Find Your Job Meaningless? Karl Marx on Alienation

There's a booming self-help literature that's all about finding meaningful work and about creating the life you want. This reflects the desire people have for meaning in their work - and also the prevalent lack of it. Before all of this self-help lit existed, Marx introduced the concept of 'alienation', which describes how a market economy necessarily creates work that people do just for money and which makes them feel disconnected from it.

The most recent episode of the Thinking Allowed podcast (BBC) is on Marx's concept of "Alienation". They have a panel of experts with British accents, first introducing the idea and talking about how it changed history. They get into why it is still so current - but also about some of the things that Marx couldn't predict - like the fact that for a lot of workers, the freedom to purchase consumer goods in the 20th Century was something they were happy to exchange for meaning at work.

For those of you who do feel a bit disconnected from work, it is refreshing to step outside of the self-help lit of "The reason you are where you are is because you haven't done something right", and see the larger forces at play. Of course, that doesn't mean you should stop training or sending your resume out :-)

>> Listen to Thinking Allowed "Alienation" (29 mins) 
(note that if you are looking at this at a later date from this posting you may need to subscribe to the podcast to get back-episodes)

Stumbling Upon Kurt Vonnegut - Doing an Address to School Kids

This post is really about two things: how cool Kurt Vonnegut is, and how great StumbleUpon technology is. For those of you who don't know StumbleUpon, let me explain. It's an application where you create your profile, select your interests and then hit the "Stumble" button. You get random content from all over the web. But, because of the algorithm, you get really GOOD stuff. I can't believe how good it is. And you find new stuff you never would otherwise.

Today, I found this video, using StumbleUpon: Kurt Vonnegut, How to Get a Job Like Mine: where he talks to students about life, love, and the pursuit of happiness.

The Ebook Has Landed - Bummer about the Format War

Chapters' Kobo

I'm a bit obsessed with ebook technology these days. It will be the equivalent of MP3 to CD. I haven't listened to a physical CD in, like, five years. I am deciding between the KOBO and the KINDLE. Both are cheap (around $150). Kobo is Chapters and Kindle is Amazon. I wasn't thinking much about getting an ereader until actually trying one. I never want a paper book again.

Carry every book you've ever owned. You only need one hand to flip pages, and, holding it is easier. You can change the font size. And, unlike the Ipad or laptops or whatever, the screen is not backlit - making it like reading paper so you can see it in daylight, etc.

Buying new titles as ebooks is cheaper than print, because you at least save the printing costs. Older titles are a lot cheaper. Plus, there are a gazillion free books out there at places like the Project Gutenberg, Pretty much all the classics are free. You can also take ebooks out 'on loan' from public libraries. The Toronto Public Library allows you to check out ebooks right from their website! I tested it and it works. I got Bill Bryson's newest book on Shakespeare for a 20-day loan (after which, I guess it locks?). No more late fines! 

Remember the Betamax?

Unfortunately, big players like Amazon are trying to get monopolies by not using a standard format, and by using DRM (digital rights management). DRM is a bit nasty because it prevents you from using a book you buy at Amazon on other devices and etc...  It's the whole VHS - BETAMAX thing all over again. Drag. I guess those of you who buy music from Itunes are familiar with the limitations of DRM -- you can't share it easily and there are limits to what you do with it.

Stay tuned -- I'll be writing more about this after I get one of these toys. Trouble is, I really don't want to get stuck with the Betamax.

The Reinvention of John 'Couger' Mellencamp

Bruce Springsteen and now John Mellencamp have, as they've gotten older, started to talk about their careers, and themselves, as part of the long American folk tradition, rather than as pop superstars. It is out of a deep love and respect for people like Guthrie and Dylan, and probably a recognition that long-term street cred and meaning still comes from songwriting that endures through the fads of the pop music biz.

Mellencamp is currently doing the rounds, promoting his new album, Life, Death, Love and Freedom, a collection of new songs in the folk rock tradition. I particularly like the song "The Longest Days". I can't speak for the whole album, though, so this is not an album recommendation. However, I strongly recommend listening to Mellencamp's interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air.

