The Epistemology of a Charlie Sheen World

Over the past 250 years, as the industrial revolution progressed and was then superseded by the modern technological age, an epistemological crisis began to fester and grow quietly in the shadows. Our ability to obtain, disseminate, and – most importantly – apply knowledge, has been severely hindered by our industrial and technological success and our response to that success. We have achieved great feats with little or no perceived negative ramifications, thus establishing a false sense of stability in ourselves, our place in the natural order, and the way in which we process and use knowledge. Our ability to shoot for the moon – literally – meant that we presumed we could do no wrong. A precarious place to be to be sure.

And, as the decades rolled on, each continual success served to confirm our superiority over all – even the truth was manipulated. Responsibility fell to the way side. And, if a negative ramification presented itself, we quickly waved it away with the simple justification that the world and everything within it was ours to do with as we wish, and profiting from it was a natural act. Our birthright. It never occurred to us that building an economy based primarily upon a single finite resource – oil – would some day place our entire civilization at great risk of collapse.

Adolfo Doring‘s excellent documentary Blind Spot, contains an interview with Jason Bradford, who explains this epistemological issue very succinctly and eloquently as it relates to our inability to see reality and deal with the responsibility of our massively consumptive society.

We have lost the ability to deal with the concept of responsibility in a proper manner both as individuals and as a society. It’s quite important because lack of responsibility, and its consequence of not confronting reality, leads to the inability to solve complex problems and establish consistent ethical boundaries. Both are the cornerstones of a successful society. A society that is unable to deal with important issues responsibly, and use that knowledge to its advantage in a way that is beneficial to a majority of its citizens is a society that will die. We see the results today in the current culture war. Everyone senses that something is wrong, we simply can’t agree on the truth. It’s as if we’re entrenched in a form of madness.

Which brings us to Charlie Sheen.

As the mass media exploits and the public gorges itself on the ever-unfolding tragic life of actor Charlie Sheen, it has become apparent that Sheen is a practitioner of this epistemological disconnect. So is the mass media. They are by no means alone in this endeavor. It’s widespread. We are all in some way or another, practitioners of the epistemological disconnect from responsibility.

We now face the challenge of rebuilding how we think, how we acquire knowledge and information, and how we apply that knowledge. It is, as Douglas Rushkoff has said, a new renaissance.

 

Glenn Beck to Tea Party: Leave Your Racist Signs at Home!

Glenn Beck is one cynical and desperate dude. The upcoming “Restoring Honor” rally at Lincoln Memorial is meant to re-brand the sullied and racist image of the Tea Party into the rainbow coalition just in time for the fall election. But, Beck’s decision to blatantly ride on the coat tails of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights movement is nothing except a badly orchestrated and cynical effort to co-opt the gravitas of MLK and the rights movement in order to replace the glaring lack of it in the Tea Party movement. They are that desperate.

It gets even better though. From the Atlanta Constitution-Journal:

On the air, Beck has asked attendees not to bring signs or come in anger, but to come in a peaceful spirit akin to the one espoused by King. “Don’t bring your signs,” he said on TV. “Bring your hearts … bring your open minds.”

Not bring signs? It’s a rally! Of course you bring signs! But, Beck is obviously concerned. It’s an admission that something went astray last time. He’s worried the same thing may occur this time. The Tea Party 9/12 rally last year was a smörgåsbord of racism and allusions to racist themes. Some examples for historical context:








The Tea Bag Party faithful brushed the documented claims of racism off as untrue, even in the face of the photographic and video evidence. Perhaps they simply can not see the racism. Perhaps they don’t want to see it. But, America knows what it saw.

To be clear, I’m not saying all Tea Baggers are racist. Yet, it can’t be denied that there is a strong racist element within the Tea Party ranks, and that a great deal of the motivation behind the entire platform (such as is is) is of a nativist, racist, hateful and eliminationist nature. Historically, fear, hate and racism have been great allies. And, they continue to be such. The Tea Party is the current day Nativist party, a modern version of the Know-Nothings. The platforms and ideas espoused are practically identical. No one disuptes that the Know-Nothings were a racist and eliminationist movement. The question remains who will claim the mantle of leadership of the Tea Party. Who will speak out against the racism?

