crew was, and the fact that they were giving up a working position in order to carry a camaraman--in other words, they came in second to a world-class professional crew even though handicapped by one cargo camaraman. I was surprised not to see this mentioned in the film.
As for the film, it had me on the edge of my seat and as mundane as some may find aspects of the film--not exactly a James Bond movie, and certainly not a drama with hotties such as Wind--for anyone who loves sailing, this is absolutely a great film to view alone or as an excuse for a gathering of like-minded folk.
My biggest disappointment in the film is the lack of detail on training--absent my comment and my direct experience, no one would know they got advanced meterology training, or that their initial southern pick went against everything they were taught (the wind rotates counter-clockwise). Nor did I learn anything of other training.
From talking to them I learned far more about the training and the details of equipping the boat, e.g. they were each allowed one small sack of personal items, and as the boat was put together there were furious arguments about the exact weight of the navigation light at the top of the mast, and the weight of the wire from the light to the power source. That is the kind of stuff I was hoping would be in this film.
So a bit disappointing, but a superb contribution and one that I would recommend as a gift to any aspiring sailor from high school onwards.
Other DVDs in my sailing library (see my Amazon List):
Volvo Round the World Race: The SEB Stopover Reports.
Racing To Win with Gary Jobson
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Straight from the Author: Systems are Value-Neutral, June 25, 2009
Am in a UN design seminar and have been listening to the author, whose next book is Conscious Globalism: What's Wrong with the World and How to Fix It, and am enthralled. We are on a break. Here are the highlights:
+ Economic crisis we are experiencing is a blessing. We NEEDED this kind of large systemic failure to wake us up.
+ Systems, such as capitalism, are value-neutral. It is the individuals whose personal and social and cultural values determine the direction and nature of the system.
+ Values are a means of teaching what works for the long run. Individuals that cheat others know deeply that they are less worthy and soiled, but they get away with it, and the community does not protest, provided there is a certain level of global stabilization. When everything goes bad, then values re-assert themselves as "timeless."
+ Politicians follow rather than lead. In the absence of public engagement, they follow the money.
+ "There is an influx of consciousness coming into the planet." The new generation of young people have a different consciousness and appear to be ready to adopt longer views, less selfish views.
I really like the above point, and am reminded of Will and Ariel Durant, and their Lessons of History, that specifically isolated morality as a strategic value that is priceless.
The author is a phenomenal speaker and the message in this book is not out of date at all, but I do want to alert Amazon customers to the imminent availability of his new book, "Conscious Globalization."
From my own reading, I am listing below 5 books for each of two groups:
Predatory Immoral Capitalism:
The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future - and What It Will Take to Win It Back
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War
The Working Poor: Invisible in America
Conscious Moral Capitalism Creating Infinite Wealth
Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution
In addition to the author's two books, see also
The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom
Infinite Wealth: A New World of Collaboration and Abundance in the Knowledge Era
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace
This book has been translated into Chinese and is in its second mass printing in China. From my own listening to this author in person, I draw out the lesson that capitalism is a system for innovation and individual entrepreneurship, and that no system is sustainable that seeks--as the USA does--to consume 25% of the earth's resources for the benefit of 5% of the global population.
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(Oakton, VA United States)