Terry has a few goofy moments - at one point she tries to play shrink and connect an early childhood illness to Mellencamp's career-long fascination with songs about mortality. Aside from that, though, it's great to listen to. Mellencamp is huffing on cigarettes the whole time. You can hear it through the microphone.  He's gruff sounding and, unlike the Boss, quite believable as a reinvented folk singer.

And, he has a guitar on his lap; which, from time to time, he'll pick up to illustrate something about songwriting. He also plays a great song at the end of the interview: a cover of a song that he says has been his party trick for his whole life.  Recommended.

Weighing In On Wikileaks - The Drama Continues

I have to admit to being a bit surprised by the vitriol directed towards Wikileaks. There's a lot of rhetoric about people being put in danger, but not a lot of proof that this is the case. The next part of the drama: A recent letter from Reporters Without Borders, condemning Wikileaks for their handling of the US documents.  It's about the 'irresponsibility' of Wikileaks, for not doing enough to protect people 'on the ground'. 

BBC Radio 4's The Media Show, did a 13min debate with some notable journalists on the issue: Gilles Lordet (Editor in Chief at Reporters Without Borders), Eric Schmitt (Terrorism and Security Correspondent at The New York Times - one of the newspapers which published edited accounts of the WIkileaks documents), and Heather Brooke (journalist and freedom of information campaigner).

The panelists all fall along the spectrum of what you would think, based on their job titles. But, it was nice to hear the consensus, even with the critics, that Wikileaks is important and needs to exist. Hopefully we can move past this eventually and productively continue the discussion about journalism, news, and transparency.

The Media Reform Movement - Getting the News We Need

The week on Conversations with Richard Fidler, Fidler talks with John Nichols, the Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine. Nichols is doing the rounds right now, promoting a book he co-authored called The Death and Life of American Journalism, in which he argues for media reform and a fundamental re-think of the way that journalism is organized and funded. (52mins) Recommended.

Fidler and Nichols explore the failings of contemporary journalism around the world - the decrease of investment in actual news, the way that corporate owners have squeezed newspapers to the point where they can't really do their jobs properly. The crappy formats that have emerged on TV,  and radio. Also, the insidious ways that journalists influence the political process, or fail to when needed. He has an insider's understanding of the problems, and he's been thinking about it for a long time. It's a lively and entertaining discussion on the issue.

I did some digging on Nichols. Here's an excerpt from an article he wrote last year, How To Save Journalism:

The market has voted journalism off the island. This necessary nutrient of democracy will be washed away unless we recognize that commercial values are no longer going to provide us with sufficient quality journalism. It's a waste of valuable time attempting to cook up new schemes to make the process of news gathering and distribution as profitable as it once was.

Policy-makers need to take a page from American history. The framers understood that the government must not simply assure that a free and independent press may exist; it must set policies and expend resources with an eye toward guaranteeing that an independent free press will exist.

The Flame War Over "Net Neutrality" - The Google/Verizon Proposal

Google and Verizon just released a proposal advocating "Traffic Prioritization", which would spell the end of Net Neutrality. It is causing a bit of a flame war in geekland. Turns out it is pretty important for everyone.

What is Net Neutrality? The Internet was built on Net Neutrality - meaning that all data transfer is equal. Some want to control which data gets priority. That leads to all kinds of problems, such as promoting monopolies and loss of freedom on the Internet. The people who want to get that control argue that it will improve the Internet -- but it looks like it is more about big players protecting their position on the Internet and denying competition and progress. Do you want Rogers or Bell determining what you see/don't see on the net?

NPR's Planet Money podcast did a nice intro piece on Net Neutrality: Creating Lanes on the Information Superhighway (13 mins). They start from the beginning - defining the term, and illustrating the possible impact of killing Net Neutrality. Recommended.

Are We in a Post-Fact Era? The Limits of Citizen Reasoning

“Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be,” -- The Onion. Mark Clamen sent me a couple of articles on a disturbing quality of American politics: that people aren't dissuaded from their ignorant beliefs by facts.

