I have always thought of Rob as a very gifted teacher. What I
particularily value about his style , is that there are endless possibilities and opportunities for people to learn whatever they need, want, chose or happen to learn from the article. Rob may never fully know...but he gets people thinking and involved. And if I end up commenting 3 different times about stuff this brings up for me, then I am usually just in the first warm-up stages, and my thoughts are not written in stone. They are on it's way to the 'processing factory', or my 'thinking tool'. It's the last stage, and it takes as long as it takes...until I end up with some real truth. I rarely take in information by thought; I often have my mind turned off when I listen ....my eyes closed, or my soul is traveling between people in the room. When I start processing with my intellect...all the information is already stored in other places. I do not invent my information. I usually already know....but I do not learn it , until my mind is through with it. Over time, I may add, learn or change my mind..but I never learn anything that is either purely intellectual, or until I understand it. I take what's useful and throw out the rest.
I can learn from anything...but the best sources always come from the mistakes. I think too often people discard those......it is a waste of recources. Mistakes, glitches, and wrong assumptions are as precious to me as is what is good or correct.
I value all my experiences the same....the good and the bad and the in-between.
The reason I have discussed my style in such detail is for the following reasons: 1) I will be using somebody's comment to Rob's above article to illustrate what's so 'wrong' about what we assume is 'right' and 'correct' thinking...and then the often faulty conclusions we draw from our already subjective thinking. 2) How we really know nothing at all...as Panum points out in a previous comment. 3) how we often do not listen even to ourselves..... but judge, parrot, and/or believe....that our minds are often totally uneducated, brainwashed, superficial, and stupid 4) why words mean nothing in this country 5) and why our liberal thinking is really no less pathetic then what we accuse the right of.
(and I think this is a doable and worthwhile opportunity)
This changes everything for Israel"-Rob
Rob is right, everything has changed and the 'birth pangs' of a new Middle East have birthed a baby no one in the West expected:
( what the West expected......we could not know what to expect.....and obviously, neither were they able to predict...if one person comes close to knowing some real truth at all, it is Picasso.....with this (a favorite) quote. I did not understand it until I went through similar dynamics myself. Many Americans have no clue about what is possible in Reality......it's easy to follow fiction... but you can never be prepared for Reality...(.i.e. it is so much worse than anything you will ever read in Fiction.) And you can never know what is possible following horrible trauma, either. You will not find out in fiction. Yet, we tend to think much more in line with fiction than we do in line of reality. Agony and ecstasy belong together. Trauma is neither good not bad...it just is. Trauma is purposeful, and it has the potential to enrich life, and lift depression..
'Every act of creation is first an act of destruction'...Pablo Picasso.
an Arab coalition that ROSE UP/Intifada and with stood one of the most powerful armies in the world with low tech weapons!?And a passion for justice, liberation and freedom from occupation.
(We have no clue what kind of passion these people have, or if this was about passion at all.....this is about your passion)??
Hezzbolah has 'won' respect and gained popularity in the Arab world for being a little David who hit Samson/Israel in the head.
??
"The age of warrior kings and of warrior presidents has passed. The nuclear age calls for a different kind of leadership....a leadership of intellect, judgment, tolerance and rationality, a leadership committed to human values, to world peace, and to the improvement of the human condition. The attributes upon which we must draw are the human attributes of compassion and common sense, of intellect and creative imagination, and of empathy and understanding between cultures." - William Fulbright
(wishful thinking....unlikely, considering that History repeats itself)???
Man had to evolve to understand child sacrifice, women as chattel and slavery as evil.
(either way, it has had zero effect, and changed nothing....and it never will with more evolving and more understanding. Understanding is usually more enabling for evil than it promotes positive change in the behavior of 'good people' who are trying to help. They usually end up being the Nr. 1 enablers.)
?War is the ultimate form of evil and any innocent caught in its crossfire: is terrorized!?War is the ultimate form of terror, no matter who wears the uniform or how noble they believe their cause.?Deaths of innocent civilians and destruction of nature is an evil:?and NOT collateral damage!
(War is not evil.....it's incredibly traumatic, and it changes people...you cannot use any prior or formal learning, or civil understanding to evaluate, judge, and generalize something as complex as war, and it's aftermath ....perhaps for generations to come)
PS: You were just talking about passion for freedom from oppression, justice, etc...??
But All things are possible and a new Middle East is certainly upon us.
(upon us??? Even now everything has to revolve around us?
I do not believe that the people who were actually there and affected are thinking about us right now.)
??
It is up to we the people of good will who are NONVIOLENTLY in solidarity for human rights and justice for ALL, ?to continue to rise up and speak out for the poor and oppressed,?until man evolves and abolishes it.
(I am feeling nauseous! I have never in my life done anything from a place of 'good will'...just, like I have never in my life acted out of 'bad will'......must admit though, I have tried unsuccessfully with the latter once or twice. ..... I know I am capable of killing, though, and I like that idea. I am priviliged, not good, in that I never had to, and most likely never will. I am a mother....an 'animal' mother)
Sign petitions, demonstrate, write your congressional reps and FAX Bush how you feel:
(Don't tell me what to do! You mean how you feel?)
WHITE HOUSE FAX: 202-456-2461
Do something and you will feel better and you will also be a part of the solution.
(please speak about yourself when you say these things; you do not know who is reading your comment. It may be a terrorist)
Otherwise, you are just a part of the problem.
( this 'quote of wisdom' is getting old. Plus, who are you not only to judge.....but even know what each individual for him/herself is contributing to the world, or not, at any moment? For some it may be as little as 'not killing'. For me , it may be as much as taking my kids swimming )
http://www.wearewideawake.org
by WAWA (8 articles, 48 comments) on Monday, August 14, 2006 at 10:54:35 AM ?
