We don’t necessarily need “Power,” just a little Strength you know a little Endurance. A little Joy really helps too, but you know that already. All we need to do is keep our heads and hearts. The rest flows naturally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksmGt2U-xTE

The Hot 5 and Hot 7 Sessions!

It’s really a bit of an existentially terrifying position, and gosh Doug, I do appreciate trusting your sobriety about it, but is “doing it ourselves” fully an option? To what degree?

These recent observations have cleared away a massive obstacle to my thinking. “This” and “Ourselves” has been set free among the stars for now, but not forgotten. Logically, what remains is “do.” You set about some lifting of “do” as well. Strangely, what you have achieved with “this” and “ourselves,” points me in a different (perhaps) direction for doing. The way seems twofold: an individual ought work upon as much of life is before him or her as befits his or her immediate ability to effect the possible. Our ability is understood and made manifest by our work and it’s achievements. In so far as we address ourselves with the neighbors and the galaxy, we have to be able to point to these things we are talking about and SEE them.

Very, very clear and appreciated NingúnOtro!

Lord save us from the killer app if some critical mass of humanity can not save us first. Or may the death of mass media be made manifest at a time propitious to the greatest good for the greatest number.

-mason

“Yes we can”… do this ourselves. It all depends on whether and which way we can agree, or fail to agree about what should mean “this” and what is to be understood by “ourselves”.

I mean to say… is “this” to be a one and single “optimal strategy” we should all agree to use before we start anything? Obviously, all will never agree, not even majority, so forget it if you understand it that way.

Similarly, “ourselves” is quite confusing as a terminology… all together is “ourselves”, but each on his own is “ourselves” too, and any combination of any number of citizens together, each combination of them on their own, but all/some of these combinations together… is “ourselves” too.

If we want to be able to achieve anything at all, we have to re-engineer the understanding we have/or have not about the nature of the problem at hand… in such a way that we can propose a path towards a possible solution that can be walked by any kind of citizen, for objective or subjective reasons that should be theirs and not necessarily shared with others.

The path, and the solution should be left open to individual/collective interpretation of priorities at all times. If the basic and limited logical and ethical framework behind the initiative is sound, then in the long run all will inevitably and most important voluntarily lead towards the solution we can all share, at the level of complexity we can manage.

And it will be the only viable solution, unknown and even unthinkable of today. Not to say that if you could imagine most of it today and organize a debate proposing it you would probably make yourself the laughing stock of the galaxy.

Don’t fear the power of corporations…they are strategies, and no strategy exists that can’t be countered if one knows what he wants.

Mass-media is dead… the killer application is only awaiting to be used for a right cause.

-mason

In brief, and not to re-write everything, I stated I thought Glenn Greenwald had the most even discussion of the court’s decision. Bascially, that you can’t decide the constitutionality of something based on possible negative outcomes. The possibility of undue corporate influence doesn’t trump free speech.

And while corporate personhood strikes me as counter intuitive, personally, he also pointed out that if incorporated entities don’t merit protection under the Bill of Rights, then there’s nothing to prevent the government from ignoring the 4th amendment with regards to them, including non-profits, labor unions, etc.

It was a bad law that exempted media corporations, and in fact made it much more difficult for small grass roots groups to organize – as they’re without an army of lawyers to get around the regs.

Ultimately though, all this did was free up advertising, and if I took anything from Coercion – and it may not be what you intended – it’s that as wily and crafty as they may be, the effect of advertising is in our own hands. So much of the hand-wringing/end of democracy stuff strikes me as overblown.

Cheers, and again, apologies for my poor assumptions.