The Time Magazine article, Happy "Birth" Day, Mr. President; Welcome to the Post-Fact Era is about the controversy over Obama's birthplace and how, even in the light of facts, people continue to believe that he wasn't born in America. The author, James Poniewozik, demonstrates the thinking behind anti-factual thinkers:

They've also constructed self-reinforcing belief fortresses, in which media debunking of their beliefs only serves to confirm them. Take this post, for instance. If you believe Obama was born in Kenya, you probably also think that here I am, a liberal member of the liberal mainstream media, trying to impress on you information to the benefit of our liberal President! Doesn't the obvious untrustworthiness of the entire institution I serve delegitimize any "proof" I might offer you? Why would I be working so hard to convince you that you're wrong if you weren't right? Consider the source! What am I so afraid of? &c.

The Boston Globe article, How facts backfire: Researchers discover a surprising threat to democracy: our brains, is about current research on reasoning and how people process 'facts'. It's not looking good, particularly when it comes to political reasoning. The problem is summed up:

On its own, this might not be a problem: People ignorant of the facts could simply choose not to vote. But instead, it appears that misinformed people often have some of the strongest political opinions. 

The article gets into some of the ideas people have for addressing this problem... is it better education? One idea is to use a shame-based model. To make sure to publicly debunk people who spread misinformation - tackling the problem at the information source. Some research indicates that self-esteem plays a significant role in a person's ability to hear what others are saying. Fascinating!

Book Review: Three Day Road, by Joseph Boyden

While on vacation last week I read Three Day Road, a novel by Joseph Boyden. Loved it. First off - it's a great war story. But, there's so much more to the book than the war story.

Set in the days following WWI, a native Canadian, Xavier Bird, returns from the trenches - addicted to morphine and missing a leg. He's lost his childhood friend on the battlefield. His elderly Aunt, his sole remaining family, paddles to the town in Northern Ontario where the train station is and picks him up.

On the three day journey down the river, the soldier slips into a morphine-induced dream state and you (the reader) are transported into the war. It's a suspenseful, very graphic tale of two friends going to war together and what happens to them.

While Xavier is in his fevered state, his Aunt recounts her life story to him. As an elderly native at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, her story is the meeting of two worlds and the loss of a way of life. The writing is lovely, and the device of flipping between the two stories really works. It is a page-turner. Highly Recommended.

Political Thought: Have the Terms 'Left' and 'Right' Lost Their Meaning?

The most recent episode of The Philosopher's Zone (ABC), Philosophy on the campaign trail (25 mins), is about contemporary political thought. Guest Guy Rundle argues that both the left and right have lost connection with any coherent political philosophy or program (even in their own traditions). He talks about how the lack of a meaningful platform is manifesting itself in current political debate: for example, instead of tackling the real issues head-on, the right's focus on red-herring issues such as the  'decay in family values'.

The Australians are in election time at the moment. so there are a few points specific to Australian politics. But on the most part the discussion is more about the Western democracies. Pretty interesting. Recommended.

Testing Human Limits with Extreme Endurance Sports

Radiolab, one of my favorite podcasts, ran an episode called Limits, featuring true stories of people who push the limits of the human body and mind. Two stories from the episode that grabbed me were from extreme sporting events:

Iron Man leader collapses feet before the finish line
The story of the woman who was about to win the Iron Man, but collapses with only a few hundred feet to go. Her account is harrowing and fascinating as she describes crawling to the finish line, and seeing the competition pass her by

The Ride Across America
A bike race where racers literally go from coast to coast on their bikes, without stopping - it's nuts!. They hallucinate, they duct-tape their heads up. They sleep like an hour a day. They fight their minds and bodies the whole way, that is, if they make it the whole way.

The web page for the episode is great - they break it up by story so you can pick which one you want, or listen to the whole hour. Recommended.

Climate Change -- Who Can You Trust for Answers?

