Absolutely. I have followed the Marcos story for some years now. He is a hero alright, to other despots and to major crooks everywhere. Of course, thieves everywhere may just envy him for the incredible amounts of money he was able to steal.
I agree with the author that there is no way to measure what the Philippines would be like if the incredible wealth of the country had not been diverted into private fortunes for so many years.
James Pilant
via Red Lion Oratory
Oh, thank God, somebody is willing to say it. Every time, I go to the book store I stare in total disbelief at a wall of books explaining that your mental attitude will bring you wealth, love and maybe stave off death.
I live in a strange world where actually being able to do things and think intelligently make you money. I live in a strange place where putting affirmations on the wall and repeating themselves to yourself at key moments in the day just makes you look odd.
Let’s stop thinking positive and start planning, working and doing. That’s where things happen.
James Pilant
“There is no charity more beloved to God than speaking the truth.”
An Islamic point of view in regard to the Murdoch scandals is here presented. I really liked it. Today, it would appear that appreciating the thought of other cultures and practicing tolerance toward them can result in a sentence of death from a right wing vigilante. Appreciation is merited by the followers of Islam and tolerance a hallmark of Western Civilization, perhaps more the ideal of Christian Civilization.
James Pilant
I was wondering about this myself. Targeting an opposition youth camp is a leadership decapitation strategy. However, this author got the idea out before I did and developed it beautifully. Please give it a read.
James Pilant
via Balneus
I’ve been waiting for somebody, anybody to say something like this for days.
Ethics Bob is a treasure. He didn’t just say it. He said it with power and toughness. Read this paragraph –
What’s wrong with this picture: a young man, struggling to pay off college loans and support himself with a minimal-paying job, gives a gift—estimated to be worth $300,000 on the open market—to a baseball superstar whose salary for 2011 is $14,729,365?
While others may say Lopez’s heart is big, I think it stupid. But is there a pig in the story? How about Jeter, the gazillionaire who accepts a $300,000 gift from a fan who could only afford one of the cheap seats to see his Yankees play?
That’s a clear ethical point of view. No shenanigans, just what it looks like. I’m a fan of Ethics Bob and I recommend you all visit his site.
James Pilant
via Ethics Bob
I’m not that big a sports fan. Okay, that’s not true, I’m not a sports fan at all, but this was just irresistible.
The picture alone is just priceless.
James Pilant
via Ethics Bob
The author argues that even without an agreed up objective standard of morality, there can still be a discussion of morality based on the “cultural constructions,” – how well the society succeeds in its purposes based on its ideas. This is a particularly significant passage –
What that leaves us with can vary depending on whom one talks to, but among other things, it is possible to critique cultural constructions from within their very constructedness without having to appeal to an objective standard. In fact it is the constructions themselves that are critiqued: arguments and their consequences are not without consequences simply because they are not objective. The real does not dissolve when dualism is questioned but becomes a part of discursive practices that have real effects on real beings whose discursive aspects do not render them less real or less prone to suffering.
I freely admit that I may not understand the argument as well as I should but I am delighted with the idea of still having a “common” ground discussion of a society even without an agreement on what form of morality should be the standard.
James Pilant
via blog@
(When we speak of the Met, what is being referred to is the Metropolitan Police.)
One of the police officials who resigned on Monday had taken gifts and trips from the Murdoch holdings. Since the police are implicated in covering up the crimes of the News of the World and also implicated in providing the scandal sheets with information about crimes and victims, it is not surprising that in hind sight taking these gifts were a mistake.
From the essay – No official in the course of their job, should accept gifts, hospitality or other benefits of any value from anyone other than their employing agency without the explicit consent of their employer. In the vast majority of circumstances, the only reason anyone would give such benefits relates to the exercise of functions by that official – either before decisions are made or following the making of decisions. It is difficult to conceive of a gifting purpose unrelated to either “oiling the wheels” or to recognise the favourable way the wheels have turned for the person making the gift.
If a gift is to be accepted, that acceptance must be transparent. This involves open disclosure to a superior officer, the granting of approval, and formally recording the benefit in a publicly accessible register.
It would be difficult to say it better than this author in these paragraphs.
James Pilant
Here are some very challenging thoughts about basic cultural beliefs. Here is a key paragraph –
I was thinking in church today how often we make wild assumption about God acting via our state, and that the state is essentially a Good Thing. In fact, whilst it is entirely appropriate to question belief in a deity, it is sacrilege to question the assumption of the Great United Kingdom. Some of us might laugh at the USAmerican assumptions of moral goodness and influence in the world, yet the truth is that we also talk in this way. Not only is the state good because it is good to ‘us’ (in the process dismissing all those who do not experience good things from the state as being somehow outcasts), ‘we’ are agents of good in the world. To assume that our commitment to the gospel of Christ might be in conflict with the working of the state is to label ourselves as fanatical – possibly dangerous – fundamentalists.
This is tough and difficult for many to accept. But we should think about these things. The status of “city on a hill” is not given but earned.
James Pilant
This is marvelous. Here we have some subversive, original thinking about our current state of morality. Do the ends justify the means? Murdoch’s empire is a vicious example of raw power in action. It deserves some tough satire.
James Pilant
via QA
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