The signs above tell the story. Will it happen again? Time will tell.

al franken talks to the mob

Not a mob obviously. The term has been tossed around in some cases, accurate in others. It’s like dealing with a bunch of hecklers. And, Al Franken does well. People do want to know the facts. But, it’s so heated out there, as you can see, it’s not easy. There’s a lot of work to be done.

crisis as opportunity

Douglas Rushkoff on how to take back our world by seeing the current economic crisis as a great opportunity.

Life Inc. Dispatch 01: Crisis as Opportunity from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.

stand by me

The great Ben E. King tune, from around the world. Brilliant. From playingforchange.com
Enjoy.

webuzz: obama, eco news and more….

  • Obama is going to announce his VP choice soon, if you believe what you read. My guess is it’s going to be someone not on the “short list” we’ve been hearing so much about from the media. But, everyone’s buzzing like bees to honey. The gossip quotiant is stifling.
  • Ever heard of triclosan? Well, it’s in a ton of things that may be in your body or in your home or both. And, it’s a toxin. Go read about it over at Eco-Chick.
  • Obama stepped in the eliminationalist trap.
  • The decay of the free thinking press in the land of the free.
  • the green the bad and the ugly

    A few from Starre… my fav Eco chick.

    She has a new book out. Get it now. Thank you. Come again.

    Finally, go green with Twitter…

    Just watch your back. We live in uncertain times. And, I’m not talking about getting blown away by some sicko dip wad while eating your ding dong at the school cafeteria, but that sucks too.

    Send Karl Rove to jail

    Watch the video and sign the petition.

    idiocracy watch

    Yes, even a good fiction writer couldn’t make this stuff up.

  • Behaving eerily like Joe Lieberman, Hillary Clinton goes after MoveOn.org, the group that was founded to defend her husband, the former President, against impeachment during his second term. When you are breaking rules that have become cliches, such as “Never bite the hand that feeds you.” it is probably safe to say that your campaign is in trouble.

  • The Hollywood Reporter seems to think it’s news that a reality show – get this – might not be reality. Fishy editing practices? The pretense that reality shows are real is like believing that the WWF is real. Gene Simmon’s Family Jewels (a lie detector test? AHAHAHAHA.) and his appearance on The Celebrity Apprentice saw to that. Not to mention The Two Coreys, a show so badly faked even the canned hams at TMZ weren’t fooled. Pretending otherwise is just plain stupid. Masquerading as a “documentary” reality show doesn’t give you a free pass either.
  • McCain campaign plays the Obama is a terrorist card. Good doggies. People who believe this stuff are probably the same people who believe that The Two Coreys is real.
  • A taste for torture

    The simple fact of the matter is: we are better than torture. We are, or at least we once were… The country that held the moral high ground during the Nuremburg trials would not condone torture of enemies. Torture was the tactic of savages, of the evil Japanese Empire, the Nazi’s, the Soviets, the Red Army, the Khymer Rouge…

    Not the USA.

    Robert Greenwald has a new video, which is directly below.

    Digby is keeping this issue on the fire, by posting some posts from the past. Here’s one that I wrote two and a half years ago as well.

    Hot topic at: Empty Wheel, and Think Progress, and Open Left and Attytood.

    This shall not stand. Our failure of a president supports torture. We do not. Write to your local press or nearest media outlet and let them know.

    Then, get thee over to Condi Must Go and sign the petition.

    grass roots

    the fabulous furry freak brothers movie is on the way. love it. one of my all time fav comics. it’ll be stop animation, like Wallace and Gromit. here’s a test trailer:

    john legend sings pride – remembering martin

    Spent the weekend really digesting a lot of MLK information… which I’ll be posting throughout the week.

    Here’s a nice version of U2′s song Pride (In the name of love) by John Legend.

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