Climate change scientists are in agreement about some of the basics, but predicting what changes will happen due to the warming of the atmosphere is a little fuzzy. Scientists, however, agree about one thing: we may not know exactly what flavor of bad, but it's gonna be bad.

The deniers think climate science is crap. They are largely coming from outside the scientific community. But, that, in itself does not make their arguments invalid. Well, actually, sorta, but, you know what I mean. There could be some kind of group-think and peer pressure in the scientific community to tow the party line. Skepticism is a good thing, and the discourse around climate change doesn't really allow for a lot of dissent So how is one to sort through this mess of competing claims?

Gavin Schmidt, a climatologist at NASA, argues that skepticism is good, but informed skepticism. He's interviewed on PBS's Need to Know - Climate Desk Podcast Skepticism vs. denial about climate change (11 mins). It's a nice discussion and worth the eleven minutes' investment. Schmidt recommends: that one not to take any scientist's or denier's word for it, but rather look to the consensus of the scientific academies. Individually, scientists may have pet motives, but when vetted and filtered through a scientific academy the truth will out, due to the way that science works.

The Climate Desk is an interesting project, featured regularly on PBS Need to Know. They describe themselves comme ca:

The Climate Desk is a journalistic collaboration dedicated to exploring the impact - human, environmental, economic, political - of a changing climate. Partners included The Atlantic, The Center for Investigative Reporting, Grist, Mother Jones, Slate, Wired and PBS's Need to Know. Our podcast is hosted by Need to Know's Alison Stewart and features experts on the issue.

US Lawmakers and Politicians Go After Wikileaks

PBS's MediaShift Podcast ran a short 4min piece on some legal maneuverings that are going on in the States to go after Wikileaks. Some politicians are proposing an ammendment to the shield laws that are there to protect journalists. This, following Wikileaks' recent posting of thousands of classified US documents on their site.

I've only heard a few MediaShift podcasts and they're alright - however the 4 minute format is not long enough to really get into issues. Looking forward to hearing more lengthy discussions of this hotly contested Wikileaks issue.

Mad Men-era America, the CIA and Strongly Held Beliefs of All Sorts

A few weeks ago on Conversations with Richard Fidler (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), there was a personal interview that had historical scope and emotional depth, a sweeping narrative, along with all kinds of amazing details about Mad Men-era America, the CIA and strongly held beliefs of all sorts. (Not to mention a family that literally dropped off the grid, and went to live on a Pacific island, a la Mosquito Coast).

It was ridiculously entertaining. Of course, as a podcast, you can hear it, too, whenever you want. Fidler Interviews Scott Stevens (49mins). Recommended.

Scott Stevens was recently made the head of ABC's Religion and Ethics Website and it is Stevens' family history that is the focus of the interview. Fidler must have done a lot of homework for this interview, because they went right back to Stevens' early years, (in the U.S., and then the remote Solomon Islands) and got heavily into Stevens' crazy family (they were really, really out there). Stevens is a good story teller and Fidler does an excellent job of keeping the sprawling narrative on-track. It's a life story in under an hour.

picture: Richard Fidler, host of Conversations with Richard Fidler.

Useful Idiots - How Journalists Get Duped by Bad Regimes

"There are some things so stupid, only an intellectual could believe them" - George Orwell. The BBC World Service just ran the first part of a two-part radio/podcast documentary called Useful Idiots. It's a term that Lenin used to describe Westerners who could be manipulated by regime-spin.

There is a famous case of a Western journalist, (Duranty), winning the Pulitzer Prize while at the same time  lying to the West about Stalin's exploits. It is clear from the records that he knew about Stalin's starvation programs, but failed to report them as such. Why?

This documentary explores the phenomenon of otherwise smart intellectuals who really get it wrong. Part one is mainly about Stalin and his apologists. Part two, which airs on the 11th, will be about contemporary useful idiots. Fascinating! Recommended.

Listen to Useful Idiots now.

Spot the T.O. Landmark! Three New TV Shows Filmed in Toronto

Rookie Blue, Covert Affairs and Unnatural History -- all filmed in our fine city of Toronto; and, they're not the worst shows ever, either... Spot your favorite Toronto landmarks!

Rookie Blue
Unlike the other two shows, this one actually admits to being set in Toronto. You may have seen billboards for the show - they're all over the place. It's about a new batch of rookie cops as they go through the trials and tribulations of learning on the job. The first episode is not great, but it picks up a bit. For ratings, I guess, they stack the cast with very attractive people - it's actually comical at times. Also for ratings, a lot of the rookies are sleeping with each other and/or their supervisors. Humn... this review is sounding worse and worse.

Covert Affairs
A spy show, set in Washington. It's funny because you'll see a Toronto street scape and, superimposed in the background, you'll see the White House, or the Washington Monument. Makes me grin every time. The main character is a recently recruited CIA Agent, also learning on the job, also very attractive. It's not bad. The website says that it is "from the producers of the Bourne Trilogy", along with the slogan: "Single Woman. Double Life." The show has its problems, like the blind computer support person who relies on a braille computer, (um, you might want your intel guy to be able to actually recognize faces),  but it has some heart and neat espionage scenarios.

Unnatural History
This one is a bit of a guilty pleasure. It's basically a show for youth, but kinda fun. Also set in Washington. As for landmarks, the most ridiculous is the ROM's new extension, which seems to be something clearly NOT in Washington. It's about a teenager who's been around the world with his Indiana Jones type parents, but who has to go back to school. All kinds of Indiana Jones type adventures in Washington occur. Suspend judgment and enjoy.

China is Growing - Are They Ready to Be the Next Superpower?

China has undergone impressive growth using an entirely different economic model than the West. But, what's it like to live in China? What are their internal struggles, economically and socially? Will they be able to navigate through them and become the next superpower? Or will they get bogged down in their domestic issues?  

BBC Radio's 4-part radio documentary, China, Shaking the World (4x22mins) looks at modern China as it moves deeper into the 21st Century. Parts of the documentary were field-recorded in China. It's a great production, giving a glimpse into a world few in the West know much about. Highly Recommended.

Highlights, for me:

• China's struggle with political corruption. A look at a family dispossessed by greedy officials seeking to make millions from housing developments, and trials in which 8 officials were sentenced to death for corruption. It's fascinating to hear about how China is dealing with corruption and social unrest. (Part 3). 
• China's attempt to bring back innovators that are living and working abroad, and the challenge of creativity in a hierarchical, overly political culture that looks down on dissent and criticism. (Part 4).

Stoicism: The New (Old) Path to Happiness

"Man is troubled not by events but the meaning he gives them" -- Epictetus (AD 55–AD 135). There's been a resurgence of interest in Stoicism in recent years. People familiar with some modern forms of practical therapy that seek to relieve anxiety and depression would be quite comfortable with much of Stoicism. It is also particularly well-suited to times of rapid social, economic and political change, such as ours - which may explain why people are looking at it again.

You may have heard someone being referred to as 'stoic', often in a negative way. Usually associated with values of the 'stiff upper lip and all that'. But, the stiff upper lip and the repression associated with, say, Victorians doesn't really capture what Stoicism is about. It's a practical and effective method for living well in the world, because it focuses on the things that you can control (your reactions) as its foundation.

This week's CBC Ideas podcast, A Guide to the Good Life,  is a good introduction to Stoicism.  Richard Handler talks with William B. Irvine, who's recently written a book on Stoicism: A Guide to the Good Life, The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy. It's a nice interview, and Handler does a fine job in providing context. Handler, as an interviewer, is not for everyone (he has a wispy voice and can often seem pretentious), but that doesn't get in the way of this podcast. Recommended (52mins).

The BBC show In Our Time did a panel discussion on Stoicism (41mins) which can be heard in their archives. This podcast focuses less on the self-helpy content and more on history. Who were the Stoics? What was their impact? Who were they politically aligned with? That kind of thing. It's with a panel of experts. Also good, but very different. If you're interested in it for personal and not historical reasons, probably the CBC one is for you.